Separate your Garbage

Do you recycle, separate your garbage or practice vermiculture? How do you contribute to bettering the environment? Its easy to point a finger at others or to lament about the environment damage caused by pollution or deforestation but when it comes to lending a helping hand most of us dont have the time which is completely understandable. How do you contribute to bettering the environment?Here are some tips.Its easy to point a finger at others or to lament about the environment damage caused by pollution or deforestation, but when it comes to lending a helping hand, most of us dont have the time, which is completely understandable. You may not be able to volunteer your services, but you can definitely do your bit to help. In this articleDont use plastic bagsSeparate your garbageRecyclePractice vermicultureMethodDont use plastic bags One of the most annoying statements often heard in shops is: "Can I have another bag please?" After all, plastic bags are for free, so we might as well take home an extra one. "Oh, I really need plastic bags," we say. May we do, but the earth definitely doesnt! Perhaps some day in the future we would be able to send all our non-disposable garbage into outer space, but until that day comes, those plastic bags are just going to be piling up in ever-expanding junkyards. The extremely thin plastic bags (less than 20 microns) that most grocery and general stores stock, are the ones that are the most hazardous to the environment. So the next time you go shopping, carry your own cloth or plastic bag instead of using a plastic bag supplied by the shopkeeper. Take a colourful cloth bag or haversack with you to the supermarket, and hand it over at the checkout counter so your shopping can be filled in it. Separate your garbage Keep a dustbin in every bedroom and throw dry waste such as paper, old bills, pencil shavings etc. in this dustbin. Collect this garbage in a separate bag. This constitutes your dry garbage, and can be recycled. Wet garbage constitutes kitchen and bathroom waste, and can be turned into manure and fertilizers. If you dont separate the garbage at the initial stages, a lot of time, energy and manpower goes into separating garbage later on, and by then a lot of the dry garbage would have been spoilt. Recycle Recycle even small scraps of paper. Reuse glass and plastic bottles instead of just throwing them away. Recycle egg cartons, boxes that your pizza came in and milk cartons. Practice vermiculture While vermiculture is not a total solution to waste disposal, it does help reduce the amount of garbage being disposed off. Humans generate millions of tons of garbage everyday, and the disposal of this garbage is becoming a problem too big to handle. Most of this garbage is just dumped into barren lands or used as landfills. By practicing vermiculture and generating compost, you will not only reduce the amount of garbage, but you will also enrich the soil. Method Take a large wooden, clay or plastic bin with a cover. Make sure there are holes on top, so your worms can breathe. Make a bed for the worms by using moss, dried leaves, twigs and soil. Add red earthworms, not brown, to the bed, and sprinkle a little water so the bed is damp. Bury kitchen waste and food scraps such as fruit peels (eg. banana and orange peels), vegetable peels and waste (eg. carrot tops, potato peels, rotten vegetables), egg shells, etc. in the bedding. Do not add diary products, meat, fried food or the feces of your pet cat or dog. Keep shifting the bedding around and adding more kitchen waste. Within a few months the worms would have converted the waste to manure. Do you recycle, separate your garbage or practice vermiculture? How do you contribute to bettering the environment?

Do you recycle, separate your garbage or practice vermiculture? How do you contribute to bettering the environment? It's easy to point a finger at others or to lament about the environment damage caused by pollution or deforestation but when it comes to lending a helping hand most of us don't have the time which is completely understandable. How do you contribute to bettering the environment?Here are some tips.

It's easy to point a finger at others or to lament about the environment damage caused by pollution or deforestation, but when it comes to lending a helping hand, most of us don't have the time, which is completely understandable. You may not be able to volunteer your services, but you can definitely do your bit to help.

Don't use plastic bags

One of the most annoying statements often heard in shops is: "Can I have another bag please?" After all, plastic bags are for free, so we might as well take home an extra one. "Oh, I really need plastic bags," we say. May we do, but the earth definitely doesn't! Perhaps some day in the future we would be able to send all our non-disposable garbage into outer space, but until that day comes, those plastic bags are just going to be piling up in ever-expanding junkyards.

The extremely thin plastic bags (less than 20 microns) that most grocery and general stores stock, are the ones that are the most hazardous to the environment. So the next time you go shopping, carry your own cloth or plastic bag instead of using a plastic bag supplied by the shopkeeper. Take a colourful cloth bag or haversack with you to the supermarket, and hand it over at the checkout counter so your shopping can be filled in it.

Separate your garbage

Keep a dustbin in every bedroom and throw dry waste such as paper, old bills, pencil shavings etc. in this dustbin. Collect this garbage in a separate bag. This constitutes your dry garbage, and can be recycled. Wet garbage constitutes kitchen and bathroom waste, and can be turned into manure and fertilizers. If you don't separate the garbage at the initial stages, a lot of time, energy and manpower goes into separating garbage later on, and by then a lot of the dry garbage would have been spoilt.

Recycle

Recycle even small scraps of paper. Reuse glass and plastic bottles instead of just throwing them away. Recycle egg cartons, boxes that your pizza came in and milk cartons.

Practice vermiculture

While vermiculture is not a total solution to waste disposal, it does help reduce the amount of garbage being disposed off. Humans generate millions of tons of garbage everyday, and the disposal of this garbage is becoming a problem too big to handle. Most of this garbage is just dumped into barren lands or used as landfills. By practicing vermiculture and generating compost, you will not only reduce the amount of garbage, but you will also enrich the soil.

Method

• Take a large wooden, clay or plastic bin with a cover. Make sure there are holes on top, so your worms can breathe.
• Make a bed for the worms by using moss, dried leaves, twigs and soil.
• Add red earthworms, not brown, to the bed, and sprinkle a little water so the bed is damp. Bury kitchen waste and food scraps such as fruit peels (eg. banana and orange peels), vegetable peels and waste (eg. carrot tops, potato peels, rotten vegetables), egg shells, etc. in the bedding.
• Do not add diary products, meat, fried food or the feces of your pet cat or dog.
• Keep shifting the bedding around and adding more kitchen waste.
• Within a few months the worms would have converted the waste to manure.

Do you recycle, separate your garbage or practice vermiculture? How do you contribute to bettering the environment?