Waste prevention and management in North Carolina
Waste prevention is a fundamental approach to saving exhaustible raw materials; limiting the impacts related to the stages of production, transformation, transport and use of materials and products that generate this waste and reducing the cost of waste management for the community.
Five questions to ask yourself before buying anything:
- Composting
- Green waste: a real resource for the garden
- Reuse and repair
- Fighting food waste in the school canteen
- Fighting food waste at home
Before buying, think carefully! After a while, a purchase that seemed essential to you may no longer be. To help you, here is a potent waste management method:
N for “need”
What need does this purchase fulfil? Needs are hunger, thirst, sleep, respect, recognition, things that cannot be sold in the form of an object. Could the object you covet be a substitute for what you lack?
I for “immediacy”
Why buy right away? This is the second question to ask yourself. Can your decision wait? If the purchase can wait, it is worth thinking about. In a few days, weeks, you will have been able to verify the non-urgency of this purchase. Was it on sale and it is no longer? But if you were able to do without it for two weeks, it is because it can perhaps still wait for the next promotions, and so on.
S for “similar”
Third question, do I have something similar? A similar object that could do the job? This happens often, especially for small objects. For example, how many times have you bought a set square for your children, how many whisks for the kitchen, how many stands to put tablets and smartphones on the table? We often buy them again because their predecessors are lost at the bottom of a drawer or a cupboard. So, give yourself a virtual kiss and open the cupboards, there are probably lots of things to find there. It’s free.
O for “origin”
What is the origin (and not just geographical) of this product? Under what conditions is it manufactured? Where does it come from? Regarding the question of origin, we can also take into account the condition of the clothes and objects: are they new or second-hand? 20% of American people were ready to occasionally borrow equipment, glean objects or furniture on the sidewalk and carpool. These are ways of consuming without generating new manufacturing. During the end-of-year holidays, 32% of people offered second-hand products, according to a survey.
U for “useful”
Is this object useful? Am I going to use it? How many times? On which days? In the morning, in the evening, to go to the office or to the cinema? If we are not able to make a schedule for using an object, it is because it does not necessarily have a place in our world. There are other tools to help us consume, such as the BuyOrNot applications, which indicate the social impact of companies, helps us choose products that are healthier for our health and our environment.
The trend towards looking for the repairability of devices could also help us, and reduce the need for dumpster rental services as well as littering. Recent a new icon appeared on household appliances in North Carolina, such as washing machines and televisions. This is the repairability index, which tells consumers whether the device they are about to buy is easy to repair. The goal is to use all possible tools to make consumption less energy-intensive and less polluting.
What to do with green waste
Kitchen waste (peelings, leftovers, coffee grounds, etc.) represents 1/3 of household waste. To reduce your waste and practice composting, set up a shared composting site (in a catering establishment or at the foot of a building), do not hesitate to contact your friends for that. Green waste is a real resource for the garden! Simple practices allow you to avoid trips to the recycling center.
Mulching
Vacuuming and shredding: two unsuspected vocations of lawnmowers
All lawnmowers (electric or thermal) can easily shred small garden waste, including young thin branches (up to 1 cm in diameter). Simply spread them on the lawn in a thin layer and pass the mower over them slowly. The shredded material collected in the basket can be used as mulch or placed in the composter.
Mulching: simple, quick and effective
Lawn clippings and other plants (previously shredded by the mower) can be spread on the ground, at the foot of hedges, flower beds or vegetable garden plants, in an aesthetic way and decompose on the surface to form humus. Compost can be placed at the base of the plant, under the mulch. This will prevent the phenomenon of “nitrogen starvation”.
Mulching mowing or how to mow while feeding the soil
Our mowers can have the mulching function which allows you to leave the lawn clippings on site to feed the soil.
Mulching: what you need to know
Some of our green waste is made up of wood which can be very useful. Our small branches will be very useful for barbecues organized in the summer. Stored and dried, they can be used as firewood next winter, which will avoid the use of firelighters. Arranged between posts, the cut branches can become a dry hedge or benje hedge, very aesthetic, it nourishes the soil and becomes a shelter for biodiversity. Frogs, hedgehogs, newts, slow worms, birds, various insects… they are garden helpers: they provide services to gardeners by eating pests.
As a reminder, it is strictly forbidden to burn green waste in NC. Failure to comply constitutes a criminal offence that exposes the offender to a fine. The dumping of waste (including green waste) is also strictly forbidden and punishable by a fine as well.
