Are you doing all you can to save our Earth? It's not as difficult as you might think. Protecting the environment isn't as laborious or time-consuming as you may think, just small adjustments to your lifestyle can have a big impact.
1. Choose re-usable over disposable
Unfortunately, convenience often trumps environmental concerns in our everyday living. Living life with disposables is easy, but with a little forethought you can make environmentally friendly decisions.
Instead of paper towels, use dishcloths. Choose a re-usable mug over its disposable counterpart. Choose a regular camera over disposable cameras.
2. Household hazardous material
You probably haven't given a lot of thought to the number of household chemicals you have, much less how to dispose of them. Vehicle products (antifreeze, automotive batteries, brake and transmission fluid, used motor oil), gardening products (ant and rodent killer, fertilizers, weed killer), and cleaning products (oven cleaners, septic tank cleaners, cleaning solvents) need to be disposed of properly to help protect our environment.
Check with your city for guidelines on how to dispose of hazardous household materials. Many cities have annual household chemical clean-up days and specific drop-off points in city landfills.
To find instructions/directions to disposal sites in your area, visit www.Earth911.org.
3. Can and bottle returns
Turning in your pop cans and bottles is not only environmentally friendly, but profitable. Aluminum cans are the most recycled container in the world! The turn-around time for an aluminium can from the time it's taken in to be recycled to the time it shows up as a new can on your supermarket shelf can be as little as 60 days. The same recycled aluminium can potentially show up on shelves six times a year. More than 50 per cent of cans are recycled.
4. Recycle old technology
According to a June 2003 study from Environment Canada, we dispose of more than 140,000 tonnes of old computer equipment, phone, television, and appliances in our landfills.
While your computer might be outdated to your needs, someone else may still benefit. Consider donating to an organization or charity. Here are a couple of suggestions:
Computers for Schools: http://cfs-ope.ic.gc.ca/default.asp
Electronics Product Stewardship Canada: http://www.epsc.ca/index.html
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