Every day, you have the power to help your community, now and for years to come.
Landlords, tenants and rental property owners should learn to practice the 3 Rs—reduce, reuse, and recycle. You will conserve natural resources and prevent climate change. Most important, you ensure that future generations have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, as well as forests, fields, and beaches to enjoy.
Where do you start? Reduce the amount of waste you produce. Buy only what you need and use. Then, instead of throwing something away, reuse or recycle it. You probably already reuse your children’s clothes and shoes when they outgrow them. You pass them along to family or friends, sell them at a yard or garage sale, or donate them to charity.
What about things you cannot reuse? That’s where recycling comes in. Recyclable items are collected, reprocessed, and used again to make new products. Make throwing an item away a last resort—when
it cannot be reused or recycled.
Practicing the 3 Rs makes a difference. Recycling just one can, donating just one old cell phone, or even buying just one product with reduced packaging is an act of good will for the environment and your community. This guide offers tips on how to incorporate the 3 Rs in the kitchen. It shows how your choices can make a difference, now and for years to come.
The kitchen is the center of your home or rental property. Start with small changes here to make it the core of your reducing, reusing, and recycling habits. Here are some ways to reduce the amount of waste you produce, reuse what you can, and recycle items that might normally end up in the trash.
•Compost organic waste. Peels, skins, and trimmings from fruits and vegetables; coffee grounds; egg shells; tea bags; and lots of other kitchen waste can be combined to make compost, which you can use as natural, organic fertilizer on your lawn and garden.
•Recycle food packaging. Most community recycling programs accept cereal and cake mix boxes, beverage bottles and cans, and steel soup, vegetable, and fruit cans. Learn the different materials your community’s recycling program accepts at www.Earth911.org.
•Buy in bulk or concentrates. Buying bulk sizes of the products you use often or in large quantities saves you money. Bulk and concentrated goods also come with less packaging, which prevents waste.
•Choose fresh and local instead of packaged food. When you buy fresh produce, you not only enjoy food that tastes better and is often healthier, you eliminate cans, boxes, or bags that you have to throw away or recycle.
While Practicing the 3 Rs in the kitchen, landlords, tenants and rental property owners are contributing great effort towards the community and aiding the environment.
Source: epa.gov
