Here’s how to reduce your use

We can all improve our environment by reducing our use. And thankfully, the Natural Resources Council of Maine has created a brochure called Reduce Your Use, to help us do just that.

In the brochure I learned that the average Maine family of four wastes about $1600 worth of food each year contributing to more than 96 billion pounds of spoiled food Americans toss annually. And you probably already know that we must cut back on waste such as plastic bags and food containers, including polystyrene that takes centuries to break down.

I just saw a TV news report of the massive amount of plastics washing up of beaches throughout the Caribbean and South America. It is really horrible and much of that waste is washed down there from our country.

NRCM sponsors a Sustainable Maine project that focuses on solutions to wasteful habits that threaten the future of our environment. They are actually creating sustainable Maine community toolkits to help our communities reduce their environmental footprint.

The Reduce Your Use brochure contains lots of good advice from being a smarter shopper to breaking wasteful habits. And they also have good suggestions for ways to avoid using disposable plastic and polystyrene.

To get your Reduce Your Use brochure, email nrcm@nrcm.org or call 800-287-2345. You can also learn more about these great projects on their website at nrcm.org.

 

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.