How much do you throw away in a day? From food scraps to disposable items, the trash continues to pile up. What if it didn’t? More and more people are adopting a zero waste lifestyle to help limit what ends up in landfills. What better way to celebrate Earth Day than to consider steps to help stop burying it in trash.

What’s Zero Waste

The idea behind this movement is to minimize what you throw away on a daily basis. The idea of reduce, reuse, recycle may be a familiar one, but Zero Waste goes a few steps further by promoting smarter purchasing practices and bringing biodegradable items back to the earth. Here are the key principles:

• Refuse. Buy smarter by staying away from single-use plastics, excessive packaging, and items meant to be thrown away.
• Reduce. Plan to only purchase what’s needed and invest in high-quality durable goods that are made to last.
• Reuse. Fix what’s broken and repurpose items by finding creative ways to give it new life.
• Recycle. Properly sort and dispose of paper, metals, plastics, and other recyclable materials according to local guidelines.
• Reintegrate. Composting food scraps, yard waste, and other biodegradables creates nutrient-rich soil for your lawn and garden.

You may already be doing a lot of these tasks, but now is the perfect time to evaluate what you buy and throw away to see where improvements can be made.

Steps to Zero Waste

Limiting trash not only helps you save money—the less you throw away, the less you have to buy again—but it helps save the environment by limiting pollutants from landfills. How many of these practical steps do you already take:

• Buy essentials in bulk to reduce packaging.
• Use reusable bags, cloths, bottles, utensils, and other containers.
• Plan meals that minimize food waste and allow proper leftover storage.
• Compost food scraps.
• Repair or upcycle items.
• Donate unwanted goods.
• Support businesses that offer zero-waste products and services.

While you don’t have to adopt this lifestyle overnight, there are small changes you can make overtime that makes a difference. It’s also going to take more than only your efforts, but the way you and your neighbors shop can help move the needle when it comes to production changes. It all starts with making a conscious effort to prioritize sustainability over convenience.

One Company that’s Doing Something

At JDog Junk Removal & Hauling, we’ve made it our business to responsibly dispose of what we remove from homes and offices. We reuse, recycle, repurpose, and resell items whenever possible. As a result, we’re able to keep 60-80% of what we haul away out of landfills.

If you’re considering adopting a zero waste lifestyle or want to improve on what you’re currently doing, start with a clean slate. Declutter the items you no longer use and pay more attention to what you bring back into your space. Call 844-GET-JDOG to schedule a pickup of old furniture, appliances, and any other item that’s no longer energy efficient. We’ll remove it the responsible way so you can start living with zero waste and zero regret.