Set sprinklers to water the lawn or garden only - not the street or sidewalk.
Use the microwave to cook small meals. (It uses less power than an oven.)
Purchase "Green Power" for your home's electricity. (Contact your power supplier to see where and if it is available.)
Scrape, rather than rinse, dishes before loading into the dishwasher; wash only full loads.
Cut back on air conditioning and heating use if you can.
Turn off appliances and lights when you leave the room.
Try to imagine the colossal amount of waste we humans create on a daily basis.
Did you know, for instance, that the U.S.-based Algalita Marine Research Foundation identified a huge trash pile floating just beneath the surface of the North Pacific Central Gyre? It's a spot in the ocean where the wind barely blows, the current flows clockwise and the ocean is often undisturbed and glassy, a leisurely spot for a garbage floe twice the size of the continental U.S.
Back in 2000, the crew of the ORV Alguita, the Algalita Foundation's ship, set out to study the gyre and reported, "The low point of our 6,000-mile voyage to the North Pacific High was the discovery of an alarmingly large number of plastic bags in the center of the North Pacific Central Gyre."
It took 10 miles for the ship to leave the mess behind.
That was eight years ago. In 2007, the ORV Alguita expedition showed "a five-fold increase in plastic quantities in the Gyre." On Feb. 23, the Alguita returned from yet another gyre study expedition. Blogging during the trip, they reported, "Finding alarming quantities of plastic – more than we have ever found before."
"The biggest concentration we find is of wrappers from potato chip bags, food wrappers, plastic water bottles and Styrofoam, and those start at your trash bin on your street," Algalita Foundation executive director Marieta Francis says.
Back on land, awareness of the plastic problem is building.
Most communities do not recycle plastic efficiently. In Arlington, for instance, the city's recycling coordinator, Lorrie Anderle, says even though plastic bags are technically recyclable, they cannot go in curbside pick-up because they gum up automated sorting equipment and shut down the line. With no good place to toss plastic bags, "they end up being litter," Mrs. Anderle says. "You see them stuck in trees, they end up in creeks and can potentially be harmful for birds and animals."
The Arlington City Council is considering banning plastic bags; San Francisco has already done so. Texas-owned Whole Foods Market will discontinue use of plastic bags in all 270 of its stores on Earth Day, while other retailers such as Wal-Mart accept used plastic bags for recycling.
Meanwhile, companies like Trex, a manufacturer of composite decking, railing and fencing, turns millions of pounds of recycled plastic grocery bags into building materials. Trex says its average 500-square-foot composite Trex deck contains about 140,000 recycled plastic bags. Locally, Grand Prairie business Poly- America, which makes trash bag material, is ranked one of the largest recyclers of polyethylene in the world.
One way around the plastic problem is to carry your own reusable shopping totes to the grocery store, drugstore and other retailers.
Algalita has a motto. "What we say is 'Do no more harm,' " Ms. Francis says. "Don't keep contributing to our throw-away society."
For Fido's waste, new products made of cornstarch or cardboard are hitting the market, but remember, biodegradable plastics break down better in a compost pile than in a landfill.
BioBags dog-waste bags (150 for $19.99) and trashbin liners (125 for $29.99) are made of a starch-based plastic for faster biodegradation. Green Living, 1904 Abrams Parkway and online at Clean Air Gardening, www.cleanairgardening.com
Skooperbox ($11.99 for medium, $12.99 for large) skips plastic completely. The box is made of 100-percent- recycled cardboard material designed for pet mess pick-up and Earth-friendly disposal. www.skooperbox.com
