Q&A for How to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

Composting is one of the most important things you can do to reduce waste. If you only do one thing to help the environment, it should be composting. Landfills aren't aerated for the proper decomposition of organics. You can compost food scraps, organic materials like cotton, hair, nails, dog hair, and even dryer lint, if your clothing is made of mostly natural fibers.

Many computer repair shops will accept old computers for free, or even pay you for the parts. Just make sure you're clear that you don't want it repaired when you give it to them.

Use water that is used for cleaning vegetables for watering plants. You can also use the water that is used for cleaning clothes for bathroom uses like flushing. Use buckets for bathing.

Start with batteries. You can separate your batteries from the rest of your trash. Batteries are some of the worst things to throw away and can be disposed of in stores like Home Depot instead.

An end-of-pipe solution describes a pollution-control approach that cleans up contaminated flows of water or air at the point where that effluent enters the environment. This can be contrasted with the (often less costly) route of preventing contamination in the first place. Prevention of pollution and environmental harm is definitely a preferred method of action for both businesses and individuals but unfortunately the legislative and policy approaches of the past decades have been heavily focused on catching pollution after it has occurred instead of stopping it from even happening at all. Things are changing though, and more preventive approaches are coming on board in different parts of the world.