Reduce
Water | Pollution | Single-Use Items
Reducing is tandem to refusing. By reducing the amount of items you purchase by being truly mindful of what you need or would like to have.
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Consider the life cycle of potential purchases - can it be reused, recycled, composted?
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Reducing also speaks to the amount of impact you have on the environment.
Ways to Conserve Water
Check your toilet for leaks
Put a few drops of food coloring in the tank of your toilet. If, without flushing the toilet, the color begins to appear in the bowl you may have a leak. This leak could be wasting more than 1000 gallons of water a day.
Weigh down your toilet tank
This could be done in a few different ways - one common way is to put a brick in the tank. You could also put an inch or two of sand or pebbles in a water bottle and put it in your tank a safe distance from the operating mechanic. The bottle may save 5 gallons of water everyday without doing any harm to the toilet.
Take shorter showers
The average shower uses 5 to 10 gallons of water per a minute. Another thing you can do to reduce water usage is to turn the water off when applying soap or other products, then turn the water back on again.
Install water-saving showerheads
You can buy water-saving showerhead or flow restrictors that will reduce your shower flow to about 3 gallons a minute instead of 5 to 10.
Turn off the water while brushing teeth
While brushing your teeth you can turn off the water until you need it to rinse your brush or mouth again.
Check faucets and pipes for leaks
Even a small drip can waste 50 or more gallons of water a day.
Use dishwasher for full loads only
Every time you run your dishwasher, you use about 25 gallons of water.
Don't let the faucet run when cleaning vegetables
Rinse your vegetables instead in a bowl or sink full of clean water.
Water lawn only when needed
Watering on a regular schedule doesn't allow for cool spells or rainfall which reduce the need for watering. Step on some grass. If it springs back up when you move your foot, it doesn't need water.
Layer trees and plants area with mulch
Mulch slows the evaporation of moisture.
Use a broom to clean driveways, sidewalks and steps
Using a hose wastes hundreds and hundreds of gallons of water.
Don't run the hose when washing a car
Soap down your car from a pail of soapy water. Use a hose only to rinse it off.