Household Waste Management: Reduce

The average American creates 5 pounds of waste per day, half which is recycled in some manner, leaving roughly 2.5 pounds of waste per day. The ultimate goal of waste management is to reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfills to the absolute minimum through recycling and/or reuse of all suitable materials.

Reduce Reduce is at the top of the waste management hierarchy and has the greatest impact on the environment.

Do I really need this?

Tips to Reduce

Know Your Product Origin Look for the words Made from Recycled Materials or Made from Post-Consumer Recycled Materials.

Minimize Packaging

Conserve Energy

Transportation

References: HENV-101 Household Waste Management: Reduce (2010). Retrieved November 15, 2011, from Photo credits: Unless otherwise noted photos and clipart used in this presentation were obtained from Microsoft Office ( November Contact : Ashley Osborne, M.S., Extension Associate for Environmental and Natural Resource Issues. E: P: Date : November 2011