Rajagopalan Rangachari is participating in the 2019 People's Ecochallenge!

Ecochallenge.org

2019 People's Ecochallenge

October 2 - October 23, 2019

Rajagopalan's points

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
220 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

1.0

waste audit

conducted
UP TO

0.0

plastic straws

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

5.0

pounds of paper

have been saved
UP TO

0.0

disposable cups

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

0.0

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

0.0

plastic bottles

not sent to the landfill

Rajagopalan's actions

Waste

Personal Waste Audit

I will collect all of my unrecyclable, non-compostable trash to raise my awareness of how much I send to the landfill.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Waste

Use Reusable Bags

I will not accept any disposable bags when making purchases.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Waste

Choose Two-Sided Printing

I will save up to .21 lbs (.09 kg) of paper each day by switching from one-sided printing to two-sided.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Waste

Go Paperless

I will reduce the amount of paper mail that I receive by 3.4lbs (1.5kg) a month or 41lbs (18.6kg) a year by opting into paperless billing, ending unwanted subscriptions and opting out of junk mail.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Participant Feed

REFLECTION QUESTION
Waste

How could you incorporate other "R's" -- reduce, reuse, refuse, repair, repurpose, etc. -- into your lifestyle?
Rajagopalan Rangachari 10/07/2019 8:45 AM

Reuse/repurpose :

We dismantled our above ground pool and repurposed
a) the aluminum frames to serve as railing flower beds
b) the vinyl lining as deck tarp
c) making raised garden beds from the wood platform

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Waste

What do you do if you find yourself in the situation of needing a bag for items but don't have a reusable one with you? Carry things out in your hands? In a cart? Accept a disposable one? If you find yourself in this position often, what system could you put in place to try to create a successful habit of not using plastic bags?
Rajagopalan Rangachari 10/02/2019 5:48 AM

1. Replace all plastic bags - in the car, home, work desk , picnic baskets et al.
Out of sight , out of mind

2. Overstock with cloth bags everywhere - make them yourself and/or decorate with appropriate logos / photos ( Use Me , Recycle,Reuse, Repurpose)

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Waste

Choosing two-sided printing can be an easy adjustment on your computer settings. How can you help others make this same switch? Can it be encouraged company wide?
Rajagopalan Rangachari 10/01/2019 1:22 PM

The following have worked well for me:

Avoid printing anything unless absolutely necessary.
Change the default setting to save as PDF rather than direct to a printer

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Waste

Reducing your paper mail can be such a freeing action to take -- by reducing what is coming in, you can reduce what is going into the recycling bin too. How does it make you feel? What is the next step you will take to reduce your waste?
Rajagopalan Rangachari 10/01/2019 1:17 PM

While I have switched from paper to electronic for most of the companies/entities I deal with / am a customer of , I still get junk mail in spite of having registered with "donotcall".

And there are are those flyers from hung from the door knob / tossed into the patio.

Would welcome a way out that too :-)

Read More