Efficiency Equals Reduction
By Lillian & Dave Brummet, Fri Dec 9th

Efficiency Equals Reduction (400 words)

Imagine that if at the grocery store the person bagging yourpurchases left empty, unused spaces in each bag causing you tocarry 10 instead of 5 bags out to your car then into your home.You would be investing some extra time, energy and space when itwas unnecessary. Now transfer that thought to the waste andrecycling industry. Instead of filling a trash bag or bin withlarge empty spaces, we can all do some simple acts to help keeptransportation costs down while reducing fossil fuel consumptionand saving ourselves some time and money.

The flattening of boxes greatly increases space efficiency in abin. This does not just apply to cardboard boxes, but alsoincludes any paperboard (cereal or pet food) ones as well.Crushing cans before recycling is much more easily done if it ispossible to remove both the top and bottom lids first. Foilproducts are easily flattened by hand.

Periodically crush your garbage bag down to its true size – youwill find that it does not need to be placed on the curb asoften. Fewer trips to the dump means less fossil fuel consumedand reduced curbside idling – idling is known to be terriblyinefficient and more polluting than vehicles on the move.Garbage collection

Tour de France 2005
Lance Armstong bows out of cycling with his seventh-straight Tour de France title.
Tour de France 2004
Lance Armstrong wins his record-breaking sixth Tour de France in Paris.
2003
Lance Armstrong won the best Tour de France in years and Britain gained new world champions.
Tour de France 2003
Lance Armstrong becomes only the second rider to claim a fifth consecutive title.
2002
The year saw another Lance Armstrong Tour de France win but also sponsorship doubts.
Tour de France 2002
Armstrong's fourth, Jalabert's second but McEwen breaks Zabel's run in green.
2001
The full story
Tour de France 2001
Lance Armstrong's third win sees Laurent Jalabert take the King of the Mountains prize and Erik Zabel repeat his green jersey win.
2000
Review of the year
Tour de France 2000
Lance Armstrong repeats his 1999 success while Santiago Botero wins the King of the Mountains.
GB glory sealed by Wiggins treble

Heras claims third Vuelta
Roberto Heras win the Tour of Spain for a record-equalling third time.
Cunego wins Giro d'Italia
Damiano Cunego holds off his rivals to win the Giro d'Italia by more than two minutes.
Cooke seals Italy title
Nicole Cooke triumphs at the Giro d'Italia.
Freire seals world title
Oscar Freire wins the World Championship road race for the third time in his career.

fees are more easily maintained by thecompany due to reduced costs per bag, and some companies evenoffer a discount for those who produce less waste. Also worthnoting is that the household will go through fewer plasticgarbage bags.

Some kitchen waste disposal units tend to put unnecessarypressure on overtaxed sewage plants. A much better option is topractice composting or vermiculture methods instead. Compostingorganic waste reduces household trash by approximately 30%. Goone step further by reusing various plastic bags to isolatesmelly meat, bones and pet waste. By controlling odors in thegarbage, the bag will not have to be put out on the curb asoften.

So, imagine that if your waste and recycling was now half thesize that it typically was before. That means in theory thewaste pickup service would decrease costs by 50%, the landfillwould be receiving half of what it used to, fewer trips to therecycling depot, less pollution…

Well you get the picture. It is easy to make a difference and wecan all start at home. Right where we are.

About the author:-- Written by Dave and Lillian Brummet based on the concept oftheir book, Trash Talk. The book offers useful solutions for theindividual to reduce waste and better manage resources. A guidefor anyone concerned about his or her impact on the environment.(http://www.sunshinecable.com/~drumit)