The amount of waste the United States produces in a single year is astronomical. According to a study conducted in 2012 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Americans generated more than 251 million TONS of trash in one year. To put that number into perspective, let’s consider the size of the wise and gentle elephant. One male African elephant can weigh up to eight tons. Therefore, the amount of trash we threw into landfills that year is equivalent to 31,375,000 elephants. PS: That’s more than the entire population of African elephants on the planet — YIKES! With so much trash being produced by us each year, there must be more lucrative solutions to our overflowing landfills. Luckily, some old school hipsters in 1970 kick-started the first Earth Day, which introduced the idea of recycling to the United States.

In the same study conducted in 2012, the EPA found that 87 million tons, or approximately 34% of the trash produced, was recycled waste. While 34% is a much higher number than in previous years, it could still be higher. The EPA recommends a three step system to take control of the waste in your life. These three steps are easy to remember, as they all start with an “r”: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

The following image demonstrates how this concept is a constant loop, rather than a one-way model.

The first step in the process, reduce, ties in very closely to the second step, reuse. The EPA suggests that the easiest way to reduce your waste is to create less in the first place. Each time you buy a new plastic water bottle instead of investing in a thermos, new materials must be produced to offset the bottle you’ve just used. Making new materials requires the use of raw materials. These raw materials that are taken from the Earth must be remade and transported. This costs money and transporting the goods burns fuel. Therefore, by reducing the amount of new materials made and reusing materials you already have, you are saving both money and materials. In addition to these benefits, reducing and reusing materials also lowers the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gases cause climate change, which contributes to everything from intensified storms to the melting of the polar ice caps. Using products to their fullest extent makes it so that less materials are being made each day, which will not only lower the amount of trash generated, but also lower the amount of recycling generated each year. Although recycling is beneficial to the environment, it is still ideal to reuse as much as possible.

There are a number of ways in which one can strive to lower their waste and increase their reuse of materials. Perhaps the most obvious way to reduce waste is to buy used. There are big name thrift shops, such as Goodwill or The Salvation Army, that offer donated shoes, clothes, furniture, dishes, and virtually every other kind of material for a discounted price. You can also check out thrift shops that are specific to your own city. In our weird and wonderful city, places such as Plato’s Closet, Buffalo Exchange, and Thrift Land offer a vast selection of goods. There are ways in which you can lower the amount of disposable items you use on a daily basis as well. For example, rather than packing your lunch in a paper bag each day, buy a reusable lunch box. Instead of buying a cup of coffee from Starbucks, bring a coffee mug to work and use the community coffee pot. Another way to reduce waste is to buy items with minimal packaging. There is no reason to purchase an item that is wrapped in six layers of cardboard, plastic, or Styrofoam. All these items do is create clutter.

The “big five” items that are recyclable include paper, plastic, cardboard, aluminum, and glass. However, there are plenty of other items, such as food waste and clothing, that can be recycled as well. Most recycling plants will accept the “big five”, but you may need to do a little digging to determine where you can recycle old furniture, electronics, and clothing in your area. The easiest way to recycle is to keep everything sorted that you’ve used. Any department store or more specialty shops, such as The Container Store, will have a number of items (think: RubberMaid) to choose from, depending on how much recycling you incur in a week.

Fun Fact: Goodwill will take any item, even if it is ripped or stained, and send it to a recycling plant if they deem it unfit for resale.

So try this! Each day this week, find something in your life that you can reduce, reuse, or recycle. Whether it’s going to a vintage thrift shop for a weekend shopping trip with your girlfriends, recycling your plastic water and buying a reusable one, or setting up a method for keeping your recyclables separated at your home, you will be doing a big part to not only help the environment, but keep the amount of waste generated by our massive population under control.

Have a cool or interesting way that you’ve been reducing the amount of waste in your life? Comment below and let us know the steps you’re taking to sustain the environment in our ever-growing world!