Here is our list of the top five ways to make your garage more eco-friendly.

1. Add insulation to your garage door if you have two floors.

While many would say adding insulation to a garage door is the most critical way to reduce emissions in a garage, this is often incorrect. While homes with floors above garage units greatly benefit from more insulated and efficient garage doors, those in single-story homes are usually not impacted significantly. However, with temperatures rising, it is still highly recommended that homes be insulated to the highest levels in all climates to reduce household emissions and energy consumption. 

2. Reduce plastic waste for items like washer fluid. 

Plastic pollutes. Simple as that. The amount of plastic recycled annually in the United States only makes up 8.7% of annual plastic waste. Generally, 75% of plastic bottles end up in landfills and oceans. They become ecologically destructive while degrading for up to 500 years. Often these plastics decay into microplastics and smaller particles that affect and impact wildlife and even humans. Every plastic reduction comes with a direct reduction in plastic and ecological waste. Plastic is made from petroleum, and the harvesting is fraught with disasters and CO2 emissions. Check out our windshield washing tablets at tabgo.co/tablets

3. Create a recycling station.

Build a simple recycling sorting station using generic trash bins and wood. A dedicated recycling station can further foster family and communal recycling of waste; if your municipality requires or allows disposal of goods by type, a recycling station can make this task easier. Create bins for glass, plastics, and cardboard. You also can create a competition with your family for who recycles the most. 

4. Add a composter.

4. Add a composter.

Composting is the act of controlled breaking down of food scraps and natural waste into nutrients that compose soil. A society with the advent of modern waste disposal has mostly eliminated all composting of these essential nutrients. Our precious nutritious food scraps often go to waste inside plastic isolated bags packed in landfills. However, composting is making a comeback with the likes of modern electric waste composters that turn food scraps into fertilizer and soil. Furthermore, packaging companies are moving into home compostable paper and bioplastics. Those still want to contribute to these efforts without investing in such machines, and one can buy manual outdoor composters or even build one themselves. 

5. Buy electric power tools for gardening.

Gas-powered gardening tools like hedge trimmers, leaf blowers, and lawn mowers have quickly begun being replaced by electric models in the market. Most models are now priced competitively and come without needing gas or further gas treatments. The lifespan of these items can be extended further with replacement batteries down the line. 

Sources 

• Gerngross, Tillman U. and Steven C. Slater. “How Green Are Green Plastics?” Scientific American. August 2000.
• Kawawada, Karen. “WCI student isolates microbe that lunches on plastic bags.” The Record. May 22, 2008. (Nov. 22, 2010)http://news.therecord.com/article/354044
• Ransford, Matt. “Why Trashing the Oceans is More Dangerous Than We Imagined.” Popular Science. April 1, 2008.(Nov.22,2010)http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2008-04/why-trashing-oceans-more-dangerous-we-imagined
• Royte, Elizabeth. “Corn Plastic to the Rescue.” Smithsonian Magazine. August 2006.http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/plastic.html
• Shukman, David. “Warning on plastic’s toxic threat.” BBC News. March 27, 2008. (Nov. 22, 2010)http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7316441.stm
• Sohn, Emily. “Plastic decomposes quickly at sea, study finds.” MSNBC. Aug. 20, 2009. (Nov. 22, 2010)http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32493098/ns/us_news-environment/
• Plastics: Material-Specific Data | US EPAPlastics: Material-Specific Data | US EPA