I’m on a mission. I’ll find out on Monday how difficult this mission will be. RRR. In this case, it definitely does not involve any sort of cracked out computer program that enjoyed malfunctioning on one of my husband’s many days of work doomed to become 12 or more hours long. Reduce! Reuse! Recycle! I like to use exclamation points.
The first third of my task, reduction, seems fairly simple. I’ll try to make changes gradually. If I can change one or two habits or choices per week, it should help. One area of my plan is to replace the burnt out bulbs in any fixture in the house(s) that is typically left on for more than 15 minutes with an Energy Star bulb, also known as a CFL. According to the energystar.gov website, “ENERGY STAR qualified lighting provides bright, warm light but uses about 75% less energy than standard lighting, produce 75 percent less heat, and lasts up to 10 times longer.” It would also be nice to end up saving money in the long run. I’m not sure the price of the bulbs is less than the amount of savings though. I guess it depends on how long I actually leave lights turned on throughout the day. I can also try to be a little more conscious of how many lights are on in the house while we’re home or not home. Right now, the lights above the kitchen sink seem like they’re always on, and they’re those ultra-bright halogen lights (shame on me). The other lights that get left on are the rows of fluorescents in the basement. I know they’re on right now. They don’t need to be.
FACT: The energy used in the average home can be responsible for more than twice the greenhouse gas emissions of the average car. When you use less energy at home, you reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and help protect our environment from the risks of global climate change.
The second part of this undertaking is to reuse. I’m pretty good at this without even realizing it. I reuse zip-loc bags all the time; they only need washed and dried. I reuse bread bags. I give my old stuff to Goodwill. There are a ton of ideas online for reusing common household “trash”. For example, using old CD’s and DVD’s as coasters by sticking rubber feet to the bottom of them so they don’t slide and to block the hole in the middle. Egg cartons. I do eat some eggs. I love eggs! I found out I can use the empty cartons to sprout seedlings, or I can place them inside a drawer to hold little things like bobby-pins, jewelry, nail clippers, etc. Another interesting thing I didn’t know is that you can donate used eyeglass frames. I’m going to choose the egg carton idea for this week. I know I have at least three empty cartons in a cardboard box in the garage.
Finally, this is what sadly seems to be the most difficult part of my mission: recycling. I’ve been looking online for information about local recycling. There are no websites with complete information that I have found. I’m going to begin by recycling plastic bottles. My better half can drink pop, lots and lots of pop. I nag him to drink water, but I haven’t gotten far. According to the Container Recycling Institute, “more than 60 million plastic bottles end up in landfills and incinerators every day.” They take HUNDREDS of years to decompose. There are steps to recycling these beasties. I have to first check the recycling code found on the bottle, #1 or #2. Checking the cap is important, too. Sometimes they can’t be recycled at all. From here, I have to call around and find out what is done locally. There are rules. I’ll post what I find out.
Here’s the short version of this week’s agenda:
1.) Replace burnt out bulbs in long-burning fixtures with EnergyStar CFL’s.
2.) Turn lights off more often.
3.) Reuse my empty egg cartons.
4.) Recycle plastic bottles.
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