You can greatly reduce your ecological footprint by repairing, borrowing, or renting instead of buying, mending, and repurposing old clothes, thrifting, purchasing from sustainable brands, and recycling aluminum cans, glass bottles, paper, wood, plastics leftover paint, concrete, household hazardous waste, various types of lighting, smoke/CO alarms, and iron and steel scrap.
Recycling single-use household batteries ideally should have the ends taped so that they cannot touch each other to prevent a fire from occurring. They should be stored separately to avoid being crushed and igniting fires at the recycling facility, composting facility, and landfill sites or leaching harmful chemicals into local ecosystems. Take non-rechargeable batteries to most hardware stores and stores where batteries are sold for recycling, free of charge.
We can all do our part to reduce single-use plastics, straws, utensils, and paper cups by bringing a reusable water bottle, or thermal coffee mug and packing lunches using sustainable packing and more.
Take the time to check out local recycling depots that take the products that are not picked up by your waste management collector, such as computers and electronics, soft plastics, batteries, paint cans, and more hazardous products, etc. Some communities have free days once a month where you can bring in such items as rubber tires without charge.
Plastics that are not readily recyclable -#3(pvc), #4(ldpe), #5(pp), #6(ps), #7 (other)
Good Housekeeping: Exactly What Every Plastic Recycling Symbol Really Means
Recycle Coach: 22 Top Recycling Tips for the Workplace That You Can Implement Today
One Green Planet: Could Turning Plastics into Detergents Help with Plastic Pollution?
Making unit – Plastic bottles recycling process
America’s Plastic Makers: 9 Simple Tips to Recycle More Plastic
TreeHugger: Are To-Go Food Containers Recyclable?
Phys.org: Plastic recycling is failing—here’s how the world must respond
UN – Nations agree to end plastic pollution
EarthDay: 7 Tips to Recycle Better
TrvstWorld: 20 Recycling Tips for Effective Recycling at Home
Inceptive Mind: New recycling process recovers 98% of metals from battery waste
Inceptive Mind: Lithium-ion batteries made with recycled materials are better than new
Trvst.org: How To Dispose of Old Lighters Correctly and Safely
EcoSnippets: Great Pacific Garbage Patch Is Growing At An Exponential Rate
Daniel Toben: Traveling the country, cleaning up along the way!
Recycle Across America: Tips to Reduce Waste and Recycle Right
50 Ways to Help Clean up the Planet
EPA: Household Hazardous Waste
The Green Project: How to Properly Dispose of Unwanted Paint
Recycling Simplified: Become an Expert Recycler
Sustainability Times: Local initiatives can help tackle plastic pollution at its sources
Science Daily: The future of recycling could one day mean dissolving plastic with electricity
Trvst.org: What to do With Old Cell Phones? Tips for Recycling and Disposal
Insider Tech: How to Make Bricks From Plastic Trash
One Green Planet: 5 Ways to Repurpose Hundreds of Plastic Bottles with One Project
Good News Network: Turning Problematic Sea Algae into a Replacement for Plastic in Common Products