Reduce, Recycle, Renew: Making Your Garbage A Little More Green

Did you know that North America produces more garbage than other region on the planet? Here’s an even scarier thought: we’re running out of places to put it.

We dispose of most garbage by either burning or burying it. Burning garbage is detrimental to the environment, due to the release of harmful gasses/dust, which contribute to climate change, settle in water sources, and contaminate forests and oceans. The effects of burning garbage are felt in cities halfway around the world.

Burying garbage isn’t much better: over time, the waste releases methane gas into the atmosphere. This gas is about 30 times more harmful than CO2.

Inspired to find a solution for carbon neutrality? So are we!

It’s essential to recycle as much as possible. Familiarize yourself with local waste removal service policies, and find out which materials they accept into recycling programs. Get creative with your efforts: do-it-yourself projects with recycled materials can be great entertainment and produce fantastic results!

But what else can be done to reduce your carbon footprint? Purchasing carbon offsets is one option.  Read more about carbon offsetting in our blog entry, here.

In Sweden, they’ve come up with a way of using garbage as an energy source! The “waste-to-energy” incineration program has been such a success, in fact, that Sweden now plans to import garbage from neighboring countries.

Would such a program be possible for countries like Canada or the U.S.? Do you have any ideas about how to reduce waste in North America? Have you heard of any successful projects that capture methane, or about carbon offsetting (one way to help continue further methane capture)?

Let us know your thoughts and ideas in the comments, below!