The sensible words of Ben Franklin are the perfect place to
start in our approach to household waste management.
- Avoiding Exposure:
- The fewer toxics entering
the household ecosystem, the fewer that will eventually enter the
larger ecosystem via the waste stream.
- Avoiding Need:
- It is easier and safer to prevent a problem in the first place than to use a toxic product to correct it.
- Preventive Packaging:
- Toxic products often
require special packaging, such as mixed materials
(plastic-coated paper), and leave contaminated residues
which renders the packaging unsuitable for recycling.
- Avoiding Toxic Expense:
- Intelligent prevention saves money. Safer products cost no more than toxic ones, and often less. In the long run, safer products with
simpler packaging cost less to you, to your community,
and to our global "household": the planet we live on.
- Be an Energy Scrooge
- Energy production is costly, can have harmful effects on the environment and can be waste producing. There are many things we can do to reduce the amount of energy we use every day.
Every part of the home offers many possibilities for
(1) entirely avoiding the need for toxic products, or
(2) replacing them with cleaner, less toxic, better-packaged
ones