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Earth Week Waste Challenge
HAPPY EARTH WEEK!
Earth Day 2020 Theme: Climate Action
On April 22, 1970 communities took to the streets to raise awareness for the declining state of the environment. Now, 50 years later, we’d like to celebrate that movement by challenging you to take action this week and every day after that to reduce your waste. Celebrating Earth Day from home presents the opportunity to look at our individual outputs into the environment and how we can improve our lifestyles to have less of an impact.
Did you know… rising levels of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are causing changes in our climate? And some of these changes can be traced to our production of waste. The manufacture, distribution, and use of products, as well as the management of the subsequent waste, all result in greenhouse gas emissions. Waste reduction and recycling are real ways we can help mitigate climate change. (EPA)
Please join us in a jam-packed week of waste challenges. We have compiled resources that present one action we can take each day this week to challenge ourselves to take responsibility for our waste contributions and create better habits for the future.
In need of more activities to keep you busy this week? Check out the Nevada Recycles Education Resource page for activity links!
THE EARTH WEEK WASTE CHALLENGE
Accepting the challenge? We’d love to see what our communities are up to! Send us a photo of you and your household attempting the Earth Week Waste Challenge and get a chance to be featured in our Nevada Recycles community spotlight!
What to include in the email:
- Your name(s)
- Photo(s)
- A short description of your activity and why protecting the environment is important to you.
Send the information above to our Education and Outreach Coordinator, Skylar Jones: s.jones[at]ndep.nv.gov.
You can also tag or follow us at @NevDCNR on Instagram and Facebook! Use the hashtag #NevadaConservationCam so we can see your posts.
LET’S GET STARTED
Monday April 20, 2020 - Reduce
Challenge #1: Conduct a household waste audit
Welcome to the first day of the Earth Week Waste Challenge! We’d like to start our challengers off with a waste audit of their household trash. A waste audit can be used to identify your family’s biggest waste streams and help you determine where to focus your waste reduction efforts.
Did you know… landfills release methane into the atmosphere as materials decompose? Methane is a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Therefore, diverting waste from your trash can, and ultimately landfills, is one way to help fight climate change! (EPA)
With the overwhelming amount of information out there on waste reduction, you may find it helpful to focus on just one or two waste streams that when removed from your family’s trash bin will be most effective in reducing your family’s contribution to Nevada’s landfills. Check out the resources below on how to conduct a simple household waste audit. What are your family's biggest waste streams and how do you plan to divert them? Let us know @NevDCNR!
How to conduct a waste bin audit
How to perform a home trash audit
How much plastic are you using?
Calculate your carbon footprint
Corona Virus and your carbon footprint
Other events happening today (4/20/2020):
Take Care Tahoe - Mother Nature Monday
Tuesday April 21, 2020 - Recycle
Challenge #2: Know what to throw
One of the easiest ways to divert materials from the landfill is by recycling. There are many different messages circulating regarding what belongs in your recycling bin, but the best way to know for sure is to visit your material recovery facility’s (MRF) website to understand what is being accepted in your area.
We have provided some resources to help you get started in your research to #knowwhattothrow and we challenge you to improve the recycling taking place in your household. Maybe the creation of a poster would be a good way for your family to know what belongs in the bin? Need a good activity for the kids to learn about recyclables and why recycling matters? Try the Recycling Partnership Reverse Scavenger Hunt or watch the “Life of a Plastic Bottle” video! What are some creative ways your family tackles recycling? Let us know @NevDCNR!
Waste Management's Recycling 101
Republic Service's Southern Nevada Recycle Guide
Elko Sanitation's Recycling Guide
Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful Recycling Guide by Material
Find your county's recycling resources
Other events happening today (4/21/2020):
EarthX on Future500 Presentation
Wednesday April 22, 2020 - Reuse
Challenge #3: Fix and DIY, don’t buy
Happy Earth Day challengers! Today, we want to give you something super fun! Your challenge is to fix, refurbish, or re-use one item in your household. Thinking about buying a brand-new couch pillow because the dog chewed the corner of your current one? Today’s a perfect day to reacquaint yourself with the lost art of sewing! Do you have seeds lying around you’ve been meaning to start before summer? Pull out some of those cans and bottles from your waste audit on Monday and reuse them as pots to get plants started. Do you have some clothes you’ve been meaning to take to the thrift store? Use them to make re-usable grocery bags or a new rug for the kids’ bathroom!
