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Use as little of soaps and toiletries

3/16/2017

 
Use as little of soaps and toiletries (shampoo, shaving cream, toothpaste) at a time as you can to save money and reduce waste.

One way to reduce waste is to use only the amount that you need, which is often a smaller amount than we currently use.  

Soaps in particular are often overused and the extra just gets washed down the drain, requiring us to purchase the product more often.  When our soaps and toiletries - shampoo, hand soaps, shaving cream, toothpaste – are washed down the drain, they must be dealt with by the wastewater treatment plant.  Try to cut down the amount you use at a time.  A quarter sized dollop of shampoo is usually enough to wash with (www.goodhousekeeping.com/beauty/hair/tips), and using too much soap in dish and clothes washing machines is not only a waste of soap but detrimental for the machine and the quality of washing (www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/your-money/13shortcuts.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0).  The American Cleaning Institute suggests reading labels so as to use only the recommended amount of cleaning product and to use cleaning products until they are fi
nished, further reducing unnecessary waste   Not only will fewer resources be used in water treatment and manufacturing, but you will also save money from buying these products less often.

remove your shoes to avoid tracking in contaminants

3/10/2017

 
By removing your shoes when you enter your home, you avoid tracking in salt, pesticides, gasoline residue and other contaminants.

The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension reports that, “around 30 to 40 percent of the contaminants inside your home are brought in from outdoors.”1  The EPA recommends removing shoes to reduce the amount of lead that gets tracked into the home.2   An EPA study has also found that taking your shoes off at the door can reduce the presence of commonly-used herbicides in the household.3


Sources:

1 Pamela R. Turner, September 2015, “Leave it at the Door: A Guide to Reducing Contaminants in Your Home,” Circular 1070 (Formerly HACE-E-81), extension.uga.edu/publications
2
EPA “Protect Your Family from Sources of Lead,” https://www.epa.gov/lead/protect-your-family-sources-lead#soil

3
Marcia G. Nishioka, Hazel M. Burkholder, Marielle C. Brinkman, and Robert G. Lewis. 1999. Distribution of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid in Floor Dust throughout Homes Following Homeowner and Commercial Lawn Applications:  Quantitative Effects of Children, Pets, and Shoes. Environ. Sci. Technol. 33 (9):1359–1365.


Single-use plastic bags are a major source of water pollution

3/3/2017

 
Single-use plastic bags are a major source of water pollution and are banned or taxed in a growing number of cities and countries.

The Center for Biological Diversity reports that the average American family takes home almost 1,500 plastic shopping bags per year. Single-use disposable bags are used on average for only 12 minutes, and only 1% of them are returned to stores for recycling. Target alone gives away enough single-use plastic bags annually to wrap around the earth seven times.
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/expect_more_bag_less/facts.html

A growing number of cities, states and foreign countries are acting to ban or tax single-use plastic bags in order to reduce pollution – especially water pollution. California was the first US state to enact a statewide ban, and that ban was confirmed in a November 2016 ballot referendum.
http://www.ncsl.org/research/environment-and-natural-resources/plastic-bag-legislation.aspx

In Washington, DC, the Department of Energy and Environment determined that single-use plastic bags were one of the major sources of pollution in the Anacostia River. In 2010, a 5-cent bag tax was introduced to encourage consumers to reduce their use of disposable plastic or paper bags, with proceeds going to fund clean-up efforts. https://doee.dc.gov/page/bag-law-faqs  Bag usage in the district dropped from about 22 million per month to 3 million in the first month the fee was in effect, according to the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue.

Non-partisan studies have shown that bag bans do help to reduce energy use, waste and litter. http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/10/08/californias-plastic-bag-ban-myths-and-facts/201064


Yet, three states (Arizona, Idaho, Missouri) have enacted legislation to prevent municipalities from enacting plastic bag bans or taxes. Of course, by shopping with reusable bags, individual consumers can modify their own behavior to reduce the problem of plastic waste, irrespective of local regulations.

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