The fate of household waste products is important in determining environmental quality, resource consumption and production costs. Discarded materials, even those that are biodegradable decay extremely slowly in conventional landfills and have the potential to leak harmful toxins to the environment if not disposed of properly. Whereas recycled materials conserve limited resources and can commonly reduce the cost and resource usage of production, take the following survey to track and compare your trash related footprint:

1. How many aluminum cans (soda, beer, juice, etc) do you purchase each week?

What percentage of these aluminum cans do you recycle?

2. How many newspapers do you purchase each week?

What percentage of these newspapers do you recycle?


3. How many plastic containers (bottles, jugs, packaging, ect) do you purchase during a typical week?

What percentage of these containers do you recycle?


4. How many glass bottles (16 oz.) do you purchase each week?

What percentage of these glass bottles do you recycle?


5. How many clean mixed paper packages (note paper, cereal boxes, etc) do you buy during the typical week?

What percentage of your clean mixed paper do you recycle?

6. What percentage of your food waste do you compost or grind in a garbage disposal?

7. Do you compost?

8. How many bags of household trash do you dispose of weekly?

9. How often do you typically purchase the following new?


     Clothing?

 

       Appliances?

 

        Household Furnishings (furniture, decor, ect.)?