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Make smart choices when you purchase products
and reduce the waste you bring into your home or
office and put into the landfill.
Would you buy
something just to turn around and throw it away?
That’s what we do when we buy items with
excessive packaging. In fact, packaging makes up
nearly half of all the material in our landfills
(Source: EPA).
Buy responsibly
- Look for
products that can be recycled at the end of
their life.
- Buy products
that are expected to have a longer life.
Buy in bulk
- Try to
find items with a long shelf life that
you can buy in bulk containers, such as
detergents, pet food, pasta, cleaners
and paper products.
- Look for
items in concentrated form, such as
juice. Single-serving items may be
handy, but a lot of packaging materials
go into making them.
Avoid disposable
products
-
Avoid buying disposable, single-use
items such as cameras, razors,
paper/plastic dishes, utensils,
lighters and batteries.
-
Purchase durable products that you
can reuse, refill and recharge.
Paper or plastic? No thank you,
cloth please
-
Do you really need another
grocery bag? If it’s just a few
items, carry them out by hand.
-
Buy or make a sturdy cloth or
canvas bag to use when shopping.
You’ll reduce your waste and you
won’t have to worry about the
bag splitting open in the
parking lot. If you do use paper
or plastic, use it again. Some
grocery stores offer discounts
reusing a bag!
Buy recycled
-
When you purchase something
new — at home or work —
choose items made with
recycled content. Look for
labels that say "made from
recyclable material" and
choose those over
non-recycled products. Items
recycled through Solid Waste
Management’s various
recycling programs are
processed and used to make
new products. When you buy
these new products made with
recycled content, you close
the loop and keep the cycle
going.
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