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- Ami Eckard-Lee: When you
throw something away,

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it doesn't just disappear.

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It ends up here, at a landfill.

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On average,
an American generates

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around five pounds of waste
each day.

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And with over 340 million people
in the United States,

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that's a lot of trash.

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But before it ends up here,
it starts here, with a decision.

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Choosing to sort our waste
into the proper bins

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can help us
reuse valuable resources

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and lower the amount of waste
that ends up in landfills.

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But what impact do our landfills
have on climate change

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and the environment?

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[gentle music]

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Landfills are a necessary part
of how we handle waste,

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but how we steward them

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can have a big impact
on climate change.

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We send our waste to the
landfill so it can break down.

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But what exactly does it mean
to "break down?"

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I'm here to talk to a scientist

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who does her research right here
at this landfill.

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When we talk about things
decomposing

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and breaking down
in the landfill or anywhere,

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what are they actually
breaking down into?

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- Erica L-W Majumder:
In a landfill,

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and actually, even in our guts,
it's all about microorganisms.

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And so, when I say
a microorganism,

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I mean everything from a virus,

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a bacteria, a archaea,
a fungi, and things like that.

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And they're breaking down the
waste to get at those nutrients

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that they need to grow.

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So, your organic materials
like food waste, for instance,

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those will break down mostly
actually into sugars...

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- Okay.
- ...or other carbon sources.

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They will eat those first.

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Things like plastics or metal
take a really long time,

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if they ever break down.

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So, in all the different layers
of the landfill,

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you get different
microbial processes

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and different stages of
composition that are happening.

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- So, it's like a trash
layer cake.

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- Pretty much.

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So, we kind of break them down
into three big categories.

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There's aerobic, and then
there's fermentation,

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and then there's anaerobic.

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So, we have our
aerobic decomposers.

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Those are our fastest ones.

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And they use oxygen
as part of their metabolism.

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So, that breaks down
all your organic waste.

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And they feed the fermenters,
which are dominantly bacteria.

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And then, those fermenters

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feed a lot of the
anaerobic microorganisms.

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- Ami: Wow!

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It is an ecosystem.

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I don't think of the landfill
as being alive,

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except maybe in a horror movie,
so that's kind of cool.

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So, question then,
if most things,

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at least in geological time,
do break down eventually,

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in the end,
does it really matter

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which bin I put my waste in?

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- It does
if you wanna prevent pollution

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or make your landfill
more efficient.

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The landfill's best
for materials

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that really take a long time
to break down

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or don't have another reuse
or a purpose.

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We know that when there's
more organic matter,

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like more food waste
in a landfill,

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those are the materials

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that really stimulate
methane production.

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And methane is a far more potent
greenhouse gas than CO2.

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- Landfills are the
third-largest source

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of methane emissions
in the United States,

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primarily due to the anaerobic
decomposition of nutrients

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from organic matter.

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However, organic matter
is compostable,

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and composting is
an aerobic process

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that doesn't produce methane.

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So, if we took our compostable
things out of landfills

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in general, that would reduce
the methane in landfills

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and significantly
in the environment.

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- Very much.

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And that way, the stuff that
ended up in our landfill

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is truly the stuff that we don't
have any other use for

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or any other process.

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So, that way, we're minimizing
the amount of land use

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that goes into our landfills.

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- So, how can we make our
waste management system safer

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and more sustainable?

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Let's meet up with a member

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of the Dane County
Waste & Renewables team

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to learn about how this landfill
is diverting organic waste

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to a composting facility.

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We talk about composting,
but what actually is happening?

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What does it break down into?

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- Delaney Gobster: Ooh, that's
a great question.

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So, when we talk about
composting,

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composting is the process
that makes compost.

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So, compost is the final
end product that you get.

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It's not quite soil,
but it's a fertilizer.

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A soil amendment is
kind of what we call it.

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So, we talk
through organic resources

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as a few different
waste streams.

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If you've heard
of composting before,

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you might have heard of your
greens and your browns.

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So, nitrogen is your green.

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Those will be your food scraps.

