Have you ever considered that having LESS would actually help you to have MORE? In the Twin Cities metropolitan area, we produce 6 pounds of waste per person each day. That is enough waste to fill Target Field more than 25 times every year! Think about how much stuff that is! When we reduce the amount of stuff we buy, have, and eventually throw away, we end up with more time, more space, and more money.

That means donating, borrowing and sharing, selling, and being smarter about what we buy.

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At Home

Changing your habits is the key — think about ways you can reduce your waste during day-to-day activities. There’s a ton of ways for you to reduce waste, save yourself some time and money, and be good to the Earth at the same time.

At Work

From small changes to major improvements, reducing waste at work helps conserve resources, prevents pollution and ultimately saves money!

Energy

Energy is in everything – water, garbage, electricity, gasoline, even products – and it costs a lot! Conserving energy is important to Carver County. It’s a way to protect natural resources we all need – and to save money!

EPP/Buy Recycled

Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) or green purchasing is a long phrase for what’s really an easy concept – selecting and buying products because they are better for the environment in some way, such as less toxic, conserves energy or water, or uses recycled materials.

Event Planning

Events of all sizes can do a lot to reduce their impact on the environment. From baby showers to National Night Out, to corporate events, any event can demonstrate the economic and community benefits of going green!

Holiday Waste

From Thanksgiving to New Years Day, household waste increases by more than 25%. Added food waste, shopping bags, packaging, wrapping paper, bows and ribbons — it all adds up to an additional 1 million tons a week to the nation’s garbage piles!

Junk Mail

Is unwanted mail a problem in the United States? Nearly 32 pounds of paper and plastic from unwanted mail goes into the garbage for every woman, man and child in America! That’s a pretty sizeable “junked mail” problem!

Toxins at Home

Did you know? You can reduce exposure to harmful chemicals at home by purchasing less hazardous household products or switching to homemade cleaners.