Buying used products to reduce waste and save money

Do you see many expensive luxury products in the store that you would like to buy but are not willing to spend the amount even if you can afford it? It could range from many things such as video games, game counsels, DVDs, books and others.

Many of these things can be bought second hand (used) and save you a fraction of the cost if it were bought brand new.
The used products take up space in the shelves and await to be purchased and unless they are, they will just sit there.

Many resources go into these luxury products and packaging them in brand new condition. By buying used products they not only costs less, but you are not producing waste by purchasing them wrapped.

Also because these products already exist as a result of resource consumption, buying them would mean not having to buy a brand new one to finance more resource consumption.

So buy used products as much as you can. Purchasing used products is not just limited to simple luxury and other goods. Purchasing used tools and machinery such as cars, jeeps, generators and others ensures we have made full use of our resources instead of necessarily buying new and consuming more.

Dumping organic waste into sand correctly

I unfortunately can't link or create any images to demonstrate this green idea so I'll try and word it as best as possible.

In the part of North America where I live, we have separate bins in household for waste that comes from living things. Weather it is food that no one wishes to eat or waste from food such as apple skins, banana peels or any other waste from food.

This organic waste goes to farms and is recycled to grow crops. This is obviously not possible in most other countries. But instead of throwing organic waste with regular garbage which attracts germs and can be a health hazard when dumped into the environment, it can be thrown into plain sand.

But one has to also be careful that it is not in a populated area where it will be a health hazard and removed from there or birds and other animals might take it away. Therefor it should be thrown in an unpopulated sandy area where it will decompose.
Items like apples, banana peels, corn covers and just about any natural food item can be thrown into the sand where it will dissolve. Processed food such as packaged chips or ice lollies (known as "popsicles" in North America) should not be thrown.

Any sandy areas such as a desert or beaches on sea/lake shores is good enough to dump the organic waste provided there are no people and/or animals who may remove them.

Buying milk cartons and milk jugs instead of milk pouches

Author's note: This is a re-post with some slight changes due to post title and url not matching the first time

If you are a strong environmentalist and believe in making sacrifices for the environment, this one is for you.
If you live in Europe or North America, you usually divide your waste between recycling and garbage. Here is a chance to reduce your garbage and make it recyclable.

The milk pouches you see pictured below are normally bought and have larger quantities of milk also available in lower prices. However, once used, these milk pouches made of plastic cannot be reused and become garbage:




Milk cartons can however be recycled though they come at a higher price and have less quantity of milk. But if you're an environmentalist and can sacrifice some money to reduce waste and do good for the planet, then buying these recyclable milk cartons like the one pictured below is your best choice:




Another recyclable choice are plastic milk jugs like the one pictured below:

Using magnifying glass to start fires instead of matches or lighters on a sunny day

If you intend to start a fire on a hot sunny day to barbecue outdoors or for other kind of cooking, you can do it without using up matches and lighters. Simply pile up the coal or wood you want to burn and focus a magnifying glass on it as pictured below:

It is advisable to place a used piece of paper or pour a bit of flammable liquid to start the fire more easily, but not at all necessary. By using a magnifying glass you save matches and lighter fuel.

But note that it must be a hot day with intense sunlight in order for this to happen.

How to clean out an item you want to throw away for recycling without wasting water

In the city which I live in all recyclable waste can be thrown into a separate bin for pickup just as the garbage is.
All the regular recyclable material we buy and use we dispose of in the recycling bin before being trucked away twice a month by the municipal service in our city.

So as it is I throw regular recyclable waste as well as anything that can be recycled and not in use. But sometimes a disposable product requires washing especially if it carries liquid such as a shampoo bottle or a soap bottle.
I had to dispose of such items as well a small plastic ink bottle once but they required washing out before being thrown into a dry waste bin.

So I decided when I was showering I would use the shower water to rinse out the liquid from the recyclable bottle. That way no extra water would be used. The water already flowing out of the shower and being used for bathing can also be poured into the bottle and clean it out. This way no extra water is used to clean out a plastic bottle before disposing of it.

I urge everyone to use this method to help conserve precious water.

Buy recycled paper

When buying blank paper for printing and/or lined paper for writing try to buy recycled paper as pictured above if your store has any. Using recycled products helps reduce resource consumption and waste production.

Think green, live green

Even if you are not taking care of wild animals or directly contributing to the preservation of wild species, there still many useful suggestions for how you can generally help preserve the environment: