Trash Talk: Uncover Surprising Ways to Slash Your Household Waste

Corpus Christi sustainability

Reducing your household waste: have you thought of everything

Did you know a third of household waste is biodegradable?

According to Texan junk disposal company Dumpster Guys Corpus Christi, each person in Texas produces nearly 474 kg of household waste per year. How to reduce your waste, lighten your trash and do something for the environment? Here are some tips.

How to reduce your household waste? How to get a sustainable Texas?

Efficient sorting in the different bins to recycle glass, paper, cardboard, metal and plastic can help you. Here are simple actions to implement in your kitchen, your bathroom and more generally, your daily life.

Compost biodegradable waste

Did you know that a third of household waste is biodegradable? From 2024, it will be mandatory to recycle biodegradable waste. Organic food waste is ideal for making compost to reuse in a garden or for your indoor plants.

To do this, there are several solutions:

  • If you are at home: install a composter in your garden or a chicken coop (chickens are very fond of food scraps).
  • If you live in an appartment, opt for a worm composter (or vermicomposter). You can also try the bokashi, an airtight composter from Japan. Some condominiums also offer bins in common areas.
  • Finally, communities will be required to sort waste. Some cities in Texas like Corpus Christi therefore offer collective composters in the streets. Ask your town hall for more information.

Buy products in bulk

Many stores in Texas now offer food or household products sold in bulk or in recyclable packaging. To do your shopping in bulk, especially in organic or specialized stores, remember to bring your own reusable containers. Also invest in fabric shopping bags: most supermarkets no longer provide plastic bags.

Avoiding food waste

Each resident of Texas throws in the trash on average 33kg of food per year, including 12 kg of food still packaged. To avoid this mess, you can:

  • Establish a menu for the week and buy just what you need for your meals.
  • Make soups, quiches, etc. when your vegetables start to look gray.
  • Or jams, cakes or tarts with your candied fruit.

Cooking yourself is one of the keys to reducing waste in the kitchen and avoiding packaging ready-made meals.

Use household basics

For a more natural cleaning, a few basic cleaning products may be enough: white vinegar, baking soda, soda crystals, Meudon white, Marseille soap or black soap, lemon, essential oils. The Internet is full of recipes for making your own cleaning (or beauty) products, from window cleaner to detergent, including DIY dishwasher tablets.

Reduce your purchases of disposable products

Say goodbye to cotton swabs, paper tissues and absorbent paper, which represent around 8% of your waste. Replace them with durable items: reusable tea towels or wipes, washable makeup remover cottons, washable sanitary napkins or menstrual panties, washable diapers, cloth handkerchiefs, ear picks (oriculi), reusable wax-coated fabrics… Most of the everyday essentials have a lasting equivalent.

Favor large format products

Choose large or family size containers (for example for shower gel, laundry detergent, etc.) and refill them once empty. Opt for reusable formats as much as possible to save money and avoid wasting raw materials (paper, water, oil, etc.).

Go solid

Many cosmetic and body care brands today offer a range of solid hygiene products: soap, shampoo, makeup remover, toothpaste, etc. with the aim of eliminating unnecessary excess packaging. Enjoy it.

Put a Stop-Pub sticker on your mailbox

Using an Ad Stop on a mailbox is a simple gesture which nevertheless allows you to avoid up to 45 kilos of waste per year. Your local council can provide you with one for free, or you can make one yourself. To waste less paper, avoid printing too much.

Drink tap water

To limit the use of plastic in your home and reduce your waste, drink tap water rather than bottled water. If you are not satisfied with the taste of city water, know that there are several alternatives to purify it and obtain water without taste or odor that is pleasant to consume. Along the same lines, invest in reusable water bottles, rather than buying small plastic bottles.

Change your habits

Texas resident are used to regularly buying new products and throwing away items that no longer work. To limit your household waste:

  • Fix what can be fixed.
  • Borrow items you rarely use.
  • Resell or donate what you no longer need.

Throwing away less is possible: these tips will allow you to halve the household waste in your bin.