California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle)

Waste Prevention World

Sample Articles for Publication

The following articles, along with clip art, were developed for use in newsletters or for your local newspaper, as a regular series on waste prevention. Revise the articles as desired.

The text was written by freelance author Peter Asmus, staff at CalRecycle, and City of Davis recycling co-coordinators Dianne Makley and Catherine McCarthy. You can take credit for all the articles; however, the City of Davis would like to be acknowledged if their articles are used without major modifications. Also be aware that the articles sometimes call for you to "[insert local information.]"

Article credits

  • Peter Asmus of Sacramento, CA (916) 451-4811
  • Dianne Makely of Davis, CA (916) 757-5686
  • CalRecycle staff in Sacramento, CA (916) 341-6363

Article index

General waste prevention
  1. Is your garbage really garbage?
  2. Meaning and importance of waste prevention
  3. Overview of waste prevention techniques
  4. Schools: laboratories of waste prevention
  5. Facts of waste prevention versus recycling
  6. The A,B,C's of waste prevention activism
  7. Sustainability = consuming and purchasing less
  8. It's landfull for California landfills
Shopping and packaging
  1. Grocery shopping with the four Rs in mind
  2. Reducing food waste by planning ahead
  3. General packaging reduction techniques
  4. Reduce packaging waste
Around the house
  1. Garage sales, rummage sales and thrift shops
  2. Reuse ethic: repair, donate and buy used
  3. Reusables: items like bags and boxes
  4. Don't dump, donate
  5. Junk mail
Composting and grasscycling
  1. Grasscycling offers simple alternative
  2. Catch the composting craze
  3. A recipe for good compost
  4. Xeriscaping
  5. Worm bins
  6. Tire reuse can be fun
At work
  1. Recharge printer toner cartridges
  2. State offers free service for firms "trading trash"
  3. Waste prevention at work
Holidays
  1. Don't make the holidays "the haulidays"
  2. Holiday "peanuts"
  3. Toward a "greener" Christmas tree
 
Last updated: January 1, 1996
Waste Reduction: http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/ReduceWaste/
Waste Prevention Information Exchange: wpinfoex@calrecycle.ca.gov, (916) 341-6363