I have lived in my home for a year or so and have yet to buy any garbage bags, I find that if I use the super-cool "bring your own" grocery bags, and also sometimes forget them and am forced to use new plastic ones, I always have the two little bags per week in which I throw out my few unrecyclables and compost (rumor has it we're still a year or two away from curbside compositing on my block). I didn't install a dishwasher in my place because I think the field (and the back of the truck) living has taught me a pretty water-efficient hand method (apparently the city loses almost half its water out of lea. I sometimes forget that REFUSE is a good first R. If I say no to things like driving, that lots of other people seem to say yes to, I can turn around and say yes to the occasional plastic cup of beer at a show. – NOLS Instructor 

Printer paper, gasoline (biking), organic waste (composting), diapers (investing in reuseables). – NOLS Instructor

We compost all vegetable matter for our little garden, reuse glass jars for food and spice storage, cut up paper waste into notepads, reuse plastic bags as lunch bags and trash bags, and refill our beer in reusable gallon "growlers" instead of buying bottles or cans. We also walk, bike, and buy in bulk, but there's nothing new there. I think that one of the most important things that we do is buy locally grown produce, meats, and grains–this benefits the land, the community, our connection to place, and it uses less fossil fuel. – NOLS Staff and Instructor 

I hardly ever buy Ziploc bags - tortilla bags have an amazing amount of life in them. – NOLS Instructor 

Reduce-choose food products with minimal amounts of packaging. Reuse leftover food from NOLS courses. – NOLS Staff and Instructor 

I capture rainwater for reuse in watering landscaping (although illegal in Colorado for inane reasons). I compost kitchen scraps into my garden. I mend gear when it's broken. – NOLS Instructor 

I reduce my consumption of everything I can. I hate shopping. I recycle aluminum, cardboard, plastic, time, glass and newspaper. Share an idea? Buy durable outdoor gear and use it until it disintegrates - like in the early days at NOLS. – NOLS Staff and Instructor

Reusing plastic bags at the grocery store/or taking a backpack there. – NOLS Instructor

I don't buy much paper - I make grocery list etc on those damn credit card solicitation envelopes and other paper that is mailed to me. I bring my own bags to the grocery store. And the plastic ones I do get, I use as trash bin liners. I share rides when I have to drive and walk/ride a bike as much as possible. I wash my zip lock bags for re-use. At work when we receive a returned mailing we unpackage and re-use the impersonalized components. – NOLS Staff and Instructor

As above, we use very little electricity. We often hang our clothes outside to dry, instead of using the dryer. We've replaced our light bulbs with compact florescent bulbs. We give our kids a treat when we've used fewer kilowatts at the end of a month than the same month the previous year. Our vacations tend to be camping in the west and not flying to Disneyland. – NOLS Staff

I bought a house recently and have been slowly fixing up most of the cosmetics as well as some of the structural aspects. About 90% of the materials I have been using are reused from the house itself or from a local community resource called the restore. What I tear out of this house I bring to the restore for someone else to use. There I trade it for credit for something to put back in my house. I have found plenty of wood, concrete blocks, dry wall and mud, decking, all my replacement windows and doors, nails, screws, tools, etc. Houses have to be one of the nastiest contaminators in our communities, which is sort of ironic. But I am helping to change the way we all think of house projects. – NOLS Instructor 

Buy beer in growlers from local breweries. Good fresh beer in reusable containers. – NOLS Instructor

I regularly reuse plastic food bags, and I reduce the bags I get from stores by taking my own canvas bags. I reduce the miles I drive by biking and walking whenever possible. I reduce the packaging I could use by regularly buying food in bulk. I reduce the fuel I use by only turning on the heat when I'm awake and home, and then no higher than 65. I rarely buy new clothes, because it's far too expensive and it makes me feel like I'm contributing to a consumer culture that I don't admire. – NOLS Instructor

1. Paper - I reuse all paper: used sheets, envelopes, etc. I even cut paper with stuff on both sides to save small clear pieces for by-the-telephone-side chits. 2. I always take photostat copies on both sides of the paper. 3. I avoid taking paper/plastic bags from shops and department stores - I carry my own cloth-bag for this. I have seen the shopkeepers surprised! 3. I save all plastic bags - keep reusing them till they get frayed up. 4. We have, as a family, developed it as a practice to make stuff out of waste - say, b'day greeting cards. – NOLS Instructor

