5 Tips for Reducing Your Waste at Home

By Shawna Miller

With the nation’s landfills approaching capacity, Americans have heeded the battle cry of  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  But the third “R” in that slogan — recycling — has hit some major obstacles. So it's time to put more emphasis on reducing and reusing if you’re serious about preserving resources.

Community recycling, the mainstay of the environmental movement, is slowing because the market for recyclable materials has collapsed. As a result, some towns and cities have halted their recycling programs, or worse, are sending recyclables to the landfill.

Here are five things you can do that will help reduce the flow of trash to the landfills.

1. Stop throwing away food

Food has displaced paper as the leading category of refuse that goes to the landfill. To stop the waste: