So this is going to be, hopefully, a comprehensive guide to taking care of the environment by reducing your emissions, reusing materials and recycling waste. Reduce
The main way to tackle all our waste is, primarily, to reduce the amount of waste you produce. There are lots of things you can do. Make sure that you buy products in appropriate sizes, and think about how much you will need to use. There's no point in buying a litre of paint when you're only going to be painting a cabinet door.
Think about what you need, and don't always go for the convenience option. It may seem easy just to get a take away, but it's so much cheaper and environmentally better to make your own food. In this day and age, it may be hard to prepare food in people's busy lives, so try and make time for it. Buy ingredients and could the food yourself. Set aside 30 mins or an hour when you can throw together a quick meal, or longer if you're cooking a larger meal or for more people. Live with friends? Even better, take turns in cooking, so the labour is not always on one person.
When your household goods break, or tear, try fixing them first, instead of simply buying a new product. This might seem obvious, but there are so many people that do this and they don't even realise. This will save you money, and reduce the waste at landfill sites.
Walk, or use public transportation, wherever you can. Walking is healthy; you exercise and save money and fuel. It might not be possible for some people, due to distance or location, but even then you can try to car share. These little things add up and help you and the environment.
Be political and voice your opinion. Write in to companies, your local council, governors, senators, MPs, and help raise awareness and try and introduce new initiatives to encourage people to recycle and reduce their emissions.
Reuse
This is a great way to reduce waste. When you go shopping for groceries, take your own bags. Sainsbury's offer 50p long last bags that can hold lots of foods and beverages. Two is enough for a medium sized trip to the shop, and you'll he using less plastic/paper bags. Lower demand will mean less plastic bags are bought by stores, and so less is made, saving the precious resources we have.
Try using your local milkman instead of getting it from the shops you normally go to. The local milkman, provided you have one, will deliver milk fresh in the mornings in reusable glass bottles, which is then swapped out the next mornings. These glasses aren't recycled, their washed and reused. It's much more economical.
Lots of companies run reuse schemes. When you buy a computer from Apple, you can have it arranged for your old one to be collected for free. This is then repaired (if possible) and given to those who are less fortunate, or savaged for spare parts that can be reused later on. Send away your ink cartridges. HP send a free self addressed stamped envelope with nearly all of their new printers (AFAIK), so that you can send your used ink cartridges away to be refilled and sold on. The same can be done with toner cartridges, CRT monitors, and loads of different products. Check out the links at the bottom, or use google to find a scheme in your country.
Give away unwanted clothing, books and toys, to charities such as the Red Cross and Salvation Army. We get a bag posted through our letter box every month or so, and we can put in unwanted clothing, toys, games, accessories and anything else. This will allow your stuff to be used by the less fortunate, making them happy, and saving the environment. Specsavers allow you to give them old glasses to be given to those that can't afford any, with similar eyesight to you.
Your old car tyres can be given away that is then retreaded and sold. You can do this to your own tyres, and get them cheaper. This may have safety implications, but this is regulated and your retreaded tyre will not be certified to last as long as when they were new.
Recycle
This is the last of the three R's. It is preferable to do this last, after you've tried to do the first two. Recycle as much as you possible can. I don't know what it's like in the states, but here most local councils give you separate recycling containers for paper, cardboard, glass, plastics and then general waste. The general waste collectors come only every fortnight, this encourages you to recycle as much as possible, otherwise your bin will overflow.
Put paper with non-private information to one side. Set aside a box in your house, and instead of screwing up unwanted paper, just place all the flat pieces ontop of one another in there. Magazines! You can recycle these too! Clean out your room and collect anything that is worthy of recycling and make a big pile. All this can be used by companies again as pulp, and reduce the amount of virgin (tee-hee) pulp needed. You will help to reduce the amount of trees being cut down by companies. Paper for printers! Try to buy paper from a company that sources it's paper from a sustainable forest and uses recycled paper in making their papers too. Whatever you can do to reduce demand, try it. You can't fail!
Encourage people in your household to recycle. Gently nag at them, or collect the waste paper or bottles yourself. Have boxes in the house, and fill these up. Once they're full, take them to the nearest recycling centre. Bring the boxes back, and start again.
Additionally, buy products that are made out of recyclable material. By thinking ahead, you are minimising the products that will end up at a landfill. Whilst one person doing this might not make much of a difference, millions of people will. Avoid products with packaging that are not recyclable, where possible, and try to purchase products that are Eco-labelled.
Even simple things, like reading the packaging of a product, and seeing if it says where it comes from. My tropicana juice drinks are made out of cardboard. This uses wood from trees that are managed by an independent forestry organisation that make sure that the cutting down of trees is sustainable.
Useful Links
Have any questions, or links to give me? PM me or reply in this thread. I want to make this as expansive as possible!
Post edited at 11:28 am on April 9, 2008 by marshmellowman
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Environment 101: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
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i agree with this vid - please watch it - maybe u could use it lol 
