The average American generates almost 5 pounds of waste each day. That’s almost 1 ton of trash per person, per year. Recycling is a quick and easy way to reduce your impact on the environment. 

So much of today’s packaging is recyclable. Some packaging you may not even realize can be recycled. With just a few adjustments, you can lessen the amount of trash you produce.

Here are some things you can recycle quickly and easily:

• The cardboard sleeve that protects your hands from your paper coffee cup
• The top of your pizza box (as long as there’s no grease on it), even though the bottom half of your pizza box isn’t recyclable.
• The foil wrap on Hershey Kisses 
• Plastic bottles and their caps 
• Cardboard toilet paper and paper towel cores 
• Plastic wrap on things like bread, paper towels, newspapers, and dry cleaning can be recycled where you recycle your plastic shopping bags.
• Paper, including boxes, magazines, food boxes (cereal, crackers, etc.), newspapers, and office copy and printer paper
• Glass jars and bottles, and aluminum and metal cans

Aside from recycling, there are some other things you can do to reduce your impact on the environment, while saving money:

• Bring your own mug to get coffee – paper cups increase waste and take up landfill space.
• Look for and purchase products that are made with recycled materials.
• Set your thermostat lower in the winter. Lowering your thermostat by one degree can cut as much as 10% of your heating bill.
• Set your thermostat higher in the summer. For each degree the thermostat is set above 72 degrees, you’ll save 1% to 3% of your cooling expense. 
• Unplug appliances when you’re not using them.
• Wash clothes in cold water whenever possible. Up to 85% of the energy used to machine-wash clothes is spent heating water.
• Install a low-flow showerhead.
• Take shorter showers to reduce water usage.
• Compost yard trimmings, as well as coffee grounds, egg shells, and fruit and vegetable scraps to reduce landfill space and help fertilize the soil.