Simple things. I don't buy things unless I really need to. When I buy, I try garage sale or thrift stores. Hand-me-down clothes are the best. When I buy new products, I select companies who are green as much as possible. Find alternatives to plastic products - such as bring your own coffee mug to the coffee shop and grocery bag to the store. When you host potluck, have people bring their own dishes and cups so you don't have to do dishes and use plastic cups and plates. Compost your waste. – NOLS Instructor 

My university can set up reuse paper system, e.g., turning in assignment using reused paper, double sided copy, and leave reusable paper next to copy machine and printer. – NOLS Instructor

One thing that I do that I feel is important, effective and often overlooked is to take care and repair what I have. I know how to sew small and large holes in my clothes and gear and before this take care of my gear thinking that the longer it lasts, the less I have to consume in the future and more money I save. – NOLS Staff and Instructor 

Most everything. But, I live in a town (Bend, OR) that provides such a service to the community making such choices very easy. I have lived in places that do not recognize this as a community value, and it was very hard. It was a small community (friends) effort to gather recyclables and drive them to a facility. – WMI Instructor 

I think that one of the best things my partner and I are doing to be green is being a one-car family. I often buy used clothes instead of new ones. – NOLS Instructor 

I reuse clothing articles before I wash them. Not the underwear of course, but things like pants, until they get stinky or soiled. The other day a co-worker was going to throw away a box that held crackers, but I took it and used it as drawing paper. I suspect the monetary value was decreased, but with a bit more practice that reuse method could become profitable. I also turn the sink off when I am brushing my teeth, but only find that I can bring myself to spit when the water is running again. Bizarre. – NOLS Staff

A friend of mine recently made an envelope of sorts out of a cracker box and I copied her idea and sent friends some pictures in an "envelop" I created using an old hot chocolate box. I just cut it up, taped it up, and sent it off. – NOLS Staff

All paper from mail and food packaging goes to the compost pile and thence into the garden. – NOLS Instructor and Board Member

Wash clothes less, reuse plastic bags instead of buying Ziplocs, bring bags to the grocery store, carpool, walk more. – NOLS Staff and Instructor

I carry a fork or pair of chopsticks in my bag so that I don't have to use plastic cutlery at take out restaurants. I take my own bags to the grocery store. I cycle sponges from dishes to counters, to bathroom surfaces, to toilet so I end up buying fewer. – NOLS Instructor 

My kid reuses egg boxes for his egg business. He only reuses boxes that look good as new and this works great. But he can't legally sell them in a store. Most cars I buy are reused. – NOLS Staff and Instructor 

I reuse milk cartons, aseptic containers and even plastic soda bottles to start seedlings for my garden. Cut them in half, poke holes in bottoms and fill with potting soil. Cheap, reusable and lightweight. They often last a couple of years. – WMI Instructor

I reuse plastic containers for bringing my lunch to work. I wash out all my plastic Ziploc baggies and reuse them until they have holes. I always carpool when I do drive up to Beaver Creek for a skate ski. I'm working on setting up our compost so that when warm weather comes we can reuse the nutrients in our organic waste! – NOLS Staff

One of the problems with the 3R mantra is that it completely neglects a fourth R that should come first in the list: Refuse. In the context of a verb and not a noun, Refuse could have profound implications on our glutinous lifestyles. – NOLS Instructor 

Reuse plastic bags and containers constantly, reuse clothes (e.g., pass on clothes, buy at used clothing store, and get hand-me-downs). Dumpster drive (My husband loves when the students move out of the dorms in the spring, he has found a vacuum, a George Forman grill, chairs). Reuse scraps from construction sites for our remodeling. Reduce packaging by buying in bulk. Reduce emissions by walking and riding. Reduce paper waste by canceling catalogues, junk mail. Reduce paper use by requiring my students to print on both sides or recycle paper when handing in assignments. I appreciate that the saying goes, “reduce, reuse, recycle,” because recycling should be the last step, reducing and reusing should come first. – NOLS Instructor

I have reduced most things. All 8.5 by 11 inch sheets of paper get printed on both sides before hitting the recycler. – NOLS Instructor

I use the glad covers for my leftovers. I wash them and use them again. That way I don't use plastic wrap. They are hard to find. Target? I recycle manure. For people to use in their gardens. I recycle glass. Soon to recycle aluminum, however, I don't use that much. – NOLS Staff

Yogurt containers always reused many times, also small glass jars for snacks and lunch leftovers, paper, reduce by hanging laundry instead of using the dryer. – NOLS Staff