My answer to my home work question on reducing wastes

 

 

To reduce waste generated by industries & households I truly believe that it all comes down to the individual.  If that change can happen inside the household it will percolate into society and make a real difference.  Although this may be a little out of the box, I think a good place to start is DIY house work and in the garden.  If a family can truly understand the work and process of growing organic food not just buying organic food and how to make use of supplies to get a project done, a lot more thought goes into what you use and what you waste.  In the mantra of reduce, reuse and recycle, often the reuse is overlooked.  Change has happened in community and household recycling in the US and reducing energy waste has been building speed due to the economy, however little movement seems to have taken place on reusing what you have. A great example is water, strides have been made in reducing water flow to cut waste, but reusing still has not caught on. Washing your car entails first getting treated water to you, then send it back down the drain where a waste water plant has to treat it to put it into the lake. From there, at some point another plant has to treat it again to send it back to consumers.  If possible you can cut some of that by washing you car parked on the lawn and not use a harmful soap.  Lots of tips on how to start can be found at sites like lifehacker.com and instructables.com.