Sanders County Ledger - Your Best Source For Sanders County News

It’s encouraging to hear that the Forest Service has been working on keeping a portion of their fire camp waste out of the local landfills. Brady Brewster from NBC Montana reported that the Forest Service contacted Mike Bishop, chief operating officer of Recyclops, a company that serves remote areas and provides “incident-based recycling to Montana.” Bishop said that it’s important to recycle, even in areas that might be difficult, to reduce our carbon footprint for future generations.

WHY SHOULD WE REDUCE OUR GIANT, TRASHY FOOTPRINT?

Reasons to reduce include climate change, landfills having to constantly expand, energy and resource conservation, the extremely high cost of dealing with our trash, etc. Residents complain loudly about the price of disposing of couches, mattresses and other materials, but what they don’t realize is that the prices at the Missoula landfill are more than double what they are being charged in Sanders County! The “deal” we are getting will not be around forever, and we need to quit griping and reduce instead.

Eight Ways to Reduce Waste

The average American produces nearly 5 pounds of trash per day, according to epa.gov. Here are some ways you can make small changes that can have a lasting effect:

1. Use a reusable bottle/cup for beverages

2. Use reusable grocery bags, and not just for groceries

3. Purchase wisely and recycle

4. Compost it!

5. Avoid single-use food and drink containers and utensils

6. Buy secondhand items and donate used goods instead of taking them to the dump

7. Shop local farmers markets and buy in bulk to reduce packaging

8. Curb your use of paper: mail, receipts, magazines