Did you know… resisting the temptation to buy new reduces emissions from energy consumption? When we reuse, fix, and refurbish our household items, less energy is needed to extract, transport, and process raw materials and to manufacture products. When energy demand decreases, fewer fossil fuels are burned and less carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere. (EPA)
We’d love to see your clever creations - don’t forget to send us photos of your renewed items or tag us on social media @NevDCNR!
Master Gardener - Starting Seeds Indoors
How to make a t-shirt grocery bag - no sewing required!
15 Creative Crafts Using Household Items
100 Ways to Repurpose Broken Household Items
Other Earth Day events happening today (4/22/2020):
EarthX - 50th Earth Day Celebration
EarthX on Future500 Presentation
Exploratorium's Virtual Earth Day Celebration
Earth Day Every Day with Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful
Discovery Education - Earth Day
Take a Virtual Field Trip for Earth Day
Thursday April 23, 2020 - Refuse
Challenge #4: Go zero waste for the day
It’s hard to practice “refusing” when you can’t really go anywhere, but you can still practice making conscious decisions at home. When someone offers a straw, our first instinct is to accept the straw without hesitation. Practicing zero waste and conscious consuming helps us develop the skill of refusal because refusing requires a similar thought process. Stop and ask yourself, “do I really need this item or can I substitute it with one I already have or a more environmentally friendly option?”. Attempting to generate zero waste for an entire day will help you develop awareness of the daily decisions we make as consumers and what the better option may be.
Did you know... if the the global population reaches its projected 9.6 billion by 2050, the equivalent of almost three planets could be required to provide the natural resources needed to sustain current lifestyles. (UN)
Recycling is a great practice, but it still requires energy to take one material and transform it back into a new usable material. That is why setting the ultimate goal of going zero waste is the best and most sustainable option. Find tips on going zero waste below and try it for yourself today. Discover a tip worth sharing? Post to your socal media and tag @NevDCNR or send in a photo!
The Beginner's Guide to Zero Waste Living
Other events happening today (4/23/2020):
EarthX Presentation on Renewables
Friday April 24, 2020 - Rot
Challenge #5: Compost creatively
Welcome to the last day of the Earth Week Waste Challenge! We’ve saved one of the best diversion options for last. Now that you are aware of how much food waste gets tossed in your household’s bin (from the waste audit on Monday), let’s work on creating a way to divert that waste stream!
Did you know… roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year – approximately 1.3 billion tons – gets wasted? Food waste accounts for 4.4 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions per year! (FAO)
But don’t worry, we have a solution for reducing your family’s contribution to this – composting! The beautiful thing about composting at home, is that it can be as simple or as complex as you’d like it to be. Whether you are able to create a pile in the back corner of your yard, keep a small worm bin on your apartment’s balcony, or just do as my mom did and bury food scraps deep in your garden beds, composting in any fashion helps divert food waste. What actions are you taking to reduce and divert your food waste? Let us know @NevDCNR!
Bonus Waste Challenge. Take on a little extra challenge today and try to use every food you cook with to its highest use. Did you know you can save and freeze veggie scraps to make vegetable broth? See this Zero Waste Chef article for more ideas on ways to utilize various food scraps to their highest potential.
5 Ways to Compost During a Pandemic
Grow Your Own Nevada - Top 5 Composting Mistakes
Composting 101 with Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful
Other events happening today (4/24/2020):
EarthX on Renewables Presentation
EarthX on Green Cities Presentation
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning and practicing ways to reduce your waste with us this week. As an environmental agency, we celebrate Earth Day every day and we want Nevadans to do so too! Every day presents an opportunity to learn something new about the everchanging relationship between people and the environment and new ways to make better choices to improve that relationship. We envision a Nevada where communities recognize and implement the sustainable use of all resources. Will you join us?
Resources:
1. https://archive.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/tools/payt/web/html/factfin.html
2. http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/nr/sustainability_pathways/docs/FWF_and_climate_change.pdf
3. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-consumption-production/