How to Manage Your Home Waste

Having trouble keeping up with your family's garbage output? Putting a bit more thought into the way you manage your household waste can help you get more organized. With careful planning, you'll be able to save money and have less of an impact on the environment.

Use cloth bags instead of plastic. This small measure will greatly reduce the amount of waste you bring into your house. No matter where you're shopping, you can bring your own reusable cloth bags instead of accepting plastic bags from the store. Plan ahead by purchasing several reusable bags and storing them where you won't forget to bring them along next time you go shopping, like in your kitchen or in the trunk of your car.

If you forget to bring your cloth bags to the store, you can still reduce waste! Ask the person bagging your groceries not to use double bags. Most stores now sell cloth bags, so you could spring for those instead of accepting plastic or paper - you can never have enough around the house.
Using cloth bags isn't limited to grocery shopping. Take one along when you go shopping for clothes, tools, or any other items you may need.

Buy food that has less packaging. If you tend to buy food that comes in boxes wrapped in plastic with individually-wrapped serving sizes inside, you're probably producing more waste than you want to. Look for ways to buy food with minimal packaging, especially plastic packaging, and you'll see your daily mound of garbage turn into a tiny hill. Here are a few tricks to try:

Use the bulk food section. You can buy rice, beans, cereals, teas, spices, and other dry foods in the bulk food section of your grocery store. Store the foods in airtight glass or plastic containers when you get home.

Don't use bottled drinks unless you have to. [1] Bottled water - and other bottled drinks - is a major source of waste in many places. In some places bottled water is safer to drink than tap water, but if that's not the case in your area, consider using tap water instead. You can always filter the water if you don't like the way it tastes. This is more economical and much better for the environment.
If you really want to go the distance, you can nix other bottled and canned drinks, too. For example, instead of buying a case of ginger ale, why not make your own? Homemade lemonade and limeade are also great choices.
If you do choose to buy drinks by the bottle, choose large containers, rather than small ones. Get a 5-gallon container of water with a dispenser instead of buying an 18-pack of small bottles.

Reduce your paper usage. If you like using computers, there are very few reasons you still need to have a lot of paper waste in your house. Taking measures to reduce the amount of paper you buy, as well as the amount of paper that gets sent to you in the mail, can save you the headache of having to sort through piles of papers.
Go paperless when it comes to bills; choose to pay them on-line instead.
Consider reading your news on-line instead of having a newspaper delivered to your house.
Take measures to stop junk mail from overflowing your mailbox.

Donate items when possible. If you have old clothing, electronics, or other items you don't want but are still in decent shape, donate them instead of throwing them out in the trash. Better they end up in a classroom or someone's closet than the landfill.

Old clothes and fabric scraps can be donated to a fabric recycling facility.

Schools often accept donations of old computers and other electronics.

Contact a local homeless shelter or donation center to see about donating furniture, electronics, cars, and any other items you're finished using.

Reuse containers. Durable containers can be reused a number of times before they need to go out with the garbage or recycling. Bottles, boxes and bags can all serve a second purpose if you know how to use them.

Use paper bags to hold recyclables, if you don't have a bin. You can also use them to fashion book protectors - a flashback to grade school days.
Reuse paper by printing on both sides, or letting your children draw on the back of used paper.
Use food-grade glass containers (that didn't previously contain anything toxic) to store dry goods and leftovers.

Plastic containers are fine to use for storage, but be careful about reusing them too many times to store food. Plastic, even if it's food-grade plastic, can eventually break down and start leaching chemicals into the food.

Save your food scraps and yard cuttings from the trash. Food scraps and yard cuttings don't need to be thrown out. Instead, you can compost them and turn them into rich, nutritious soil that can be used to nourish your garden - or donated to someone else who will be able to use it for theirs. There are many ways to compost; some compost mixtures allow for items like meat and dairy to be included, while others are strictly for fruit and vegetable scraps. To start a basic compost pile, save these items:

Green items, which break down quickly, like raw vegetable peelings, coffee grounds, tea bags, grass cuttings, leaves
Brown items, which break down slowly, like sticks and branches, paper, cardboard, eggshells, sawdust

Source: wikihow.com