{"id":8623,"date":"2010-09-07T16:12:31","date_gmt":"2010-09-07T21:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sustainablog.org\/?p=8623"},"modified":"2010-09-07T16:12:31","modified_gmt":"2010-09-07T21:12:31","slug":"green-living-tips-garbage-recycling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Living Tips: Greening Your Garbage (Beyond Recycling)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3056\/2633967782_be3c97d5d4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"270\" height=\"360\" \/>There are many ways to make your garbage just a little bit more environmentally friendly. You know about recycling and how important it is. But even when you do that, you\u2019re still left with trash bag after trash bag full of garbage.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to garbage, seek out packaging that can be recycled. Containers and tubs that cookies, butters, cakes, and dips come in can all be used for other purposes. If an item comes with styrofoam, it can easily be used to repackage or store other breakable items. If you are really creative, you may just be able to turn your <a href=\"http:\/\/www.trashtotreasuredecorating.com\/2009\/11\/kitchen-night-light.html\">trash into new, creative decorations<\/a>. In addition, carrying your own reusable shopping bags is an easy way to cut back on the trash.<\/p>\n<p>Despite your efforts, it is important to remember that certain items are just bound to hit the trash. <!--more-->The best part about many of these items that hit the garbage today is that manufactures are now meeting the needs of consumers as well as the environment. Many disposable products are now biodegradable. For instance, bags, eating utensils, plates, cups, to-go containers, and others are now being made much more environmentally friendly.<\/p>\n<p>What happens to your trash bags, though? You probably don\u2019t want to know just how long it takes for your typical trash bag to break down. Companies like <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/choices\/stout-compostable-trash-bags\">Biobag<\/a>*, Ecosafe, Indaco, and Green Genuis are now making biodegradable waste bags. These biodegradable bags are made from a mix of biopolymers which allows for them to completely biodegrade without leaving behind any unwanted residues.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re trying to take up <a href=\"http:\/\/www.paystolivegreen.com\/\">green living<\/a>, consider switching out your normal trash bag for one of these greener-garbage alternatives:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>True Green Biodegradable Trash Bags: <\/strong>These bags only take 90 days to decompose as opposed to thousands of years with those other trash bags. In addition, they are made with recycled material.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Plastic Biodegradable Bags by Green Genius Company<\/strong>: These biodegradable trash bags have the strength and price of a regular trash bag but are much more green.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bag-To-Nature Kitchen Waste Bags:<\/strong> These bags are strong enough to hold all your garbage, take abuse, and can be tied easily. They do not leak and are unaffected by moisture. Best part, they decompose just as easily. These bags cost about $8 for ten bags and can be purchased at Ace Hardware.<\/li>\n<li><strong>CVS Biodegradable Trash Bags:<\/strong> Even store brands are catching on to the trend. The packaging is made from 100% recycled materials and each bag is made of 70% recycled materials.  There is an entire section in CVS devoted to green products such as bathroom tissue, kitchen paper, and trash bags.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The average family throws away nearly <a href=\"http:\/\/www.oureverydayearth.com\/2009\/04\/26\/bio-degradable-trash-bags-cvs-pharmacy-deserves-a-mention\/\">1,500 plastic bags<\/a> a year. Biodegradable bags will help make a huge difference in our environment. Think about it. There are nearly one trillion plastic bags that reach our earth and spend thousands of years decomposing. You can help the environment by doing something you always do anyways\u2026by taking out the trash.<\/p>\n<p><em>Veronica Davis is a freelance writer and internet business columnist for Examiner. She works with several businesses online, including ones that focus on green living and saving money.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Keep in mind that there are reusable versions of many products you normally toss, including <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/categories\/eco-living\/reusable\/reusable-coffee-filters\">coffee filters<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/categories\/eco-home\/energy-efficient-appliances\/rechargable-batteries-and-chargers\">batteries<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/categories\/health\/green-outdoor\/water-bottles\">water bottles<\/a><\/em><em>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/categories\/clothing\/accessories\/eco-bags\/organic-totes\">shopping bags<\/a><\/em><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Image credit: <\/strong>zozo2k3 at Flickr under a Creative Commons license<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are many ways to make your garbage just a little bit more environmentally friendly. You know about recycling and how important it is. But even when you do that,&nbsp;[ &hellip; ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":17668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,79],"tags":[4559,4615,915,523,689],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Green Living Tips: Greener Garbage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"No matter how green you live, you&#039;re still going to throw some things away. Find out how to keep that garbage as a green as possible...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Green Living Tips: Greener Garbage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"No matter how green you live, you&#039;re still going to throw some things away. Find out how to keep that garbage as a green as possible...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-09-07T21:12:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/2633967782_be3c97d5d4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"375\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"vdavis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"vdavis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"vdavis\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/bad0d8377d6cccf4adc6020c20970997\"},\"headline\":\"Green Living Tips: Greening Your Garbage (Beyond Recycling)\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-07T21:12:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-09-07T21:12:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/\"},\"wordCount\":568,\"commentCount\":4,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"bags\",\"biodegradeable\",\"garbage\",\"plastic\",\"trash\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Living\",\"Products\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/\",\"name\":\"Green Living Tips: Greener Garbage\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-07T21:12:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-09-07T21:12:31+00:00\",\"description\":\"No matter how green you live, you're still going to throw some things away. Find out how to keep that garbage as a green as possible...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Green Living Tips: Greening Your Garbage (Beyond Recycling)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\",\"name\":\"Sustainablog\",\"description\":\"Since 2003, Sustainablog has been one of the pioneers of sustainability news online.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Sustainablog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":142,\"caption\":\"Sustainablog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/bad0d8377d6cccf4adc6020c20970997\",\"name\":\"vdavis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1b4ad9c6c97e2e5072c35830888e144?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1b4ad9c6c97e2e5072c35830888e144?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"vdavis\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/author\/vdavis\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Green Living Tips: Greener Garbage","description":"No matter how green you live, you're still going to throw some things away. Find out how to keep that garbage as a green as possible...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Green Living Tips: Greener Garbage","og_description":"No matter how green you live, you're still going to throw some things away. Find out how to keep that garbage as a green as possible...","og_url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/","og_site_name":"Sustainablog","article_published_time":"2010-09-07T21:12:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":375,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/2633967782_be3c97d5d4.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"vdavis","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"vdavis","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/"},"author":{"name":"vdavis","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/bad0d8377d6cccf4adc6020c20970997"},"headline":"Green Living Tips: Greening Your Garbage (Beyond Recycling)","datePublished":"2010-09-07T21:12:31+00:00","dateModified":"2010-09-07T21:12:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/"},"wordCount":568,"commentCount":4,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization"},"keywords":["bags","biodegradeable","garbage","plastic","trash"],"articleSection":["Living","Products"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/","name":"Green Living Tips: Greener Garbage","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-09-07T21:12:31+00:00","dateModified":"2010-09-07T21:12:31+00:00","description":"No matter how green you live, you're still going to throw some things away. Find out how to keep that garbage as a green as possible...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-living-tips-garbage-recycling\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Green Living Tips: Greening Your Garbage (Beyond Recycling)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/","name":"Sustainablog","description":"Since 2003, Sustainablog has been one of the pioneers of sustainability news online.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization","name":"Sustainablog","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg","width":200,"height":142,"caption":"Sustainablog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/bad0d8377d6cccf4adc6020c20970997","name":"vdavis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1b4ad9c6c97e2e5072c35830888e144?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1b4ad9c6c97e2e5072c35830888e144?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"vdavis"},"url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/author\/vdavis\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8623"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}