From recycling household waste to growing a garden to conserving resources, there are many ways for families today to go green. Whether through small changes to a daily routine or by making serious home improvements to increase energy efficiency, being eco-friendly has environmental, financial and personal benefits for families of all sizes.
Our March Question of the Month asked our readers to share the activities they do to be eco-friendly. Some incorporate green living into everything they do and a few have yet to take the first steps.
For Tamia D. of Midwest City, eco-friendly also has to be budget-friendly. “Sometimes the more organic or eco-friendly option is more expensive. When it’s not more expensive, or when I can afford the more expensive options, I always choose products and services that are environmentally friendly.”
Mitchell T. of Edmond shares that recycling is truly a family affair. “We always recycle! Our daughter know what goes in the recycle bin already and she isn’t even 3.”
Moore’s Hannah P. works to teach the next generation to take care of the earth. “We choose to recycle and I teach my kids not to waste water and electricity. I also like to buy eco-friendly cleaner products. But it's not always easy, we do what we can.”
For Lisha B. of Midwest City, green living is truly a way of life. “We have a compost pile, a garden, use cloth diapers and family cloth, cloth baby wipes, and cloth napkins. We don’t use paper towels, we use junk mail for scraps of paper to write notes on, use natural cleaners, and try to find ways to be greener all the time.”
Kami M. of Oklahoma City incorporates small changes into her family’s daily life. “We try our best to recycle and reuse as much as we can. We use Freecycle to give away things we are no longer using. I try to combine my errands as much as possible and not waste or use up gas.”
Here are how some of our other readers weighed in:
- Brandy H. , Oklahoma City — Always recycle aluminum, plastics, clothes an have composte pile.
- Michelle A. , El Reno — Haven't thought much about switching but would like to learn more.
- Gabrielle G. , Edmond — I do everything I can to be an example for my kids, I have even taught my daughter to pick up someone elses trash if she sees it.
- Katie G. , Norman — I have to admit we were more "green" when we lived in CA. They made it much easier to recycle at the curb than Norman, OK does. Our recycle trash can was always full & needed to be dumped each week where the actual trash can could have been dumped once a month. There we washed our trash (cleaned the cans & plastic bottles by rinsing) & they sorted everything for us at their plants, we never had to guess or learn what codes they recycled or didn't. LOVED that & miss it. I do still only use my own shopping bags & if I forget to take one in, I'll opt for paper sacks or buy a couple of cheap ones at the check out stand.
- Regina B. , Oklahoma City — I no longer have trash, everything is recycled.
- Gloria A. , Oklahoma Cty — I really don't know much on how to become greener. Therefore, I can't really teach my children how to be.
- Rebekah L. , Arcadia — I recycle plastic and use cloth diapers working on making cloth wipes too!!:)
- Kelly T. , Edmond — I use things in the home and re-purpose them always like soap dispensers etc
- Paige D. , Pauls Valley — It's overwhelming to try and change everything at once. When we run out of something or need to make a purchase we try to go with the better more eco-friendly option.
- Abbey V. , Oklahoma City — My daughter loves visiting the organic stores in town. We have slowly introduced organic products in place of processed items. Both of our children really get into recycling… they like to find the plastic code and always rush to put items in the recycling bin. We also reuse when we can, and avoid water bottles and styrofoam. We also try to conserve energy and water usage by picking one favorite cup, rinsing it out, and reusing it. This really cuts down on dishes in the washer, as well as energy from running it so often.
- Nicole C. , Midwest City — Our family refills water bottles, but we don't really do any thing else.
- Jennifer S. , Edmond — Paper, plastics, cans, glass, we recycle, some of this we take in to the metal center down town, yes it pays to recycle, (certain items). We also cut the coke or bottle holders. We used cloth diapers . I now this may sound silly but we have our own shopping bags
- Tasha S. , Oklahoma City — Price is always a concern.
- Jason T. , Edmond — Recycle, re-usable grocery bags
- Christina T. , Edmond — Recycle! I wish we got credit on our city of edmond bills for doing so! my sister and grandparents live in Wichita and they get credit on their utility bills for everything they recycle!
- Jennifer C. , Warr Acres — Reduce, recycle, reuse.
- Kelly W. , Edmond — Teach ourn kids to shut lights off after they use a room. They also color or draw on mail we don't use. And we pay all our bills online to try and save more trees!
- Leah Y. , Edmond — Time plays a big role in options
- Alliso C. , Edmond — Truthfully, if we had curbside recycling service I would recycle everything – paper, cans, plastic. But since we don't, I don't want the clutter we'd have to deal with by saving everything until it's convenient to take it somewhere.
- Summer A. , Norman — We are stating are own compost this year and the hole family has getting in to it *~* <3 our Earth!
- Rachel M. , Wellston — We choose the most eco-friendly option available.
- Jody B. , Wellston — We collect and recycle aluminum cans and re-use product containers,plastic bags, etc. We also pick up trash when we hike trails.
- Katie S. , Yukon — We don't have a hybrid as we're not ready to "get rid" of our current vehical- we figure the "trash" of a non-hybrid/useful car contradicts the investment of a new-hybrid.
- Andrea B. , OKC — We dont have the room to do this but we do try to recycle.
- Julie P. , Shawnee — We drive a hybrid, recycle, and try and reuse as much as possible.
- Marie K. , Tinker AFB — We recycle all the time and when the weather is nice, we ride our bikes around the base to get to places instead of driving.
- Cathy W. , Midwest City — We recycle cans and newspapers.
- celina L. , Norman — We recycle every week, i.e. plastic, paper, glass, etc + cardboard.
- Shay G. , Watonga — We recycle paper/magazines. We are trying to reduce our use of plastic bottles. We purchased reusable bpa free bottles for taking water with us. We have a garden and fruit trees. We can our own jelly.
- Danielle B. , OKC — We recycle water bottles, cans.
- Patricia J. , Moore — We take all of the things we can recycle to our local recycle location.
- Melissa B. , Oklahoma City — We try and recycle a much and as often as possible.
- Angi M. , Oklahoma City — We try to be kind to mother earth, picking up trash when we walk and see it and NEVER throw our trash out the window, we put it in it's place!
- Shyla H. , Moore — We use a water cooler now, instead of purchasing water bottles and we re-use all of our plastic sacks, etc.
- Jeanine G. , Edmond — We use hand towels and other washable items instead of napkins and paper towels. We put our banana peels in our flower bed and we use re-usabe plastic containers instead of plastic bags in our lunches.