Your backyard—your piece of the environment—is an ideal place to practice the 3 Rs. It is also the place where the impact of your efforts can be most visible. Landlords, tenants and rental property owners should use the following ideas to incorporate the 3 Rs into their backyard activities.
- Greenscape your lawn. Greenscaping is a set of landscaping practices that maximize the health of lawns and plants while minimizing the environmental risks posed by some traditional practices. Greenscaping promotes the use of bio-based and organic products, native plants, and sustainable water management to prevent soil erosion, water runoff, and other negative consequences of traditional landscaping. Best of all, it’s easy to do.
- Buy recycled. Purchase lawn furniture, decking, and other outdoor products that contain recycled content. These items include welcome mats made from recycled flip-flops, birdhouses crafted from reclaimed wood, or patio furniture made from recycled plastic. Buying recycled-content products makes it economically viable to collect recyclables and conserve resources.
- Create a compost pile of your organic, biodegradable kitchen waste and apply finished compost to your lawn and garden. Composting does more than improve the quality of your soil: it keeps carbon from entering the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas, diverts waste from landfills, and eliminates the creation of new waste by reducing the need to purchase fertilizers and pesticides.
Source: epa.gov
