The "Green" Housewife Of Orange County Shares Convenient Tips To Reduce The Use of Plastic

Hi, I'm one of the GREEN Housewives of OrangeLet's start with reducing the amount of plastic we
County. Orange County has gotten a reputationuse.
for being superficial and pretentious. What you* I wash and reuse ziplock bags and try to use
may not know, is that we are also known forplastic containers instead that can be more easily
being health conscious and taking an active part inwashed. An example is packing lunches and
our environment. As an ordinary housewife andsnacks in reusable packaging.
mother of two living in Orange County, I have* Not every purchase requires a bag so be sure
been trying to take the small steps toward beingand decline one if you can do without. For
more environmental.instance, I prefer not to bag my milk.
When it came to using reusable bags at theUsing Reusable products makes the biggest
grocery store, there was no motivation for medifference:
to change my habits. It's already difficult with two* Reuse the plastic bags for another purpose
kids and a purse. I'd probably need about 10 ofsuch as for trash can liners or for cleaning the cat
those grocery brand totes and there is no easybox or walking the dog.
way to keep them together. Why is it so* The biggest change I've made is bringing my
important to bring our own bags anyway!own reusable bags to the grocery store. I had to
Investigating this has opened my eyes to thefind a convenient system for it to work which is
excessive amount of plastic we use every day.why I made my own. I love not having such a
So I'd like to take a moment to share with yousurplus of plastic bags around the house!
what I've learned and tips on some convenient* I also have a reusable shopping bag that
ways to making reducing plastic use easy.collapses into a pocket that I keep in my purse
The average American walks away from theand use when I'm doing my other shopping. This is
grocery store carrying 5-10 plastic bags per tripanother convenient way to reduce my plastic use
and makes 2 trips per week. This adds up toand I treat it as another accessory!
600-1200 plastic bags per year. Next time you goNow comes recycling:
to the store, count how many you bring home.* My city has a recycle container that has
Other researchers have sited even higherspecifications on what they will recycle. I've
numbers. Isn't it true that the bagger seems tolearned that many cities do not allow plastic bags
put only two or three products in each bag? 100in this container because the thin plastic film gets
Billion bags end up in U.S. landfills every year takingcaught in the machines they use to separate the
around 100 years to decompose. I was reallygarbage. It actually jams the machinery and adds
shocked that CA alone spends $25 million everyto the cost of recycling.
year to put all of that discarded plastic in a landfill.* I collect ALL of my plastic bags for recycling.
$300 million is spent in litter cleanup and $1.7 millionMost grocery stores now are going to be
to clean trashed waterways. Some people believemandated to provide a recycle bin for these bags.
that a paper bag is a better choice, but it actuallyWal*Mart has a great program giving money to
is worse for the environment to make because itschools that collect plastic. They collect almost
takes more than twice as much energy toALL plastic bags: the bread bags, newspaper bags,
produce them.plastic packaging around toilet paper, paper towels,
Al Gore said, "People go from denial to despairetc.- even dry cleaning plastic.
without pausing at the intermediate step of* Our school also collects cans and plastic bottles
actually doing something". Being green doesn'tfor money so I have a separate collection for
mean you have to be perfect; you've got tothat.
start with easy changes. The state of CA has aThose are my tips on how to Reduce, Reuse, and
motto to "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle". Here areRecycle. Please do what you can and be sure and
some ways I've learned to do this around mypass this along.
house: