Individuals

Being “green” starts with YOU! Take a moment and think about the ways you may be saving energy without even realizing it. Do you carpool when possible? Ride your bike for quick errands? Turn off lights when not in a room? Turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth? There are so many little ways that really do have a large long term impact. Take the pledge to be green!

On this page:

• 5 Things You Can Do To Save Water
• Have you heard about rain barrels?
• Top 5 Ways to Reduce Waste
• Just Say No To Plastic Bags!
• Slaying Energy Vampires!
• So, what can you do to reduce energy use?
• Groups and Organizations

5 Things You Can Do To Save Water

Why worry about water when it’s all around us? Although it seems we have had plenty of rain, summertime usage can put a strain on our resources. Chesapeake water customers know that conservation should be a year ‘round effort and here are some suggestions on what you can do while we are in voluntary conservation:

1. Check toilets for leaks. Put a few drops of food coloring in your toilet tank and wait ten minutes without flushing. If the color appears in the bowl, you have a leak. You may be wasting 100 gallons a day.
2. Put a plastic bottle in older (made before 1994) toilet tanks to displace some of the flush water. Put an inch of sand in a plastic bottle to weigh it down. Fill the rest with water and put it in your tank, away from the operating mechanism. In the average home, this may save 5 or more gallons per day. Or, install a new 1.6 gallon per flush toilet. You do the math!
3. Take shorter showers. Older showerheads (before 1992) use 5-10 gallons a minute. Or, install low-flow showerheads. A quality water-saver showerhead provides a luxurious shower, yet uses no more than 2.5 gallons per minute. Ask you hardware retailer for advice.
4. Use drip or soaker hose irrigation and mulch around vegetation. Get the water directly to the plants and reduce evaporation.
5. Use a hose nozzle to control the flow. With a quick release, water will not be wasted when washing the car or watering plants.

Have you heard about rain barrels?

Use water wisely by watering your garden with free water collected from your roof into a rain barrel. It’s great for plants and can cut your water bill significantly. Contact your local extension office for rain barrel workshop dates or make one yourself.

Top 5 Ways to Reduce Waste

1. Skip the bottled water.
   • Reuse empty water bottles by filling them with municipal tap water. Not only is bottled water expensive, but it generates large amounts of container waste.
   • Bring a reusable water bottle, preferably aluminum rather than plastic, with you when traveling or at work.
2. Buy smart.
   • Buy in bulk. Purchasing food from bulk bins can save money and packaging.
   • Maintain and repair durable products. Less waste means less space needed at land fills.
3. Keep electronics out of the trash.
   • Donate or recycle them responsibly when the time comes. E-waste contains mercury and other toxics and is a growing environmental problem. Cell phones can be recycled as well! Remember: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!
4. Skip the paper.
   • Paper makes up 41% of our trash. Bring lunch to work in reusable containers and keep reusable cups, plates, and silverware at their desks.
   • Reduce the number of magazines you receive or share a subscription with a friend. Take any old magazines to a nursing facility, library or Laundromat to share with others.
   • Obtain your monthly bills online. Some churches are even offering the option to receive newsletters via email.
   • Use canvas bags for groceries and other shopping errands. Most can be purchased at grocery stores for $1.
5. Practice “Let it Lay” grass recycling
   • Simply leave your grass on the lawn after cutting insteadof using plastic bags to bag the clippings. Grass recycling helps in reducing disposal, labor, and fertilizer costs and most important, saves you time by not having to stop and empty the grass bag. Since you no longer need trash bags, there is no heavy lifting required.
   • Find out more about "Let it Lay" grass recycling.

Just Say No To Plastic Bags!

Here are some of the reasons why it's time to stop utilizing the plastic shopping bag:

• Of the 17.5 billion used each year, most are used only once and then thrown away.
• 17.5 billion per year equates to 300 bags for every man, woman, and child.
• On average, a plastic bag is used for 12 minutes and then discarded.
• At least 200 million plastic bags end up as litter on our beaches, streets and parks ever year.
• Only 1 in every 200 plastic bags is recycled.
• 100,000 tons of plastic bags - equivalent to 70,000 cars - are thrown away each year.
• 47% of windborne litter escaping from our landfill sites is plastic - much of it plastic bags.
• The Environment Agency estimates that if everyone stopped using plastic bags and switched to using re-usable bags we would save enough plastic bags to tie around the Earth 103 times.
• A plastic bag can take between 400 and 1000 years to break down in the environment.
• On average 46,000 pieces of plastic debris is floating on or near the surface of every square mile of ocean.
• When a plastic bag enters the ocean it becomes a harmful piece of litter. Many marine animals mistake plastic bags for food and swallow them, with painful and often fatal consequences.
• Plastic bag litter kills at least 100,000 birds, whales, seals and turtles each year. When the bird or mammal decomposes, the plastic is released to kill again.
• Plastic bags do not biodegrade, they photograde, which means that they break down into smaller and smaller bits, contaminating the soil, waterways and oceans and entering the food chain when they are ingested by animals.
• Plastic pieces can attract and hold elements such as PCBs and DDT. PCBs are organics pollutants which have been banned because they are carcinogenic. DDT was banned in the UK in 1984.
• The world uses more than 1.2 trillion plastic bags every year - an average of about 300 bags for every adult, or 1 million per minute.
• About 80% of marine rubbish comes from the land and nearly 90% is plastic.
• The majority of plastic bags are imported from Thailand, India, China and Malaysia at a huge cost to the environment.

Source:  http://www.plasticbagsnothanks.org/

Slaying Energy Vampires!

Even after you shut down everything and leave your office or home, many appliances and gadgets continue to draw power. These “energy vampires” aka phantom loads can be quite inconspicuous. If a device can be switched on by remote control, features a continuous display (like a small LED light) or has a transformer at the plug, you can be sure the appliance is drawing power EVEN WHEN YOU’RE NOT USING IT.

Typical Energy “Vampires”

Source: ECOS Consulting, 2006: Final Field Research Report for the California Energy Commission

So, what can you do to reduce energy use?

• Unplug It! Unplug chargers and other devices when not in use

• Shut Down and Turn Off computers, monitors, printers, and copiers when not in use, including turning off the monitor when leaving your office for extended time periods

• Use Power Strips Plug home electronics such as TVs, stereos, and video games into easily accessible power strips and turn the strips off when not in use, especially when leaving town for extended time periods

• Look for the Energy Star Label when purchasing any new appliance or electronic device

• Enable Power Management Features on your P.C. and monitor to save energy

• Turn Office Lights Off or Leave Them On? An average office space with two fluorescent ceiling light fixtures costs approximately 1.34 cents per hour to operate at today’s rate. Turning these lights off just two hours a day adds up to almost $7.00 a year. Your results may vary depending on the number and type of fixtures in your office, work space, or break room, but it is clear that savings will really add up if everyone makes an effort. So when you’re gone, don’t leave it on!

Groups & Organizations:

Girls all over the area, not just in Chesapeake, are really taking the lead in protecting our environment. In fact, starting in the fall, Girl Scouts will start a new Journey series called “It’s Your Planet – Love It!” Girl Scout Journeys, part of the new Girl Scout Leadership Experience, are learning models that engage girls in discovering themselves, connecting with others, and taking action to make the world a better place through age appropriate activities. Brownie Girl Scouts will actually be following a Journey called WOW: Wonders of Water which will teach them all about water conservation. For more information visit the Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay Council.

If you have photos of you, your friends or family participating in green events or have ideas and suggestions on how to be green we’d love to hear from you! Forward your information to Public Communications and watch this site for future postings!