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Reducing Waste
Learn about what you can do.
Favorite Zero Waste Blogs
In-Store Help
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Online Orders
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Personal Shoppers
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Same-Day Delivery
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24/7 Support
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Recycling and Composting
Did you know that if Americans recycled 10% of all newspapers, we could save 25 million trees? Plus, it saves energy-- recycling one aluminum can can save enough energy to power a TV for up to three hours! Just making small efforts like these to start recycling at home can make a huge difference if everyone participates. However, only about 35% percent of Americans recycle and compost. Never fear! It’s actually really simple, and really important.
To learn the importance of recycling and composting as well as how to do so properly, check out the video our club made! It can be found in the video library on the home page.
Recycling & Composting
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Sustainable Eating
“In the United States alone, 40 percent of food gets tossed every year—and that amounts to $162 billion in waste annually, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. This can serve 58,064,516,129 meals using the national average amount spent on a meal, $2.79.” -Rescuing Leftover Cuisine
The problem:
By wasting food, we're wasting the labor, resources, energy, and money that went into producing food. Not only that, but when organic waste accumulates in landfills, it releases huge amounts of methane, a harmful greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.
Holiday Shopping
Americans throw away 25% more trash between Thanksgiving and the New Year than during the rest of the year-- that’s 1 million extra pounds.
Sales and advertising during and before the holiday season drive a massive increase in consumerism, especially because companies are able to profit off of the tradition of giving gifts to your loved ones.
So, what can you do as a consumer to reduce your waste during the holidays while still showing your love for friends and family and continuing your beloved traditions?
Household Items
Text Body
Self Care, Hygiene, and Beauty Products
Beauty
The beauty industry creates 120 billion units of packaging every year. When you wash off makeup, the chemicals enter bodies of water and damage wildlife. When this water evaporates, the chemicals go with it, then precipitate, and enter the soil.
Hygiene
Each year, 1 billion toothpaste tubes are thrown away
Plastic toothbrushes create 50 million pounds of waste annually
The amount of shampoo bottles thrown away in the US every year can fill 1,164 football fields
1.5 million disposable cotton swabs are made every day
In one year, the amount of disposable razors that are thrown away can circle the earth 6 times
What can you do?
These industries have very powerful advertising tactics that lead to copious amounts of waste in this area. But there are many things that you can do, such as zero waste swaps, and small habit changes, that can make a huge positive impact!
Sustainable Fashion
Fast fashion is a problem. In order to maximize profit, fast fashion companies use the cheapest methods of production, pay their workers as little as possible, and make little efforts to be sustainable or make durable, high quality goods. The result is clothing that is low quality and lasts a very short amount of time, copious amounts of waste, overuse of the earth's resources, excessive pollution, and exploitation and mistreatment of workers, especially in less economically developed nations.
81 lbs of clothes are thrown away by the average American each year
$500 million or more are lost from wasting clothing material each year
15% of pesticide use comes from the textile industry
70 million barrels of oil are used to make polyester each year
25% of microplastics in the ocean are from fashion--when synthetic clothing is washed, it releases plastic microfibers that eventually make their way to the ocean
700 gallons of water are needed to make one cotton shirt
What can you do?
Invest in clothes made ethically and with environmentally friendly materials, such as organic cotton, linen, hemp, and recycled plastics
Buy fewer clothes, but get ones that last longer and will get more use
Buy used clothes
Donate or sell your old clothes instead of throwing them away