This last Thursday marked the 2nd annual Potomac Watershed Trash Summit. The summit brought together well over 400 people from around the area to have an open discussion and learn about our local waterways and what we can do to help make our watershed trash free. It was a venue for elected officials, concerned citizens, members of local businesses and organizations to get together and strategize to help in the Alice Ferguson Foundation’s goal of a Trash Free Potomac by 2013.

As someone who attended the event, it was good to see such an age range of participants, from high school on up, from every different sector. The goal of a Trash Free Potomac by 2013 will be a huge project, and will certainly not be successful without the interest and participation from every single citizen, organization, business and government agency of the area.

We heard from a lot of different people and talked in round table style about where we begin to make this watershed trash free. Does it start with river, creek, street and neighborhood clean-ups? Does it start with regulations and mandates on product manufacturers? Does it begin with solid recycling and reuse programs? Does it start with education on our impact that we can have on the environment?

Solution: we all have different things to contribute to making this project a success. My question to you is: no matter if you live in the Potomac Watershed, the Chesapeake or even the Columbia Watershed on the West Coast, what can you do to help make our waterways trash free?

… of garbage, twice the size of Texas, floating in the Pacific Ocean somewhere between the Hawaiian Islands and Northern California. Hard to imagine? Not really. The island of trash is being held together by a slowly rotating system of currents and mats of floating seaweed and kelp. Charles Moore, founder of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation in CA, estimates that there is about 3 million tons of plastic floating in this mass, not to mention the millions of tons of other debris. The plastic will eventually sink, where it will then become part of the 46,000 pieces of garbage estimated for every square mile of ocean.

According to statistics, well over 80% of the trash in the oceans is brought there from our storm drains and run-off from our polluted streets, streams and rivers. You carelessly throw a gum wrapper, baby diaper, plastic bottle or even oil on the ground and where does it go? It gets into our water ways via storm drains, down to creeks, into the rivers and finally spilling into our oceans. People are so quick to point fingers, but who is really to blame?

What can you do? Stay educated about the environment and your effect on it. Get involved with clean-ups or do one of your own in your own neighborhood. Know what watershed you’re in and the health of that area. Recycle and use designated trash cans, and encourage that behavior in your day to day life.

Every week I accumulate a small pile of dirty clothes. Come Sunday, which is my chore day, I pick-up the pile and head down to the laundry room. I push the pile into my front loading washing machine, pour in a small cup of Seventh Generation laundry detergent and set it washing on cold. When I pull it out after the cycle, I have two choices: to tumble or not to tumble? Do I put it in our clothes dryer or do I hang it out on a clothes line? Do I consume energy or do I let the sun and breeze do the work? For me, the answer is simple. Hang drying clothes is free, it often dries faster than it would in a clothes dryer, it smells better (I think) and I’m giving a helping hand to the environment.

Clothes drying systems can be cheap to install. All you need are two pullies, at least a 20 foot long cord or thin rope, and some practice with your knot tying abilities. You pick two points in either your yard or even in your home, install a pully at either end, string the cord through, tie a knot, and get drying. Easy! If you don’t want to go through all of this, you can also get creative and hang dry your clothes over your stair banisters, or on hangers in open windows or in door frames. The key here is to get creative and find ways to avoid using the clothes dryer and making a positive environmental impact.

Around this time each year there are countless households throughout the nation making additions to their homes, renovating, making improvements, fixing leaky roofs, etc. With all these home improvements comes the materials. Instead of using new materials, whether it be doors, window frames, bricks or shingles, try finding previously used materials, which are just as reliable and a bit cheaper. (Not to mention the fact that you are using recycled materials and helping the environment.) You can also try finding “green” building materials, which are made from fast growing renewable resources, such as wood flooring made from bamboo or countertops made from compressed sunflower seed hulls. You can find local green building materials at Amicus Green Building Center

Many of the things that we do in our day to day lives we do without giving much thought, as it is all part of the routine. Every morning on our way to work or even late at night for that long drive home, millions of Americans pull over for a cup of coffee to go. These single use to go cups are sturdy, have a waxed liner so that your cup doesn’t fall apart and will come with a plastic sip lid for no splash. Ideal right? If millions of people are using these each and everyday, we’re looking at a ton of landfill waste as these cups are not recyclable. Solution: bring your own reusable mug. Simple! You won’t only be helping the environment out and doing your part, but also, at most coffee shops they will give you a little money back.

