SOLID WASTE DEPARTMENT
DIVISION OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
SOURCE REDUCTION
Washington County residents and businesses can help our community by eliminating waste that would need to be collected, and then recycled or landfilled. Listed below are some tips for reducing waste.
A) Watch what you buy.
- Buy items that are durable instead of disposable or cheaply made.
- Avoid excess packaging and buy concentrated products.
- Buy only what you need and avoid impulse buying.
B) Look for ways to reduce waste.
- Use your computer to reduce paper waste.
- Reduce the margins
- Design memos, letters, etc., to save paper.
- Don’t print unless necessary and reuse back side of paper when possible.
- Get newsletters/subscriptions on line when possible.
- Reuse materials or give them to someone that can
reuse them.
- In the solid waste management hierarchy, reuse ranks above recycling. Do you have items you no longer need or want, which still have life in them? HAGERSTOWN FREECYCLERS try to find new homes for these items. Go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hagerstownfreecycle/.
- Don’t collect grass clippings and apply only fertilizer needed
- Use on site composting for yard debris and vegetable scraps.
C) Communicate to others the importance of source reduction.
- Share your ideas.
- Call toll free numbers to thank companies for smart packaging or to suggest better packaging.
- Express appreciation to local establishments when they make an effort to reduce waste and recycle.
Source Reduction Links:
- US Environmental Protection Agency
- Maryland Recycles
- National Recyclers Coalition
- Bikes for the World (donate/recycle your old bicycles)
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