Yard Waste Facts
Monday, January 26th, 2009
During the summer your water bill may sky rocket trying to water the grass and keep it alive and if you keep a garden, which you should, you spend so much money on trying to water them. If you are one of the lucky ones to be on a well, your water bill may not be as large, for those who live in the city and don’t have a well; their bill seems to get bigger and bigger as the summer months go by. Not only water, but other wastes come with the summer as well. Here are some yard waste facts that will possibly help you avoid a huge yard bill this season.
• The power mower is one of the yard waste top of the list problems. One average sized lawn can use about 20 gallons of gasoline in a years time trying to keep up on yard maintenance and added air pollution is at an all-time high during the summer months as well. For an alternative, try a push mower that is manual.
• Hired yard maintenance can be about half your water use during these months as well. Instead, cancel your yard maintenance contract and get out and do your work yourself. Or, hire local kids at over half the coast to help keep up on your yard work. They can use the money to save for school and it can help cut back on your water usage as well.
• Go organic with your lawn food, fertilizer or even pesticides. It will cut down the fossil-fuel usage to make the fertilizer that is commercial and it will save our ground water that becomes our drinking water too because of runoff.
• Compost your yard waste too. Landfills are crowded enough as it is, without the yard waste going to take up over 20 percent of the landfill space. During the summer it can end up being more than 20 percent, so start your own compost pile to cut back on these waste.
*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Water your lawn, garden or flowerbed during the morning hours and only enough water till the plant seems filled. Never leave a water sprinkler on for longer than 5-7 minutes in one area. Any longer than that and you are just wasting water.
