With the world’s population growing exponentially every year, environmental consciousness is becoming more widespread. The more people there are on Earth, the more that the Earth itself must be changed to accommodate them. This makes reducing your carbon footprint that much more important.
Some people want to help preserve the environment but don’t know exactly how to go about it. If you’ve ever asked yourself, “How can I be more eco-friendly?” then this article is for you. We’ll cover some ways to be more eco-friendly in 2022.
Start recycling, or recycle better
It might seem like everyone already recycles, but the United States’s average recycling rate is between 30 and 35 percent. If you’re someone who doesn’t recycle, you could start recycling for 2022. Most waste management companies offer recycling along with garbage pickup, so you could use the separate bin provided to recycle.
If you already recycle, you can actually improve your recycling habits by learning a bit more about the process. For example, don’t wrap your recyclables in plastic bags. These bags get caught in the sorting machines used for recyclables and tangle them up. Also, anything you put in the recycling bin should be empty, dry and clean enough to be used again.
Try clean energy
If you’ve ever wondered, “How can I be more eco-friendly?” your first thought likely jumped to clean and green energy sources. The most common and visible clean energy source is solar power, especially in sunny areas of the country like California. If you do some research, you might find that it’s cost effective to have some solar panels installed in your home. This would benefit not only the environment but your wallet as well if you could save some money on your utility costs.
Avoid single-use plastics whenever possible
There’s currently over eight billion tons of plastic in the world. Most of that does not enter the recycling process, so one way to be more eco-friendly in 2022 is to eschew the use of single-use plastics like water bottles and plastic drinking straws.
As an alternative to plastic water bottles, you can purchase a reusable water bottle that you can repeatedly fill up whenever you need to hydrate. As a substitute for plastic straws, you can carry your own metal or bamboo drinking straws when out to eat and tell the server that you don’t need a straw for any drinks that you may have ordered.
Rethink your traveling
Any time you travel, you use fossil fuels and energy. It’s possible you just commute to work every day and don’t think about the environment. If you can, consider alternative modes of transportation like walking, biking, carpooling or taking public transportation. It might not seem like much, but if everyone took a few small steps to reduce their carbon footprint when travelling, the environment and future generations would be better off because of it.
Call to discuss your business’s recycling program today
Hopefully, this list provided some applicable ways to be more eco-friendly in 2022. If you’d like to know more about commercial recycling programs, call us at CIWA, Inc. We offer a vast array of commercial recycling and waste management programs, including hazardous waste disposal and ISO- and LEED-compliant plans.