Recycle using curbside pick-up or recycling center drop-off
The average American produces about 4.5 pounds of trash each day, adding up to 1.5 tons each year. Though 75% of this waste is recyclable, only 30% is recycled. Many common trash items can be recycled, including paper, cardboard, glass, and appropriate plastics. But, some items cannot be included with curbside collection, such as snack food bags, plastic wrapping material, Styrofoam, PVC, and plastics without a recycling code.
Some Frederick County renters are not eligible for curbside pick-up recycling. Recyclable items can also be dropped off at the Frederick recycling center at 9031 Reich’s Ford Road open Monday through Saturday from 7:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. For a full guide to Frederick County recycling, check out “A Citizen’s Guide to Waste Management in Frederick County.” Be sure that you don’t make any of the common recycling mistakes!
Visit LearnMoreRecycleBetter.org to sign up for the Frederick County recycling newsletter, request a free recycling bin for curbside pick-up, or upgrade your recycling bin to a larger size.
Create a recycling routine in your home in order to educate and prepare the next generation of recyclers. You can even borrow a recycling education kit for homeschooling, classrooms, scout groups, and youth groups.
Compost at least 50% of your kitchen and yard waste
Composting is a beneficial way to use kitchen and yard waste that would otherwise contribute to a landfill. Instead, your nitrogen-rich kitchen scraps and grass trimmings mixed with sources of carbon, such as dead leaves and paper bags, can be turned into rich soil in a compost pile. Finished compost can then be used to enrich your garden soil. Learn more from our Tips for Green Leaders Composting Fact Sheet or check out this howdini video or an EPA GreenScapes video on composting.
Attend a composting workshop with the Frederick County Department of Solid Waste. The Department also sells compost bins for $25 available for pick-up from 9031 Reichs Ford Road.
Interested in composting, but don’t have a lot of outdoor space? Vermiculture, or vermicomposting, is a method of composting that uses worms to break down organic waste. Kept in a small bin indoors, the worms produce castings, a rich fertilizer for house and garden plants. Bins can be home-made or purchased. To learn more, check out this Worm Composting 101 video or How to Make a Worm Bin video.
You can also leave newly cut grass on the yard after mowing as a type of composting. Known as “grasscycling,” this practice allows nutrients to be absorbed back into the soil so that your yard can stay healthy.
Make sure not to “top off” your tank because it can result in paying for gasoline that is fed back into the station's tanks when your tank is full. It also leads to more air pollution due to evaporation of excess gas.
The way that you drive can make a big difference in the amount of fuel that you consume and emissions you create. Use at least three of the following efficient driving practices to save fuel:
Choose routes that have fewer lights and stop signs. Driving on highways is more fuel efficient.
Avoid aggressive driving. The constant braking and accelerating can increase your fuel consumption by as much as 40%.
Drive steadily and follow posted speed limits. Driving at 55 rather than 65 mph can reduce your fuel consumption by 10-15%.
In a manual vehicle, get into top gear quickly without accelerating harder than necessary. In an automatic, ease off of the accelerator once you gain momentum.
Reduce your use of air conditioning. Instead try flow-through ventilation or open your windows when driving at low speeds. Driving with windows open at high speeds can actually decrease your fuel efficiency due to increased wind resistance.
Run errands in the least amount of trips possible. Keep a list of errands that need to be done and do them during your daily commute or during a single trip.
Use cruise control on flat sections of road but not in hilly areas.
Remove excess weight, bike racks, and trailers from your vehicle when possible.
Try to avoid high-traffic times of the day when planning trips.
Allowing your car to idle for more than 10 seconds burns more fuel than stopping and restarting the car. Idling also releases toxic fumes like sulfur oxides, ground-level ozone, and nitrogen oxides which are detrimental to human health. Instead of allowing your car to idle or starting it early to warm it up, shut off your engine when going to a drive-through, waiting for a passenger, or waiting in line at the gas station. Learn more about the effects of idling.
Maintaining proper tire pressure makes your tires last longer and improves gas mileage, saving you gas and money. Most cars display a required tire pressure on the inside of the driver’s door, inside the glove compartment, under the center console cover, or in the owner’s manual. Tire pressure should be checked monthly or at least seasonally and before long trips. When you take your car in to a shop for any kind of maintenance, ask them to check your tire pressure. Most places will do it for free. Learn more about maintaining proper tire pressure.
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