- Leard Family Green Practices—“What we do to save and recycle to help save God’s Earth”
Recycling and Reuse
- We recycle all our paper, cardboard, cans, bottles, and plastic containers.
- We recycle all our plastic bags. Then, we take them to the market where they use them for making artificial deck planking. The few bags we get at miscellaneous purchases we use for garbage.
- We use canvas bags when we go grocery shopping. When we began doing this, two years ago, we almost had to explain why we were doing it.
Water and Energy Use
- We fill our washing machine and dishwasher loads full and use biodegradable detergent.
- We use fluorescent bulbs in all our lights except the two that have dimmer switches (they will not work with dimmers). We have motion detectors/timers on the outside lights.
- We have long adhered to the tradition of limiting our toilet flushing.
- We drive a Prius hybrid car. We walk to do our shopping when possible and, if not, combine our errands to make only one “errand run.”
- We close off 3 rooms in the winter to conserve heat.
- We built our house with a southern exposure to take advantage of passive solar heat, with large windows.
Yard, Compost, and Outdoors
- We compost all our plant and vegetable waste. Protein will bring rats, so it and all grease goes into the garbage. Composters are available from RI Resource Recovery.
- We use a shredder for important papers with signatures or personal numbers. The shreddings go into the compost. We also add oak leaves to help make the soil acidic.
- We use a mulching lawn mower.
- We use organic manure and compost for the gardens. We do not use chemicals on our lawn or gardens. Our weed killers are Roundup and similar herbicides.
- We do not litter, even small things like candy and gum wrappers. We make litter pick-ups on our private road and beach—cans, bottles, papers—which others have tossed.
- We carry plastic bags for our dogs’ “poops” and dispose of them in the weekly garbage.
Entry from the first annual, “Greening of Rhode Island” art exhibit featuring local high-school artists, 2009
