Recycling: Are You Doing Everything You Can?
It may come as a surprise to you, but there is a really good chance that the town or city you live in offer a service you may not have heard of; an energy audit. Cities and towns all over the country have started doing this, where an auditor comes to your home and goes through your living space and helps you to see where you could make changes that will not only help you conserve energy but will help you save money! What a bonus it is to save money by doing the right thing.
There are so many changes you can make in your home to impact the way we recycle and in the end, will help you keep some of the money in your pocket.
Having recycling bins set up so that you can properly sort the items that are recycled is a great first step. That activity alone can cut down greatly on the items that end up in the landfills rather than where they can be recycled.
Keeping your televisions, DVDs, stereos and computers plugged in to a power strip or surge protector rather than directly into the wall and then turning off the power strip will cut back greatly on power "leaks" that can cost you money on your utility bill. Being aware to turn these items off, is the first step, and then having them plugged into the power strip will just further the action for saving money and energy.
Don't leave a light on when you walk out of a room and no one else is in there. And have you changed your light bulbs from the traditional ones to the compact flourescent kind? Did you know that the newer lights use 75% less energy to run and they will out live a traditional light bulb by up to 10 years? Make the changes that need to be made in your home.
Don't run the dishwasher or the washing machine unless they are full. It's a waste of energy and water to run a cycle through the dishwasher when it's only half full. Don't turn it on until you have a full load to wash and then just wash them all at once.
Use microfiber cloths for cleaning all kinds of surfaces like furniture, counters and sinks. The bonus is that these items can be tossed into the washer and are perfectly able to be reused again and again. Think of the savings in paper towels alone! Talk about a win-win; if we use fewer paper towles, then that means fewer trees need to be cut to make them in the first place. How can we go wrong with thinking like that?
Take shorter showers and see if you can pick up a shower head that is a water-conserving item, already in place, that will save you money and you'll never even notice the difference during your shower.
There is so much you can do in the efforts to recycle, just be sure you're doing your part.
More Articles
Buying Appliances With The Energy Star Rating
Recycling At An Annual Festival
What If You Could Be Paid To Recycle?
Recycling: How To Start And Maintain A Compost Pile
How To Travel And Still Recycle
Related Products And FREE Videos
More Articles
... materials needed to do this are simply old magazines, a pair of scissors, some white glue and something to decorate. I've seen people use this art medium on every kind of article from wooden boxes up to queen bed head boards. Once you have the item (or items) you want to decorate you can put them aside ...
Recycling: How To Prevent The Excess
... bring these bags to the store rather than the plastic or even the paper bags that is a few more less that will ever leave the store. Recycling, at its best, is prevention of excess. Keeping that in mind and taking the steps to incorporate the changes into your life will further enhance the lack of waste ...
Recycling: A Look At New York City
... since July 1989. Before that date, starting in 1986, recycling was voluntary and as it began to catch on, recycling-educating materials from pamphlets, decals to TV and newspaper advertisements flooded the area up until 1997, when all five boroughs and all 59 districts were recycling all of the same materials. ...
Recycling To Keep Our Planet Healthy
... be looking at water front property one day, without having to move. We've been careless up to this point with the way we've treated the Earth and it's time to change; not just the way we do things but the way we think. The days of brushing your teeth with the water running the whole time are over and ...
... overflowing with toys, they often will retreat, feeling there are too many to choose from, and will not play with any of them. It is important to purchase toys that will last for a long time, too. Fewer well made toys will be a much greater gift than more toys that are made without lasting quality. Children, ...