Cut The Lights & Add Some Spice! A Waste Less Wisconsin Project By Erica Herron

What is Waste Less Wisconsin? WWaste Less Wisconsin is part of the Be SMART Conservation Challenge which “invites students to identify wasteful practices or pollution in their communities and take part in a solution by devising a project or making a personal commitment to an everyday lifestyle change.”

The Waste Less Philosophy Seems pretty simple, right? Not so much! As I embarked upon my own project/journey of “wasting less,” I had a lot of unintentional environmentally bad habits to break. For instance, reducing what I use; I never thought going through a 4-pack of toilet paper in a week was wasteful! But since I stopped using t.p. as PAPER TOWELS, and starting using a quite remarkable little number called a washcloth to clean up my messes, I must say that I have saved the landfills quite a few rolls of t.p. over the past couple of months. And so, this is a perfect segue for reuse. That washcloth has certainly come in handy quite a bit; over, and over, and over again.

I found that if I use snack boxes (Triscuits, etc) as shipping boxes (just flip them inside-out and tape!), I not only save a bundle in packaging costs, but save some energy along the way, too (yup, recycling takes effort). And as far as recycling goes, I always thought it was harder than it really is, and didn’t do it! Who knew it was practically like taking out the trash! Also,...

So, CTLASS? CCut The Lights & Add Some Spice! Really. We should do this. Save some dough by using less energy and then do something earth-friendly and productive by using that savings to buy renewable sources of something we use everyday: spices! So, with my savings of using less energy (aided by energy efficient halogen light bulbs, no doubt!), I was able to purchase enough seeds, peat moss, and planters to make 100 herb plants to give away to central city Milwaukee residents. Not only can they begin to “grow their own spice rack,” but they will be given some tips on how they too can save some money by taking some simple measures about their home to save on energy. And so, a fantastic cycle can begin! The more you save energy, the more you save money; and the more you save money, the more you have to spend on renewable products that save you even more money in the end! Plus, it’s healthy :).