Trim Your Waste-Line

For the next eleven weeks, The Conscious Shopper will focus on ways to help you:

Trim your waste-line.

We'll be cutting back on our trash production with the following weekly goals:

• Keep track of your trash for a week.
• Switch to cloth bags.
• Start using a reusable water bottle/thermos.
• Make your own household cleaners.
• Dispose of your disposable paper products.
• Go green in the bathroom.
• Dispose of your disposable diapers.
• Reduce packaging.
• Start composting.
• Recycle everything.
• Pack a waste-free lunch.
  

Why start with trash?

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the top three aspects of our lives that make the biggest difference to planetary health are transportation, housing, and meat-eating. So why are we starting with trash?

Because trash is easy.

Reducing the amount of garbage you produce requires very minor lifestyle tweaks - bringing your own bags to the grocery store, requesting that your coffee be put in your own mug, filling up your recycling bin. The hardest part is remembering to do it.

**TRIM YOUR WASTE LINE CHECKLIST** Keep track of your eco-changes by printing this checklist on recycled paper OR be extra green by saving your own editable digital copy.

So let's get to it and see if we can drop a few pounds in 2010. Come back tomorrow for the first trash challenge.

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You have hereby been challenged to go green in a year without going broke! Check out the latest challenge, or view the whole list of Challengicious Mondays.

Like what you see? Sign up for my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, and join my "Go Green without Going Broke" group on Facebook! You can also find me over at The Green Phone Booth.

• image by blmurch