Green Do it Yourself Projects

Compost your food scraps in a backyard compost bin. Compost bins are widely available at local hardware stores. When preparing food, keep an empty bowl nearby where you can toss food scraps such as fruit rinds, vegetable peels, and egg shells. Once the bowl is full, take it outside and empty it into the compost bin. The food will break down over time. Scoop in some topsoil every few weeks to minimize possible odors and mix it around with a pitchfork. The compost becomes a nutrient-rich fertilizer you can spread over your garden beds and grass.

Recycle cans, glass and plastic bottles. By emptying and rinsing soda cans, glass beer bottles, plastic pop bottles and food containers and sending them to local recycling facilities, you can help stop that waste from filling up local landfill sites. Reusing these materials also decreases the need for new ones, which saves a tremendous amount of the energy and raw materials used in their manufacturing.

Invest in a rain barrel. Watering lawns and gardens with the hose each year wastes a lot of water and increases your home's utility bill. Rain barrels collect and store rainwater. With the built-in hose at the bottom of the barrel, you can ease the pressure on your water bill by reusing rainwater to hydrate your lawn and garden during hot spells.

Install solar panels. Solar panels convert the energy from the sun's rays into electricity. They are cheap, efficient, and widely available. By installing solar panels to your home's rooftop or mounting them to a pole in your backyard, you can transmit this electricity to an empty circuit breaker on your home's electricity panel. Excess electricity that the panels generate can be sold back to the electrical company in many areas, which may translate to big savings on your home utility bill.