Here are some simple and valuable tips to get started:

• Shop only for products made with recycled materials.
• Use energy-efficient light bulbs and rechargeable batteries.
• Reuse plastic bags, washable cups or travel mugs, containers, and twist ties. Many restaurants and convenience stores will be glad to fill or refill your own mug.
• NEVER place yard waste such as grass clippings into the City dumpster. This increases the dumpster weight at the landfill, which in turn costs the City and you as a taxpayer more.
• Plant a garden! Also transform all household garbage (food waste, coffee grounds, etc.) into a Compost - a rich earth-like material that can be added to your garden to help it or other plants grow. Grass, leaves, paper, and some other types of food can also naturally decay and turn into compost. Please visit the Permian Basin Master Gardeners site or the Environmental Protection Agency for Composting tips or to learn about classes. Also visit Clean Sweep USA for complete composting instructions or the Interactive Student Education section of this website for further information.
• Maintain and repair items such as appliances or clothing, instead of buying new. If you do buy new, be sure to sell or donate the secondhand item to Goodwill, Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity and the many others in our area. Most of the time the item can be repaired to those groups then redistributed into other homes rather than landfills.
• Purchase new products with less packaging and buy the largest volume of containers you can. Also, buy concentrates and refill the original packages.
• Bring your own reusable cloth or canvas bags to the grocery store.
• Use washable table napkins instead of paper napkins - cloth napkins are usually much larger and more absorbent than paper products, and they can be used over and over.
• Say NO to junk mail! Call toll-free numbers in unwanted catalogs and ask to be removed from mailing lists. Whenever possible, use the Internet to obtain and pay bills or to read the news, catalogs, even stock reports.
• Reduce the amount of hazardous materials in your home and monitor how you dispose of it. One single gallon of motor oil dumped down a drain can contaminate a million gallons of drinking water.
• Check your E-Waste by recycling cell phones, batteries in laptop computers, cameras, and cordless power tools. Give cell phones back to manufacturers or donate them to charity.
• Use both sides of a sheet of paper and only use paper goods with the label "Made From Recycled Paper." Also, plant a tree!
• Reuse plastic bags and packaging.
• Contact the Environmental Protection Agency for tips on disposing of car batteries, paint, mercury light bulbs, and antifreeze or take them to the Household Hazardous Waste Facility located next door to the Odessa Recycle Time Machine.
• Recycle everything you can! This may also include organizing your own neighborhood cleanup, volunteering at community cleanups, or picking up litter when it is visible to you. Visit our local Odessa Recycle Time Machine find out what materials they collect and how you can utilize their facility for your recycling needs.

 Collecting items for recycling is easy and their preparation only takes a few minutes per day. Sort materials such as soda cans and plastic bottles and store in a safe dry area, in order to reduce smell and not attract insects. Use a sealed container to store used motor oil. Rinse out and flatten any plastic containers. Stack newspapers and store inside of paper bags. Visit the Odessa Recycle Time Machine to dispose of and in some cases receive money for your sorted items.

 Recycling isn't the total solution to our nation's solid waste problem because there will always be something to throw into the garbage and not everything can be reused. Trash will still need to be buried in a landfill or burned in an incinerator. The goal is to remove as much glass, paper, cans, plastic, and other reusable materials from our trash. ONCE THE AMOUNT IS REDUCED, THE COST OF DISPOSING IT WILL GO DOWN.

 "Our mission is to empower individuals to take greater responsibility for enhancing their community environment" and it is up to each and every one of us to make that effort.