Tips to Improve your Conservation Habits

Here I've collected a mulitude of sites that contain useful tips and suggestions to make your life a bit more environmentally friendly. Remember, reducing consumption is the very best thing you can do, and you can still find uses for things before they have to go into the trash or recycling bin.


Greenmatters.com's tips site was very informative -when they had it. It seems to have disappeared since the first time I found it, but I'm keeping it on here in case it ever comes back. The site did say "under reconstruction" after all.
America Recycles's recycling dos and don'ts. Most of these are common sense, but you'd be surprised at how many people don't follow these.
More tips from America Recycles, this time focusing on end products.
Earth 911 has some tips for cleaner air.
Obviously.com tells you what can and can't be recycled.
Another page from Obviously.com that tells you exactly what is most commonly recycled, and how to recycle things that don't get picked up curbside. This is a good place to start.
Here are some tips on how to reduce, reuse, and pack more environmentally friendly lunches.
The Idiot's Guide site has some pretty cool tips.
Getgreen.com has their top five earth saving tips, including buying environmentally friendly fish, keeping your car tires inflated, and using fluorescent bulbs instead of incandescent ones.
Reduce and reuse tips from Recyclemore.com

Most important things to Recycle

If you're new to this recycling business and the sheer amount of thing and complex ways of getting them to recycling centers overwhelms you, look at this list for, as the Idiot's Guide says, the "Least you need to know.":

•Aluminum is not only the most commonly recycled item, but the item which is most efficient and useful to recycle. 95% of the energy it takes to manufacture an aluminum can is saved by recycling them. And unlike paper, metals like aluminum can be recycled almost indefinitely.
•Although they require more energy to recycle, glass and steel are the second most important items to recycle, because they can be recycled essentially indefinitely.
•Paper is the next most important to recycle, because it is a relatively efficient process. However, paper can only be recycled about 7 times before the fibers get too short. Keep your paper dry and sort it if necessary.
•You can also recycle other types of paper products, like newspaper, magazines, phone books, cardboard, and corrugated cardboard, although sometimes these must be put in separate bins.
•Although it is one of the major recycled products, plastics are harder to recycle, because there are so many kinds. They can often only be recycled once or twice (and used for ski jackets, etc., instead of another bottle.) However, they are made from nonrenewable fossil fuels, so it is important to recycle. In most places, the only types that can be recycled are the numbers 1 and 2.
•You can recycle platic bags - the crinkly ones you get from Safeway. These are #1s I think. However, these can't be gotten rid of by curbside pickup so you'll have to find a place to stash them until you can drive over to a recycling station.
•Other more obscure items like motor oil, antifreeze, paint, CDs, DvDs, batteries, cell phones, and computers can be recycled (or donated) too. You have search a little to find out though. More information is here.


•Don't recycle or throw away hazardous waste. This is important, because this can leak in the the air or water around landfills. Find a hazardous waste disposal area to properly dispose of these.
•Although still important, recycling is the least important of the three R's. Even if you recycle, you are still consuming and causing more energy to be expended.

General Tips to Reduce Overconsumption and Wasteful Living
•Unless they've never had a pizza in them, pizza boxes are not recyclable. Really, they aren't.
•Carpool, walk, bike as much as you can. Don't be like me and use getting your drivers' license as an excuse not to do this.
•Buy products with less packaging!
•In my area, and in many others, you can actually get money for some of your recyclables. Set up a collection in your garage for aluminum and plastic bottles (usually the only thing they will let you get money for). You'll probably only have to go once a year or so. And remember, you get a lot more money for aluminum than anything else, so unless you have a lot of space, you may want to only set up a place for aluminum (this is what my family does.)
•Buy recycled paper and pencils anytime you can find them, to complete the chain of recycling. This can be somewhat hard to do because of limited availability, but remember that you are keeping the recycling process alive by doing this. (Plus cool pencils that say "I used to be blue jeans!" on them, rather than those boring Ticonderoga ones.)
•You can recycle dead flashlight batteries. In fact, you shouldn't throw them away anyway, because they have hazardous chemicals that probably contribute to all that dangerous leachate in landfills.
•Use both sides of old paper before you recycle it. Make a "scratch paper" box for this purpose. You can even make your own "notebook" by staping the back sides of used paper between cardboard from old cereal boxes.
•Limit the amount of "crap" you buy. This includes those little keychains that say "I <3 Sanfrancisco" that seem really cool at the time but end up at the back of your closet, and eventually trash. The rule I have for myself is to only buy mostly disposables and reusables, either as souvenirs or as gifts. This includes most food products, a notepad, pencils, soaps, and books (you can recycle them or donate to a library or a garage sale when you're done with them.) The key thing here is to not heap your kids with useless plastic toys that they tend to look at about once.
•Donate as much stuff as you can without throwing it away. Goodwill will take most clothes and the ones they don't sell they can give to homeless shelters. There's also places to donate toys - I've donated toys to homeless shelters before.
•Turn off the lights when you're not using them. Turn off other electrical appliances too - TVs, fans, air conditioners.
•Minimize the amount of water you use per laundry load. You can also get a more efficient washing machines and other products. This works especially for small, frequent loads.
•I heard somewhere that showers use less water than baths. So, try to take showers instead. (And shorter showers too, of course.)
•Don't wash cars on your lawn unless you are using a specific kind of biodegradable soap.
•Use fans instead of air conditioners.
•Use natural light as much as possible
•Try to use washing machines and dishwashers at non-peak hours - this is usually in the early morning or late at night
•Be aware of what's recyclable in your area. If your area doesn't take #5 or #6 plastics, don't put them in the bin. However, your area may recycle more things than you thought. It was only a couple years ago that my area changed and was able to recycle all numbers of plastic and styrofoam.
•Bring your own take-out containers when going out to dinner. Stores often give styrofoam containers as take out boxes, which is really the worst material they could use, even if it is cheap.
•Compost, compost, compost! Many areas such as mine have toters to put yard waste into, and you can make your own compost area in your backyard for more easily composted items such as food wastes. We do this, and now we have our own nutrient-rich composted dirt to use for our backyard- and it's free. But remember, you can't compost meat.
•Hybrid cars are becoming all the rage lately. If you can't get one of these, at least don't get an SUV unless you really are going up mountains in the snow every weekend with two big dogs and a bunch of people. Get the car that fits your needs - chances are if you're just going to work or school you can get a small car and be fine. Also, it saves you money on gas.