Earth Tips
What can we do about today's growing concerns: Sustainability and Global Warming?
A sustainable society is one of that lives within the self-perpetuating limits of its environment. It is not a "no growth" society but is one that recognizes the limits of growth while seeking alternate ways to make progress.
Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Green Ideas
Reduce your Carbon Footprint.
This is the measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide.
Take the "Engine Idling Law" Seriously.
Engine idling releases poisonous carbon emissions which contribute to global warming. It's illegal to idle your engine for more than 3 minutes.
Consider Solar Lights
for walk-ways or patios. They use zero electricity and cause zero carbon emissions.
Use Cell Phone are Toxic!
Collection sponsored by Greenwich Green & Clean and Greenwich Recycling Advisory Board.
380 Billion Plastic Grocery Bags are used by Americans each year
= 1 million barrels of oil thrown away. Return them to the store or bring your own bags.
Buy Re-usable and Long Lasting Items.
Try using re-chargeable batteries and avoid buying disposable products such as razors and paper plates.
Be Picky About Packaging.
Choose products with minimal packaging. Snack size packages cost more and use more raw materials.
Don't Touch Those Grass Clippings!
Leave them on your lawn so nitrogen is naturally returned to the soil.
Discuss "Green Construction" Ideas with your contractor.
Recycle Mixed Paper
Junk mail, phone books, catalogs, envelopes, magazines, cards. Back door pickup--It's Free! Call your hauler or Greenwich Recycling office at 622-0550.
Give stuff a second life.
Use it again, turn it into something elese, share it or donate.
Did You Know?
The average person create 7 pounds of garbage a day.
56% of CT waste is turned into electricity.
In Connecticut, trash that isn't recycled is burned to generate electricity at one of our state's 6 Trash-to-Energy plants.
You could drive your car one mile with the oil it takes to make 14 plastic grocery bags.
Every ton of recycled office paper saves 380 gallons of oil.
We would save over 2.5 billion bags
a year if just 25% of U.S. families used 10 fewer plastic bags each month.
A leaky faucet can waste up to 5 gallons of water a day.
Pizza Boxes are not Recyclable
Recycle corrugated cardboard at Holly Hill. Flatten clean boxes, remove tape and styrofoam.
Recycling One Aluminum Can
saves enough energy to run your TV for 3 hours.
E-Waste
= old TVs, cell phones, computers & other electronics which contain toxic materials that can leach into our water supply. Save these for the E-Waste Collection Day to be hosted by Greenwich in the Spring.
Electricity is one of the biggest producers of carbon emissions
so every time you make coffee or turn on the television you are adding to global warming.
Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
use about a third as much electricity as standard light bulbs.
Glass produced from recycled glass
instead of raw materials reduces related air pollution by 20% and water pollution by 50%.
Alternative Energy
sources can be researched through CL&P. For just pennies a week, you can reduce carbon emissions by choosing energy from wind, solar and other sustainable sources.
Stop Unwanted Junk Mail.
Go to www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmamilinglist
Reducing Emissions equates to reducing global warming.
Respecting Nature
Trees naturally & continuously clean our air.
An average tree breathes in 330 pends of CO2 from carbon emissions and release oxygen in the form of clean breathable air.
Attract birds, butterflies and beneficial insets
with a drink of water fro a birdbath or garden fountain.
Save our forests.
Recycling just 1 ton of paper can save 17 trees and 7,000 gallons of water. Use both sides of the paper, think before you print, consider cloth napkins, use rags and old t-shirts instead of paper towels.
It takes 75,000 trees to produce the Sunday edition of The New York Times.
Save our trees by recycling newspapers.
Americans use 50 million tons of paper annually,
consuming more than 850 million trees.
Choose natural fertilizers for your lawn!
Chemical fertilizers from our lawn run into Long Island Sound and cause algae blooms, which then decompose in water as the oxygen is consumed by bacteria, resulting in hypoxia which kills fish.
Once is Not Enough
What's Recyclable, What's Not?
Should you recycle or throw it away? What to do with Hazardous materials? Please click here for more information.
Recycling does take a little bit of effort.
We can no longer stuff everything into a trash bag. Connecticut law requires us to recycle.
Recycling Saves Greenwich $.
Each Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority member town pays a per-ton fee for accepting its garbage but is charged nothing for recyclables. Thus the more you recycle, the less Greenwich has to pay to dispose of trash.