Green Home Blog 4 Fixes Toward Your Zero Waste Home

Making your home green is so 2018. This year, the new challenge is making your home zero waste. This goes beyond recycling bins, LED lightbulb replacement and paperless billing. This is an assault on all that makes your in-home carbon footprint higher than it should be despite peripheral greening attempts.Give theses 4 fixes toward your zero waste home a try and get off the toxic grind altogether. Before you know it, you'll be surprised at how your zero waste mission is healthy for you and the planet at the same time.Mason Jars, Yup, Mason JarsKeeping with past tradition when over consumption and digital distractions where never a concern, food storage in Mason jars is highly effective. When heading toward a zero waste home, eliminating as much packaging as possible is recommended. Buy food you can safely store in bulk and Mason jars are the perfect containers. They not only keep food dry and pest-free but they can be reused, don't leach plastic into food, and look great, often with decorative labeling available.Save and UseComposting is an ancient practice that is even more essential today. The ability to save scraps of organic waste (egg shells, orange peels, coffee grounds, and spoiled foods) and churn it into highly potent, fertile soil can be highly beneficial. In-home composters (great for urban dwellers) or outdoor composting bins, will significantly reduce your in-home garbage. This is a highly useful practice and simple tool toward zero waste living.Some benefits of composting as posted by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) include:Organic waste in landfills generates, methane, a potent greenhouse gas. By composting wasted food and other organics, methane emissions are significantly reduced.Compost reduces and in some cases eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers.Compost promotes higher yields of agricultural crops.Compost can capture and destroy 99.6 percent of industrial volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) in contaminated air.Compost enhances water retention in soils.Charcoal WaterThe perpetual waste from producing and using bottled water is tragic. In 2017 Forbes reported that,Plastic bottles are commonly made from polyethylene terephthalate (Pet), which take 400 years to naturally decompose.It is estimated that by 2050 the ocean will contain more plastic by weight than fish.Globally humans buy a million plastic bottles per minute.12 billion metric tons of plastic will find a home in landfills by 2050.The list goes on with oil and other natural resources continually wasted on this perverse convenience. Fortunately there have been many attempts at lessening this global problem that includes paper water bottles and in-home filtration. However, the simplest, least expensive solution toward a zero waste home and clean water is using a charcoal stick. Simply drop one of these sticks into a reusable water bottle or pitcher for easy, clean water without the waste.Ways2GoGreen writes,"Activated charcoal sticks last for six months and are 100% recyclable and reusable. All you have to do is "recharge" the stick after three months of use by boiling it in water for a few minutes and letting it dry in the sunlight. They are made of kiln-heated Japanese oak branches, which makes them completely organic."Bidet ItIt is estimated that Americans use 50% more toilet paper than Europeans which is about 84 million rolls per day or 12 billion rolls per year. Then there's the fact that approximately 384 trees are cut down to provide toilet paper for one American's lifetime. These insane calculations show how such precious resources are being wasted. One of the best remedies for saving trees is by installing a bidet (bit-day).A bidet is a toilet attachment that cleans you with a gentle spray of warm water. These can be purchased built into the toilet unit or as a separate (less expensive) add-on you can easily install yourself. Some may feel using water instead of toilet paper is more about wasting water than trees. However, it has been shown that the water usage is minimal compared to the devastating effects of deforestation. Plus, using a bidet has also been linked to a healthier practice than the constant abrasion of wiping. Lifehacker estimates that a switch to bidets instead of toilet paper could save 15 million trees annually, an equivalent to 36.5 billion rolls of toilet paper. These 4 fixes toward your zero waste home are an excellent jumping off point to significantly reduce your carbon footprint while diminishing your reliance on municipal services.