Shop Small Businesses on Saturday (and every day) and You Will Automatically Reduce Waste
November 30th is Small Business Saturday. There are many reasons to love this day, such as finding one-of-a-kind merchandise, supporting local businesses and helping to boost the local economy. All of these are good reasons. But the reason dearest to our hearts is that small businesses use less waste in the packaging of their products, if they use any packaging at all. Read on to learn how shopping small businesses will not only help York County economically but benefit our environment too.
Packaging and Waste
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, over 80 millions tons of packaging waste was generated last year. It makes sense, right? There are well over 255 million adults in the US. If you consider the fact that most adults bought at least a few things last holiday season that were packaged, then you can see how we can quickly generate millions of tons of trash in a year.
We know that most packaging is plastic, which is made from oil, or cardboard, which is made from trees. Both oil and trees are natural resources. If we make a conscious effort to buy merchandise with less packaging, we are saving valuable natural resources. Imagine how much good we could do for the environment if we all did our best to be thoughtful about how much packaging surrounds the items we buy. Perhaps just one day of Small Business Saturday shopping is motivation enough to continue to shop small, limit the amount of packaging you purchase with a product (let’s be honest, packaging has an impact on the bottom-line price of any item) and help preserve natural resources. Who knew Small Business Saturday shopping could be so beneficial!?!
More Information
For more information about York County’s Small Business Saturday, visit Downtown Inc. Additional information on solid waste disposal in York County can be found by visiting the YCSWA website.