5 Little Green Habits, 1 Big Environmental Impact

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Replacing your regular to-go paper cup with a reusable one can save huge amounts of waste from going into the landfill and the resources it takes to make those single-use options.

Replacing your regular to-go paper cup with a reusable one can save huge amounts of waste from going into the landfill and the resources it takes to make those single-use options.

Everyone is setting big goals for the new year, but the cornerstone to growth comes from our habits. As Charles Duhigg says in his book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, “There’s nothing you can’t do if you get the habits right.”

Just like it takes regularly exercising to see the benefits, many eco-friendly habits are the same way. And those habits can add up to make a big difference at the end of the year. Here are a few greener habits you and I can instill to have a better 2020.

Stop using paper cups. To-go coffee cups are not recyclable. The thin plastic liner inside the cups makes the paper non-recyclable. By bringing your own reusable cup to work, you can cut down on you waste. If you go out for coffee, you can ask them to make your drinks in your reusable cup. While I always use my reusable cup for work, bringing my own cup to cafes is one my green goals for 2020. If you are able to save one paper cup a day for 10 years, you save 6 trees. Those six trees alone can absorb 288 pounds of CO2 per year.

Start pre-cycling. Recycling actually starts from the time you buy an item. We can recycle plastic bottles and jugs but we can’t take tubs or plastic pouches. So, when you’re in the store and have a choice between buying an item packaged in recyclable packaging or non-recyclable packaging try going with the recyclable option. Even if you only use one soda bottle a week and two jugs a month, you are recycling 10 pounds of plastic every year. Recycling 10 pounds of plastic saves 3.5 gallons of oil. Plastic can take billions of years to break down in a landfill so the habit of recycling your plastics will have a benefit for years to come.

Turn off lights when you leave a room. Growing up, I didn’t take it seriously when my dad insisted on turning off lights when we left the house. Now, I have a much better understanding of the importance of saving energy. The average bulb takes about 20 watts to 60 watts to light which is wasted if no one is using it. So now I am working on building up this small habit again. Sometimes turning into your parent isn’t a bad thing. By turning off the lights, you reduce your greenhouse gas emissions by .15 pounds per hour. That can add up to 1,314 pounds at the end of the year.

Save leftovers. Package up your leftovers and use them for lunch the next day. Pro-tip: Put the date on the leftovers packaging using an expo marker. This way you can wipe it off the packaging. You also don’t have to try and remember when the last time you made spaghetti was and if it’s safe to eat. Americans waste about a pound of food per day. By eating leftovers or finding ways to use them in other dishes, you can save 365 pounds from being preserved in a landfill.

Use Both Sides of the Paper. This was a new habit for me in 2019 and I loved it. I could tell exactly how much paper I was saving. When you are done with both sides, make sure to recycle it. Every 20 pounds of paper (one standard box of office paper) that is reused or recycled saves one gallon of oil, five hours of electricity, and sixteen gallons of water.

If you are going to pick up only one green habit this year, make it be recycling regularly. Every item you recycle saves space in our landfill, creates jobs, and leads to more eco-friendly material for Georgia businesses to use. With some consideration for our daily small actions, we can create big changes for the Earth and feel that we have the power to make a difference.