Minnesotans produce more and more waste every year, despite our best efforts to reduce, recycle and reuse.
Reducing our quantity of waste, including household hazardous waste, is a serious community challenge that affects everyone's quality of life.
Reducing our quantity of waste, including household hazardous waste, is a serious community challenge that affects everyone's quality of life.
WHY CARE ABOUT WASTE?
The population in the Twin Cities metropolitan area is growing and people are throwing out more and more garbage every year. Currently, residents in the Twin Cities create approximately 7 pounds of garbage every week! This increasing amount of garbage is a serious problem, and may impact:- Natural resources (trees, water, soil quality, and more), that may be used and abused to create the products and packaging you buy;
- Hazardous materials disposed of improperly;
- Fees you pay to have your garbage hauled; and
- Natural beauty lost under piles of garbage.
WHAT CAN BE DONE?
There are many easy ways to reduce our growing garbage problem and protect our environment. Instead of throwing out valuable goods and packaging, think reuse and recycling. Lower waste and manufacturing costs, energy savings, and cleaner air and water are among the benefits we can all share. Our small actions can have a big impact. Collectively, if residents of the Twin Cities made even some of these changes, our waste problems could be kept in check:- Choose to purchase items with less packaging;
- Buy recycled whenever possible;
- Get off of junk mail lists;
- Compost food waste;
- Learn how to safely dispose of household hazardous products (cleaners, fertilizers, etc);
- Reuse scrap paper and grocery bags;
- And many more!