According to a study by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, nearly 60 percent of trash entering Ohio landfills could have been reduced, reused or recycled.

There’s a lot of talk about going green and becoming more environmentally friendly. There are a few simple ways for you to live green in your home, and it starts with convenience.

The first step is to identify the rooms in your house where most of your garbage originates. Many people spend time in the kitchen preparing meals or snacks, and most food packaging can be recycled. For example, steel vegetable cans and paperboard boxes can be recycled, along with the empty beverage can that you enjoyed while grilling out for your family.

We have a 2-year-old daughter, and if you’re like us, it feels like you spend hours upon hours doing laundry. The empty detergent bottles and boxes and the dryer sheet boxes can be recycled as well. Also, make sure to wash full loads to save energy.

When we’re not cleaning up after our daughter, we’re usually opening junk mail and paying bills in the computer room or home office. This could be any room in your house where you typically review your mail. The average adult receives more than 40 pounds of junk mail each year. With little effort, all those envelopes (with and without windows), pieces of paper and postcards could easily be recycled instead of trashed. Remember, old phone books, catalogs and magazines can be recycled as well.

Finally, we spend a lot of time every day in the bathroom, from showering before work to brushing our teeth before bed. Many of the products in the bathroom can be recycled.

You will find shampoo and conditioner bottles in the shower, along with empty shaving cream cans, contact solution bottles and tissue and soap boxes by the sink. Even the inside toilet paper roll can be recycled.

Once you have identified the rooms, it’s important to make recycling convenient in these locations.

Place a recycling container next to each garbage can. Reuse old shoe boxes or cardboard packages for recycling collection points, and begin filling with recyclables. Then, pick one spot in your home to serve as the central recycling station.

Now that you have gathered your recyclables, load them into your car and take it to one of the recycling drop-off boxes located throughout Lawrence County.

These recycling centers are easy to find by visiting the Lawrence-Scioto Solid Waste Management District’s website, www.lsswmd.org. Or, you can visit www.rumpkerecycling.com and type your zip code into the recycling locator search box.

Nick Rupert is the recycling sales representative for Rumpke Recycling. Annually, Rumpke recycles nearly 500 million pounds of materials, which conserves natural resources, saves energy, preserves landfill space and creates jobs.