Recycling keeps trash out of landfills by reusing the waste for another purpose. But precycling stops waste before it happens – how great is that? By implementing a few of these easy precycling tips, not only will you produce less waste, you can save lots of money while helping the environment.
1. Online Bank Statements
Sign up with your bank to receive your bank statements online. You may save a few trees and you can keep a closer watch on your account balance, preventing overdraft charges. Your bank will keep your cancelled checks and past statements online to view at any time, so it will free up filing space at your house as well.
2. Reuse Mugs
Many retail shops offer branded reusable mugs or sports bottles that are refillable at a discounted price after the initial purchase. For example, Starbucks offers a 25 pence discount to consumers who bring their own commuter mugs in for coffee. If you get a Starbucks every workday, that will say you £1.25 a week and immeasurable environmental savings from precycling (not using) the disposable cups.
3. Go Paperless
Ask investment and mutual fund companies that send you annual reports and prospectuses to notify you when the reports are available online instead of sending paper copies in the post. Not only are you saving volumes of paper, you are also saving the petrol that is burned delivering these reports to you via trucks and planes.
4. Ban bottles!
Use less bottled water, we all know bottled water is terrible. Try a water service or buy a filtration system or filtered pitcher for better tasting, cleaner water. When you’re going out, use refillable sports bottles to take with you. Almost 2 million tons of plastic are used each year for bottled water, not to mention the energy that is used to manufacture and ship this bottled water to market.
Find out here how to reduce water wastage.
5. Direct Debits!
Use Direct Deposit for your paycheck and pay your bills through Direct Payment-automatic deduction from your bank account. The paper you will save is just the beginning. The US government spent $79 million in 2005 transporting checks from bank to bank. Much of this money was spent on fuel costs. Using these services will greatly decrease the amount of carbon dioxide released in the air from the fuel that is burned just moving checks across the country. Your long-term savings can be significant. First, you will save gas costs by not having to drive to the bank to deposit checks or to the post office to mail bills. Second, you will save close to $100 per year on postage and check costs if you sign up for automatic payment of all your bills.
6. Reuse Grocery Bags
Reduce your use of paper and plastic bags. Use a reusable bag to carry your shopping home. Supermarkets in the UK charge 10p or more for shopping bags, so it’s cheaper to take your own. If you use the supermarkets’ bags, make sure they are filled to the top. Reuse the bags around the house for trash can liners and lunch bags. You can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10 per cent.
Hope these precycling tips helped you!