The green movement has definitely become a staple in today’s world. With the popularity of “going green” growing increasingly more popular with each passing day, you may be wondering how you can take part. However, with so many different methods of going green, the task could be more daunting than previously thought. The key to successfully transitioning over to a green lifestyle is taking small steps, and one of the best places to begin this endeavor is in the kitchen.
The one thing that most kitchens and the people in them are guilty of is waste. Sadly, most of the food at the supermarket is pre-packaged in an environmentally unfriendly package. This “packaging” litters, not only the landfill, but the side of the road as well. One way to cut back on this is to simply take a few extra minutes to prepare fresh-cooked meals. While the supermarkets are loaded with pre-packaged food items, they are not completely scarce of fresh ingredients either. Moreover, the environment as well as your taste buds will thank you for making the switch.
Paper, plastic, and other packaging is not the only waste consistently produced in the kitchen. A new breed of waste, known as “ewaste,” has also become a target of the green community. Ewaste is best defined as any electronic device that has been discarded, rather than recycled, and has most likely ended up wasting away in a landfill. Whether it is an antiquated refrigerator, a contemporary dishwasher, or even a simple mixer, these appliances can end up rotting away in a landfill. Rather than uselessly tossing these appliances, consider recycling them. To make matters worse, that relatively new dryer that just stopped working all of a sudden, may just need a simple replacement part. No matter what the brand of appliance, Whirlpool, Kenmore, GE, KitchenAid, and Maytag, all brands of parts are available to consumers. Luckily, all you need is a few tools and some handyman ingenuity to install these parts.
When it comes to purchasing food, remember, local is the way to go. Thinking from a broad prospective, most of the food that winds up in local supermarkets has probably traveled hundreds, if not thousands of miles from source to shelf. You can do your part for the environment by buying local when possible. At least then, you know the food has been grown or produced somewhat locally and did not have to commute some thousands of pollution-riddled miles. Furthermore, when buying food think in terms of bulk. Bulk buying means less trips to the store, and usually, less packaging because bulk food items are usually packaged together. An added benefit to bulk buying is that you can usually plan all of your family’s meals ahead of time.
Believe me, there are a ton of ways you can go green in the kitchen. Listed above is just a few of the most common ways to do so. Whether you are replacing an old appliance part with a more energy-efficient one, or simply buying produce from your local farmer’s market, you can rest assured knowing you are a green cog in an environmentally friendly machine.
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