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Carbons are your browns.

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So, the leaves
and the tree branches,

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the plants that grew your food.

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And you want a nice ratio
of that

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'cause just like we wanna have
a good, healthy diet,

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our compost microbes
also need a good, healthy diet.

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- Okay.
- So, but once you have

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your pile for composting,

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they eat away at all the carbon
and nitrogen materials

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that are in that pile,
and they break it down.

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And then, once the compost
is finished,

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we'll actually bag it
and sell it

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so that we can use it
in our gardens.

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So, it'll be a nice
nutrient boost for my plants.

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- Okay, so waste isn't
necessarily

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always waste.
- Delaney: Yeah.

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- It's whether
you're wasting it.

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- Exactly,
so we can turn those,

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that waste into resources

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to then put back
into our environment

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and grow more plants.

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- Ami: So, how does the
organic waste that ends up here

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get diverted from going
to a landfill instead?

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- Delaney: Yeah.

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Yeah, so, first we have to work
with people

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before it gets to the landfill.

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So, we work with residents

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through our Food Scrap Stop
program,

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where they can drop off
food scraps

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that they collect at home,
and then we bring 'em here,

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and it doesn't make its way
to the landfill.

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- Ami: Did you know that over
a third of our landfill waste

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is organic matter that could be
composted instead?

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This is organic waste.

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But how do you compost it?

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Let's find out.

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Hey, Sam.
- Sam Olson: Hey.

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- So, how does this food scrap
program work,

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and what do I do with this?

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- Yeah, it's super easy to use.

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There's food scrap stops
across Dane County.

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It's a program run by the
Dane County Waste & Renewables.

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These are composting bins.

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They're community compost bins,

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so anyone in Dane County
can use them.

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So, there's a lock.

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After you fill out
a short six-question survey

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on their website,
you get the combination.

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You show up to your chosen
location, unlock it.

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Open it up.
- Ta-da!

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- Drop the food scraps,
lock it back up.

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There you go.

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- That is super easy.
- Yes, it is.

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- So, what is the
food scrap program

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and how did you get involved
with it?

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- I was a youth representative

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on the Dane County
Public Works

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and Transportation Committee.
- Wow!

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- And so, one of the things
that we had to deal with often

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was community concern
about expanding landfills

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because whenever those landfills
expand,

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it does take up public lands
that would otherwise be used

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for something else.

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And so, making sure

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that landfills aren't expanding
as much is a huge priority.

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And composting
played a huge role in that,

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'cause they're keeping
all those food scraps

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that would otherwise be going
into the landfill right here.

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And honestly, the community
totally knocked it out the park.

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- Awesome!
- In the first two months,

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there were over 1,000 people
that signed up.

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And now, it's, yeah,
and it's not just this location.

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It's really all the locations.

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They're all receiving tons
of resident food scraps.

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- Oh, that's awesome.

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One of the best ways
to get involved

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in sustainable waste management
is to educate yourself,

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your family, and your friends

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about the right way
to dispose of waste,

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or find ways to minimize
the amount of waste you produce.

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Here are some ideas.

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Find creative ways to reuse
your old stuff and make it new.

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Or donate items that
other people might want

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instead of just throwing them
away.

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Use reusable products
or recyclable alternatives

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instead of single-use items,
and start composting at home.

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If you wanna scale up
your efforts,

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reach out to local restaurants

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and see if they'll switch
their carryout containers

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to recyclable
or compostable ones.

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Petition your school to start
a composting program

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with the food scraps
left over from lunch.

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Or learn about the practices
at your local landfill,

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and become an advocate for
additional sustainable practices

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in your community.

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There are lots of ways
to limit your waste production.

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So, don't get down in the dumps!

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Find ways to reduce the amount
of trash you make each day.

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Reuse valuable resources
and recycle materials

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to give them new life.

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After all,
waste is just resources

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put in the wrong places.

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- Okay, mates!

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Aluminum cans,
put 'em in the recycling!

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- In the recycling!
- It'll help the Earth.

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- Yeah, we can all recycle,
right?

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Awesome!