Re-Think Your Waste

Action: Buy With the End in MInd

Lurking inside the carbon footprint of our food, our clothing, our homes, is a surprising amount of waste.  According to @nrdc_org and their #savethefood campaign, 40% of food is wasted in the US– including 20% of the food we each buy.  An estimate from the EPA suggests that each person in the US throws away 70 lb of clothing per year, which doesn’t even take into account clothing thrown away by retailers and clothing that is donated but still winds up in the landfill.  A big part of the problem?  Fast fashion trends mean that Americans are buying five times as much clothing per person as they did in 1980.

One off the most painless (yet countercultural) ways to reduce our carbon footprints is to stop buying things we will waste anyway–whether it’s food, packaging, clothes, home goods.  The primary challenge is planning– thinking ahead to what we will need, what will last, and making thoughtful, durable purchasing decisions while forgoing the cheap, disposable products that promise convenience.

When it comes time to part with objects we no longer need, #reThinkYourWaste means finding productive end-uses for the objects you’ve acquired.  #UseItUp #WearItOut #ReThink  #Refuse #Reduce #ReUse #Recycle

Are you in?  Tag yourposts #ReThinkYourWaste #WasteWatcher #2yrCO2 #2yearCarbondiet