5 Ways to Save Money While Going Green

By Erich Lawson

Everybody wants to be a superhero and you can be one as well— a superhero who saves both the planet along with money. How? Well, some of the ways include recycling, conserving energy, limiting greenhouse gas emissions and keeping the waste out of landfills. Read on to know more.

Recycling Electronics

According to the EPA, Americans discard more than 2 million tons of obsolete, ‘dead’ electronic products annually. Instead of throwing them out and filling up the dumps and landfills with such gadgets, you can sell them on various websites such as buymytronics.com, uSell and Gazelle. Each site offers a different price based on the electronic gadget you want to sell and most cover the shipping costs as well. If you are unable to sell your electronics on these sites, you can either choose between electronic recycling or donate them.

Composting

According to the EPA, Americans spend around $5.25 billion on fertilizers for their  landscaping purposes. However, you can get a major portion of fertilizer for free by composting. Just gather leaves, vegetable scraps, grass clippings and other organic waste and use composter for composting. It is a simple way to add nutrient-rich humus into your ground, it recycles your kitchen and yard waste in an efficient manner, and helps in reducing landfill waste. Composting can divert as much as 30you’re your household waste from the garbage can.

Conserving Energy

One of the most pocket-friendly thing you can do is to invest in energy efficient devices. Change your incandescent bulbs with LED or CFL bulbs. Replace the thermostat with a high-tech programmable thermostat as it can save you an estimated 10% on heating and cooling costs in a year, according to the EPA. Buy Energy Star certified appliances as they consume less electricity and last longer. Unplug appliances when they are not in use or use a ‘smart strip’ that senses when appliances are switched off and minimizes the ‘phantom’ energy use. Dry your clothes on a clothesline if it’s sunny outside instead of using the dryer and wash your clothes in cold water as the machine consumes 85% more energy for heating the water.

Ditch Bottled Water

According to the latest Beverage Marketing Company (BMC) report, Americans spent $11.8 billion dollars on bottled water in 2012. Individually, that makes an average of $240 dollars per year on bottled water. This is really hard on your wallet and also harmful to the environment. The discarded plastic water bottles end up in a landfill as they generate a large amount of container waste. Additionally, it takes over a hundred years for plastic to degrade. You can save money and help save the environment by investing in a reusable water bottle, preferably a glass or aluminum one. Purify the tap water, fill up the bottle and take it wherever you go. You can keep refilling the reusable bottle.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Recycling is one of the most efficient ways to earn some money while saving the environment. Various organizations implement strategies to reduce mostly the paper waste, but there are other areas where it is possible to reduce waste materials such as cardboard, toners, furniture, IT equipment, etc. Check which materials you can reuse, recycle and reduce. Conducting a waste check periodically will help you determine how much waste you are producing, which can help in determining how to minimize them.

You will not only save money by taking these simple steps, but you will also contribute to the environment in a positive manner as well.

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Author Bio

Erich Lawson is passionate about saving environment by effective recycling. He has written a wide array of articles on how modern recycling equipments can be used by industries to reduce monthly garbage bills and increase recycling revenue. You can learn more about environment savings techniques by visiting Northern California Compactors, Inc blog