This is, obviously, much better than leaving behind a huge pile of unusable trash, but it is still not the ideal solution. Why produce something in the first place, if it only ends up in landfill to be sorted? For example, wouldn’t it be possible to do away with all the excessive packaging of consumer goods or with the manufacturing of single-use items? It makes no sense at all to produce things that are bought only to be thrown away soon after.
 
Here are some things to think about:
- Plastic bags: humanity as a total uses about a trillion every year. Why do we carry so many bags out of the store every day? We use them once, maybe twice, and they then land in the trash. It must be remembered that it takes up to several hundred years for this plastic to decompose. A simple way of preventing this is taking reusable bags with you when you go shopping. It’s simple and convenient.
- Larger packages: When buying a 1.5L bottled water we will use up less plastic than when buying three 500ml bottles. What’s more, this is cheaper. This same rule applies to other products, mainly food and household goods. Larger packaging equals less waste and less money spent.
- Flyers: Every one of us has probably taken a flyer from a street vendor and then discreetly thrown it into the trash bin. I know that people handing out flyers earn money this way. But they get paid by the hour and not by the amount of leaflets distributed. So it’s best not to take the flyers at all unless you are interested. Less leaflets distributed means less leaflets printed and this means less unnecessary paper produced.