Tips for Going (and Saving) Green
We’ve all heard about reducing our carbon footprints. But did you know it can save you money as well? This guide provides a few earth saving tips that just so happen to save you cash as well. I know you’ll read it to save money, but no one will mind if you tell everyone you’re doing it to save the planet.
There is a lot of discussion among the environmentally concerned about “going green” and reducing your “carbon footprint”. These are all very serious concerns as our environment has slowly been declining ever since agricultural cultivation started thousands of years ago. The Industrial Revolution has also contributed greatly to the hastened decline of the health of our planet. Now is the time to start acting out like a good citizen of earth. I’m sure you’ve heard some of the tips for going green, but did you know they can save you money as well? That’s just a win-win situation all-around. Here are some of the more cost effective tips for going green.
Grocery Bags
Plastic and paper bags are commonly able to be recycled these days. But have you ever considered the amount of waste created by our recycling programs? Don’t get me wrong, these programs are a huge improvement over the alternative of plugging up land-fills. But it still costs a lot of money and resources to carry out such programs. The materials need to be collected and transported: Oil Waste, Emissions and let’s not forget the energy consumed to process the materials. Recycling is great if you have no other alternative, but it’s best if you don’t have anything to recycle in the first place. Ideally, if you have only a few items, refuse the bag. You can also purchase reusable grocery bags, many of which are available at your super market. Many super markets will give you a small discount, per bag, when you utilize reusable bags. On my family’s typical shopping trip, we use about 5 of these bags and we get a total discount of about ten cents (USD) per visit. That adds up quickly.
Bottled Water
Back in the early 1980’s, I don’t think anyone would’ve predicted that we would actually buy bottled water off the grocery store shelves. Nevertheless, the trend towards bottled water has grown increasingly popular. Did you know that this water is most likely another town’s filtered tap water? Avena is one brand that sells such a product. They’re based in Canada. Aquafina, another popular brand, is based in Kansas. How much energy is being consumed getting that product to you? And again, we get into the dilemma of recycling consumables as noted above. Purchase a water filter for your faucet or water jug at home. A good filter will create water that tastes just as good as one of these brands. Use a reusable glass or purchase a reusable sports water bottle and fill it up with your own filtered water. Not only will you reduce the amount of recyclables, and consumables in the supply chain, but you’ll save yourself a lot more cash than you’d think. Filters, even expensive ones, are significantly cheaper than the amount of clean water they will produce.
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