If your company uses direct mail, save money and paper waste by cleaning up your mailing lists. It costs extra, but third-class mail can be sent with an option for return if undeliverable. Using these returns to cull your list means you can print (and waste) fewer mailers next time around. Your mailings will be more effective and will cost less to print and mail.
do your part: To cut waste even more by deleting consumers who don't want mailings from your list, see the Direct Marketing Association website: www.the-dma.org/.
It goes without saying that you eliminate your car's exhaust fumes and greenhouse exhalations when you ride a bike. But avoid purchasing a second car altogether, and you're also saving a lot on the manufacturing side. With the amount of energy it takes to make one car, a hundred bicycles can be made.
When houses come down, salvage and antiques firms across the country save doors, windows, joists, carvings, and many other one of a kind artifacts from destruction. Use some of these materials in your new home and you'll be reducing waste and bringing a piece of design heritage into the mix. Look things over carefully, though. You don't want to incorporate pieces that will drastically increase your heating costs or bring a legacy of termites with them.
do your part: see www.salvageweb.com for an active architectural salvage exchange online.
...without waste. There's a temptation to stock up on disposables when you eat alfresco, but it's possible to enjoy your picnic with minimal waste. Take along a cloth groundcover and napkins, real utensils, and plastic containers for the food - and bring it all back, including the scraps. You'll wind up with a civilized picnic that would make Martha Stewart proud.
Wipe your feet! If you're old enough, you may remember doormats made from cut up pieces of tires. This retro solution is still around. These long lasting mats provide enough friction to get the mud off your shoes, and they provide a market for recycled materials from tires.
do your part: www.recycledtiremats.com has doormats and other products manufactured from worn out tires.
