Recent Green Weeks:
September 5:
Cook More Efficiently
August 29:
Use Cold Water for Laundry
August 22:
Find New Uses for Old Phones
August 8:
"Bee" Kind to Pollinators: Limit or Avoid Pesticide Use
August 1:
Reduce Waste: End Junk Mail!
July 25:
Encourage Pollination: Help Bees!
July 18:
Use Less Oil: Walk or Bike at Least Once this Week Instead of Driving
July 11:
Water Lawns and Outdoor Plants in the Morning or Evening Only
July 4:
Practice Safe Souvenir Buying
June 20:
Reuse Paper Scraps
June 13:
Safely Dispose of Hazardous Wastes
June 6:
Give New Life to Old Stuff
May 30:
Make Your Own Non-Toxic Cleaners
May 23:
Find Ways to Consume Less
May 16:
Reuse your food scraps and yard waste: make compost!
May 9:
Make Sure Your Seafood's Sustainable
May 2:
Use a Low Flow Showerhead
April 25:
Reduce Weight in your Vehicle
April 18:
Use a Reusable Water Bottle
April 11:
Switch to Fluorescent Bulbs
April 4:
Buy in Bulk
March 28:
Unplug Your Appliances When They're Not in Use!
March 21:
Turn Off Your Engine Instead of Idling Your Car
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Idea of the Week: Buy in Bulk
What to do:
Whenever possible, consider buying products in bulk. Many grocery stores have bulk bins offering food at comparatively low prices.
Keeping bulk foods takes some planning, but you can easily reuse cleaned glass jars to store your bulk purchases.
(Pickle and spaghetti sauce jars work especially well!) For bonus green points, take your own plastic bags to the store to carry home bulk items.
Even if you're not able to buy in bulk, it's still helpful to pick products in economy-sized containers, or products that have visibly less packaging. (Say no to shrink-wrapped and clamshell-covered produce, for example.) There's one exception: buying large containers of individually-wrapped products doesn't necessarily reduce waste.
Why it Helps the Earth:
Of all the good things you can do for the earth, reducing waste is one of the most direct. Recycling consumes chemicals and energy,
and there are only so many times and ways that most things can be reused. But simply reducing waste circumvents both of these limitations.
What the Research Says:
The Environmental Protection Agency's website has a very helpful list of
suggestions for reducing packaging waste.
According to the EPA’s municipal solid waste fact sheet, the United States generated a total of 77.42 million tons of paper waste and 30.5 million tons of plastic waste in 2008, the most recent year for which data is available.
Why it Helps You:
Buying in bulk takes a little planning ahead, but it can save you money. Bulk prices are usually significantly cheaper per unit than regularly packaged foods.
With bulk, you're not paying so much for flashy packaging or marketing strategies.
There are some other benefits to buying in bulk, too. With more food on hand, you might end up making fewer trips to the store—and spending less time and gas money. You'll also avoid having trash and recycling bins that overflow with packaging waste!
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Last Revision: July 6, 2010