Kermit was wrong, it’s easy to be green. I am not the greatest green ambassador out there, but I strive to be greener everyday. I think all of us can make a few small changes that will go along way. Right now I am trying to focus on 3 areas of greenery that I would like to improve on.
#1 – I don’t buy bottled water anymore. I think it is ridiculous to do so. Besides the millions of free plastic water bottles I have from races, I have purchased a few aluminum water bottles and try and use those all the time. I cringe when I see people at the gym with their plastic water bottles. There is a good commercial out there that shows a lady running on the treadmill and the pitch line is something like – 45 mins at the gym, a lifetime in a landfill. Here are some facts I found about plastic water bottles:
- Americans buy 25 billion single serve plastic water bottles each year.
- 1.5 million barrels of oil are used every year to produce plastic water bottles in America that is enough oil to fuel 100 thousand U.S. cars for a year.
- More than 80% of plastic water bottles end up in a landfill.
- A plastic water bottle once used and discarded can never be a water bottle again.
That is just crazy to me. I have found some seriously cute aluminum water bottles at TJ Maxx before. They seem to always have them and they are much cheaper, but you can always find the adorable Sigg water bottles at Dick’s and Target:
#2 – Now I really need to work on this one, but I try and use resuable shopping bags. I have a bunch of them in my car. I think it’s so great that so many places sell them nowadays. Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s always have them for a $1, you can’t beat that. I would say that I remember to use these bags about 40% of the time, I need to get that up to 80%. The only reason I say 80 is b/c I do need the plastic shopping bags to pick up dog poop and scoop the litter box and I need some paper grocery bags to put my recycling in for the trash pickup. If I did use the cloth shopping bags at the store all the time, I guess I could just buy recycled trash bags to do my doody duty with.
http://www.reusablebags.com/store/gecko-traders-recycled-market-p-990.html
#3 – I recycle. I am so lucky that Cleveland picks up recyclables. They take pretty much anything. You just put it out with your trash in a blue recycling bag or paper grocery bag. I am really good about putting all the junk mail in the recycle bag, but need to get better about plastics. I remember with yogurt and frozen food containers, etc, but could do better with shampoo containers, laundry detergent and other household or beauty items. I really need to get some recycling bins. Anyone have a recommendation on that?
How about you. What do you do to help out our taxed environment? ANything you are hoping to get better at?
