What is in our Garbage?

Paper accounts for 47% of it, Food waste 18%, Plastic 15%, Yard Waste 9%, Wood 3%, Metal 3%, Glass 2% and Other 3%. So if we could get rid of or greatly reduce the first four categories listed we can reduce overall garbage by as much as a WHOPPING 89%!! How? Read below for two easy ways to reduce your trash, save your community money and cut down on your carbon footprint.

Recycling

Another “YesterYear” technology that has been around for quite some time is recycling. It is easy to do and if you have young children they will probably teach you or guilt you into to it as they are now taught its benefits in school. Many municipalities require at least some level of recycling for containers of glass, metal and #1 or #2 plastics and newspapers. These types of  materials are the most valuable and allow them to make money to at least cover the cost of collection. So what about all that junk mail, card board packaging, used electronics and fluorescent lights? Well many municipalities will also take these materials however you have must take them to their respective recycling centers, so it does requires an effort. If your municipality does not take some of these items yet go here find where to recycle it.

Is it worth the effort?

Well the picture shown tells the tale. The picture on the left  is our garbage can and next to is two of three of our neighbors trash cans both are holding trash from one week. We have a household of five people, two adults and 3 children. They have two adults and one child. The difference is we make an effort to recycle as much as possible beyond what the town requires, they do not. Essentially our energy usage and carbon footprint is less because of  our recycling efforts. This is easy enough for everyone to do with a small amount of effort and thought.

Composting

Circular Compost Bin

Another big way we cut down on trash is by composting. We take all our food scraps, grass clippings, leaves and other yard debris and put them in a composting bin. The one pictured is one of many types available. This particular model allows you to spin it frequently speeding up the process of decomposition turning it  into “black gold”. We use this black gold as a natural soil enhancer as it contains many natural nutrients that plants and shrubs need. This also allows us to not have to use fertilizers for feeding our plants. This added benefit makes this an even more Eco friendly solution.   Doing both these simple things adds up to big energy savings and reduces your carbon foot print.  A good site to start with to learn about it is Master Composter.

Start today it is easier to do than you think.

Tips On Making This Halloween a Green One

Having an Eco Friendly Green Halloween is more and more desirable these days. How can you green your  Halloween?

• Buy treats that are not wrapped in plastic or give out local store gift vouchers.
• Buy your pumpkins, squash, and other vegetables from a local farmers market or from local sources.
• Rent or buy your costume from used clothing stores like Goodwill. Reusing items that you already have is even better.
• Utilize reusable bags to hold treats your kids collect (like the ones you use when you go food shopping).
• Use compostable brown bags to hold the treats given out.
• Trick-or-treat in your own neighborhood or carpool to your destination neighborhood.
• Compost the pumpkin, squash, etc.
• Recycle the paper goods and plastics from parties.
• Give out green oriented treats like organic fruit, repurposed trinkets

With a little preparation and thought we all can make a difference, even on Halloween!

Using Goats to Mow

Gas-powered lawn mowers are polluting monsters. Mow for an hour or drive your car for four hours: the emissions are equal. Mowers have been largely unregulated with few emissions controls, although all that will change as of 2012, when new emissions standards for small spark-ignition engines goes into law. The rules intent is that it will  provide a 35 percent reduction in hydrocarbon emissions, lower evaporative emissions, and hence less ozone and greenhouse gas formation as a result of all that grass cutting.

Goats are ruminants, and emit methane as part of the enteric fermentation that occurs in their first “stomach,” the rumen. In 2003, according to the EPA, U.S. goats emitted 0.3 Teragrams CO2 equivalent of methane emissions. By comparison, landfills emitted 131.2 Tg, termites about 20 Tg, and mobile sources 2.7 Tg. Goats are not blameless, but they are better than lawn mowers and termites. However the old fashion push mower may remain your best choice for lawns if you really want to produce NO emissions and burn some additional calories!

Traditional manicured home lawn mowing is perhaps the wrong application or wrong image to convey. Goats are best used for hillsides and or rough terrain as they not only love to eat grasses, they also love all those plants we don’t want as well. So hence we see companies, like Google and other SIlicon Valley firms, using them not on a lawn, but in weedy fields. Goats easily and happily eat a huge variety of invasive and noxious plants down to the nub. Blackberry and poison ivy are just two examples of unwanted plants that goats love to eat.

Google is not the first to prefer goats over machines: Many goat herders are renting out their goats for landscape renovation and maintenance. Goat herds are used to maintain areas alongside airplane runways, like at SeaTac in Washington state, to remove scrub in fire-prone areas, and to replace pesticides in weed eradication on ranches. They do all this and more without the impact of heavy equipment or deadly herbicides. Their byproducts provide a type of fertilizer, as their hooves stomp into ready made compost. See the video below for more insight.