Why Should Wisconsin Waste Less?

Americans use a lot of stuff. As 3% of the world’s population, Americans create 35% of the world’s garbage! In fact, Americans spend more on garbage bags than 90 other nations spend on everything.

Creating this much garbage causes a lot of problems. First, natural resources and energy go into creating the products, many of which are used only once before being discarded. Also, making and transporting the products releases pollution. Finally, when we are done using the product we purchase, it is discarded into a landfill. We spend money on garbage. Every step in the life of an unwanted item costs consumers, taxpayers or society.

Everyone is now familiar with the 3 R’s: reduce, reuse, and recycle. It’s time to reexamine these concepts and think of innovative ways to apply them to our everyday lives. The first step is reducing the amount of items we use. According to World Watch, for every garbage can placed at the curb, 71 cans of waste were created through the process of extracting resources and making those things before they even arrived in our households. Reducing what we use not only makes less trash for us to dispose of, but it also makes less waste at the production stages.

We think the people of Wisconsin have the skills, ideas and talents to make a difference. We challenge YOU to help Wisconsin waste less. Ready?