1.) Bring your own cloth or fabric bags when you shop

If you grocery shop once a week, in five years you’ll have kept about 250 to 1,000 grocery bags out of our landfills. When one ton of plastic bags is reused or recycled, the energy equivalent of 11 barrels of oil is saved! Look for Earthwise reusable bags in more than 2,000 retail locations across the country throughout the month of April – your purchase of these bags will help support Earth Share.

To learn more, click here .

2.) Re-use the plastic bags you already have

– Old bags make great in-car trash containers.

– Use them as shoe protectors in the garden.

– Re-use them to clean up kitty litter, or to pick up dog droppings when walking your pet.

– Use them in your smaller waste bins around the house.

– Fill a few with shredded paper and tie them off for cheap, reusable packing materials. They’re also a handy way to maintain the shape of your favorite tote.

– Cut a slit in your bags and use them to protect clothes from dust, moths, and other pests.

– Take them with you for easy disposal of diapers.

3.) Cut down on your junk mail, while saving trees.  

Modernize your life by taking control of your stuff. Monitoring the mail you receive is a great way to cut down your clutter. You’ll have less to dispose of, you’ll feel less overwhelmed, and you’ll take a step towards helping to save our environment.

These services to help you cut down on your personal paper consumption.

41pounds.org

41pounds.org will contact 20 to 30 direct mail companies on your behalf to stop the majority of your bulk mail. With just a few minutes and $41, you’re finished — for five years! You can sit back and enjoy the benefits —
Save trees. More than 100 million trees are destroyed each year to produce junk mail. 42% of timber harvested nationwide becomes pulpwood for paper.

Reduce global warming. The energy used to produce and dispose of junk mail exceeds 2.8 million cars.
Save water. About 28 billion gallons of water are wasted to produce and recycle junk each year.
Save time. You waste about 70 hours a year dealing with junk mail.

Plus, 41 pounds will donate to an important environmental charity of your choice. Choose from Earth Share member charities and other important organizations.

For more information, click here .

Catalog Choice

Catalog Choice reduces the number of repeat and unsolicited catalog mailings, by freely providing the Catalog Choice services to both consumers and businesses.

Sign up. Fill out our online registration form using your name and primary mailing address.
Find your catalogs.Find and decline your catalogs, using the Catalog Choice search facilities. We'll then contact the catalog providers on your behalf, requesting that your name be removed from their mailing lists.

See the results. It can take at least ten weeks to process your request, after which time you should no longer receive your declined catalog.Catalog Choice is designed for your continued use. Upon receipt of additional unwanted catalogs, return here to decline them.

You can find them online: www.catalogchoice.org

4.) Reduce paper use.

Use rags instead of paper towels; cloth napkins instead of paper ones. Buy post-consumer recycled paper and recycle it when you've used it.