Living the college life can be busy (and wasteful). Here are a few ways to reduce your waste so you don’t have to spend the time thinking of how you can be more environmentally conscious.
​​1. Thrift, Borrow, and Donate your Clothes
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17 million tons of textile waste ends up in landfills and is also causes 10% of carbon emissions. Why buy new clothes when you could borrow from a friend or thrift a cool vintage item? Even donating your unwanted clothing instead of throwing them away is a great way to help the Earth!
2. Get a Good Water Bottle
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In the United States we average using more than 50 billion plastic water bottles each year. 38 billion of those water bottles end up polluting oceans and streets or at the landfill. Plastic water bottles also take hundreds of years to biodegrade. Causing potential harm to millions of aquatic wildlife. Imagine how many plastic water bottles you would eliminate from our environment just by switching to a reusable one.
3. Be Mindful of How Much Food You Get at the Dining Hall
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Did you know that in the U.S. organic waste is the largest source of methane emissions? Methane has 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide. Take only food you need so you don’t have any food that could end up in the trash.
4. Try Biking or Taking Public Transportation
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Instead of driving your car, try taking a bike or using the bus to get to where you need to go. Riding a bike it can be a good workout - which is always a win - and public transportation helps cut down on greenhouse emissions. Approximately 85 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are related to the surface transportation system. By switching, you could eliminate your annual CO2 emission by 48,000 lbs. a year!
5. Get a reusable bag
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Each reusable shopping bag has the potential to eliminate the use of 1,000 plastic bags over its lifetime. Why carry groceries in a basic plastic bag from the market when you can carry it in a cute bag that saves the Earth? By using a reusable bag, you’re saving the Earth from plastic bags that degrade into toxic bi-products.
6. Rent your textbooks or get the E-book
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In 2018, landfills received 17.2 million tons of paper and paperboard. Your textbooks don’t have to contribute to the landfill problem. The simple switch from buying new textbooks to renting or using an E-book can make a great impact in saving our trees.
Hope these ideas help change your perspective and make you more environmentally conscious.
Sheetal Tadiparty
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