DECLUTTERING YOUR HOME THE ECO-FRIENDLY WAY
First of all, shout-out to those of you who show a conscious love for the environment each time you consider decongesting your home of clutter. You are like the equivalent top 10% of the most admired wealthiest people on the planet.
There is this almost indescribable feeling of the sight of having your home free of clutter. I mean, think about it, not only does it discourage hide and seek by those irritating pests — cockroaches and rats, I’m talking to you — but it gives you a sense of pride that you prioritize orderliness and organization. Trust me, that scores you a lot of points when it comes to attracting the opposite sex, speaking of relationship turn-ons.
Now to the bane of this write-up, how can you improve your decluttering activities and goals without becoming a nuisance to the environment.
Hopefully, some of the tips I will be sharing here can inspire you to get it right and bring about a win-win situation for you and the environment.
Wardrobe decluttering: If you are looking to get rid of clothes you no longer fancy, perhaps because you have outgrown them, look no further as the Vietnam Veterans of America are looking forward to receiving clothing items from donors. What’s more you can also donate a vehicle for the cause. The organizers sell the clothes you donate to raise funds for the soldiers and recycle the ones they can’t sell. Resource link : https://www.mymove.com/moving/donations-and-removals/clothes-donation/
Food donations — For those who may not be well informed, here’s why it’s important to give away food that you do not want before it spoils.
Wasted food isn’t just a social or humanitarian concern — it’s an environmental one. When we waste food, we also waste all the energy and water it takes to grow, harvest, transport, and package it. And if food goes to the landfill and rots, it produces methane — a greenhouse gas even more potent than carbon dioxide. These greenhouses are major culprits contributing to climate change which has devastating effects on human and animal life.And it’s ironic because hunger is one of those undesirable consequences — something donating food helps to avoid.
There are a number of hunger-busting reputable charities in the US that give you the opportunity to make generous food donations. Check out this useful resource list
Electronic waste recycling -
According to the EPA, consumers should dispose of electronics via recycling because,”Electronic products are made from valuable resources and materials, including metals, plastics, and glass, all of which require energy to mine and manufacture. Donating or recycling consumer electronics conserves our natural resources and avoids air and water pollution, as well as greenhouse gas emissions.
Consumer recycling options include donating equipment directly to organizations in need, sending devices directly back to their original manufacturers, or getting components to a convenient recycler or refurbisher.
The EPA maintains a list of electronic recycling and donation options for American consumers. The National Cristina Foundation, TechSoup (the Donate Hardware List), the Computer Takeback Campaign, and the National Technology Recycling Project provide resources for recycling.
However, recycling is not practical in all cases, and disposal is sometimes necessary. When this is the case, a household consumer should consider whether the e-waste is household hazardous waste, and if so (which it often is), take it to a proper place for disposal.
Resource link — Electronic waste in the United States
The ‘Minimize-Prevention’ Strategy — What this is simply trying to say is that you as an individual should begin to take a more conscious decision with your purchasing habits and choices so that you don’t end up with something you will end up wanting to discard after a few weeks or months.
It’s all about working on yourself and your impulses to buy what you don’t need or what doesn’t fit you in the name of appearing fashionable. Remember the next time you want to pick up that trending pair of shoes or jeans at the store, that fashion comes and goes but style stays forever.
Cultivating this habit into a lifestyle will take some intentional effort and time, but will surely add up to helping you reduce build up of clutter in your home — and by extension you’d have less items to worry about disposing of in an environmentally friendly way. Here is a useful resource that gives tips on minimizing impulse shopping — https://kimbedene.com/how-to-shop-smarter/
Quality over Quantity — A smart strategy to consider when shopping items is to ensure what you are buying is its original version and not a cheap imitation. This way, you don’t end up with a worn-out shoe for example that ends up gathering dust under your bed,
and then start planning towards ‘trying your luck’ getting another pair of shoes that will hopefully last longer.
Resource link: https://kimbedene.com/how-to-shop-smarter/
Think reusable shopping bags: The use of plastic bags, paper bags, cotton tote bags amongst other shopping bags are currently embroiled in controversy among experts on which is best to use, and the most environmentally friendly and acceptable way to go about using them.
That said, the overarching principle of reusing your shopping bags as many times as is reasonable is very much the way to go to avoid cluttering your kitchen drawer with all sorts of shopping bags each time you are out grocery shopping.
It’s advisable to make it a habit to go out with your reusable shopping bags and also be mindful of what you shop — which recalls the point about minimalist lifestyle shopping as a way of reducing what would end up becoming an unused item in your home. You should note however that the ‘reusable’ mentality should be applied not only to grocery shopping bags. That Coke PET bottle for example can also be reused as a drinking water bottle instead of tossing it into the trash.
Here is a useful resource on my point: Here’s how many times you need to reuse your reusable grocery bags