Pets are great to have around the home and can be some of our best friends. Greening our day to day lives doesn’t have to be just for us. We have talked on and off again on this blog about reusing what we can, reducing our waste production where possible and recycling everything else.

What about pet waste? Let’s stop to talk about this for a moment. We train them to go outside and do what they need to do, and we follow behind with a plastic bag in hand. These are plastic bags that we save up, knowing that we’ll use them nearly every day for just this task. While many people argue that they are reusing the bag, which is technically true, it can still be said that the plastic bag (a recyclable item) will head for the waste stream. Solution: Do your part by spending the extra few dollars on a roll of biodegradable / compostable “doggy bags”, and keep the plastic bags out of the landfills.

As you prepare your dinner in the evening or crack those eggs to make your favorite cake, what do you do with your egg shells, vegetable clippings or even your leftovers? If you are a person that throws them directly in the trash, you are essentially throwing away gold. Your food scraps can be collected and composted in your yard to create a beautiful nutrient rich additive for your garden. Once composted, it is essentially the same thing that you are buying for $8 a bag from your local gardening shop.

So, what is composting? Good question. You are essentially taking all of your food scraps and putting them in either a) a pile in the corner of your yard or b) in a closed container with ventilation. The key to both of these is that the food waste is getting plenty of air as well as the heat from the sun. You mix the food clippings around once every couple of days and before you know it everything starts working together to break it down into what looks like soil. If done right, it should be unrecognizable and soil-like in about 40 days. The compost is not meant to replace soil, but meant as an additive, as it containers millions of the good nutrients that soil needs to be healthy and that plants need to grow well.

Sometimes the biggest difference you can have in your home all starts with a push of a few buttons. What I’m talking about here is the change in your thermostat settings. In finding the right thermostat and settings for your home, you can save money on your heating bill and reduce your carbon footprint.

Here is a small list of things to get you started:

1) Find a thermostat for your home that you can program for the week. You can program them to shut off when you leave for work, come on 20 minutes before returning home and change temperatures and certain points during the day. This will help save you time and can save as much as $150 a year on utility bills.

2) Adjust your thermostat down 2 degrees in the winter and up 2 degrees in the summer. For every 1 degree you turn your thermostat down in the winter and up in the summer, you save 2% on your heating and cooling bill.

3) Instead of adjusting your thermostat when you’re cold, put on a sweatshirt and grab a blanket. In the summer when it’s too warm, turn on a ceiling fan to keep the air circulating.

Instead of packaging your left over food or packing your lunch in plastic baggies, aluminum foil or even a paper bag, get creative and use the containers floating around your drawers and refrigerator. Old washed out butter tubs, yogurt containers or even spaghetti sauce jars can serve as a great and cheap alternative way to store your food. If you’re not fond of this idea, invest in a set of Tupperware containers. Not only are you ultimately saving on waste, time and money, but you are also giving a helping hand to the environment.

Paper! What can I say about paper? We have come to depend on paper products as a day to day staple. Whether writing a shopping list, reading the newspaper or purchasing a box of cereal at the grocery store, we are consuming paper products at a rapid rate. In fact, each year, the average American consumes 580 pounds of paper products annually.

Here are some tips on reducing your paper consumption and giving the environment a helping hand:

1) Reduce, reuse and recycle your paper products.

2) Request that your name be taken off mailing lists for what we call “junk mail”

3) Make double sided copies when printing something out

4) Make scratch paper from loose paper you have lying around

5) When purchasing paper, look for a high recycled content label on the packaging

6) Think about the products you purchase and invest in products with minimal packaging or buy in bulk.

7) Instead of using a paper towel or napkin at meals, invest in or make your own cloth napkins

If you have a computer, switch over to online banking and bill paying.

9) Take a reusable bag shopping with you. This will help cut down on your dependence on natural resources like paper bags and, if you are a MOMs shopper, you get $.10 back. Win / win situation.

10) Did I mention the 3 R’s?