Photo by Topsy at Waygood, under a Creative Commons license

Waste of any kind makes my eyeballs itch; one-off disposables even more so. Despite the recent upswell in conversation about energy independence and the need to wean ourselves off foreign oil, few people seem to realize that plastic bags, clamshell takeout containers, and that iced-coffee cup are petroleum-derived conveniences—ones we don’t need festering in our landfills for thousands of years. (Methane, a greenhouse gas found in landfills, is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide when it comes to trapping heat in our atmosphere, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.)

I usually pack lunch when I travel into the city for another bout of in-house editing at some magazine or another, but I’m laxer when I know I’m going to be in midtown because I love the hot-food counter at one particular organic deli on Park Ave. South. (I’m addicted to the sweet-and-sour seitan.) It’s easy to get swept up in a maelstrom of difficult-to-recycle plastic waste, but you can step around it with a bit of diligence.

1. Bring your own Tupperware: Because of the recent hullaballoo about toxic chemicals leaching from plastic, I’ve taken to toting along a stainless-steel container to fill up with hot foods at the organic deli. The lovely gent at the register weighed my empty container last week, so I don’t have to pay for the extra weight.

2. Bring your own flatware: One thing this world doesn’t need is more disposable plastic cutlery in the landfill. I have a fork-and-spoon set in a reusable pouch that I just toss into a bag with my lunchbox.

3. Choose wrapper-free snacks: A juicy organic Anjou pear or Gala apple doesn’t have any packaging to dispose of. I save the core for our weekly trip to the community garden’s compost heap.

4. Bring your own bag: I love my Whole Foods ChicoBag. When I’m done putting away its contents, I simply stuff the bag back into the attached pouch and throw it into my purse. No fuss, no muss, and no forgetting to pack a bag.

5. Bring your own water bottle/commuter mug: Apparently Chris Meloni from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit banned plastic bottles from the set and bought everyone reusable water bottles. What a guy.

Photo by zharth, under a Creative Commons license

Several months ago, tired of the clutter that our CDs were making in our hobbit hole of a living room, I purchased a few cotton-and-polyester (read: not vinyl, to which I’m vehemently opposed) CD wallets from Ikea to corral and organize our music collection. The difference good media storage makes is astounding. Just one problem: We’re now left with stacks and stacks of jewel cases to contend with—many of them scratched or broken from careless handling over the years—as well as sampler and product promo discs we doubt anyone’s champing at the bit to lift from our hands.

CD and DVD jewel cases are made from molded polystyrene (or sometimes, PVC) and not easily recyclable, so tossing them into the recycling bin and crossing your fingers isn’t going to cut it. You have a few options, however. If you’re of the crafty persuasion, you can squeeze another 14 uses out of them before you give your jewel cases the kiss off. GreenDisk will also accept your castoff cases (for $6.95 for every 20 pounds, minus shipping), which it’ll then use as raw material for its own line of recycled jewel cases.

Disc recycling isn’t a pipe dream, either. The hub and I used to take scratched-up and damaged CDs and DVDs, along with their cases, to 3R Living in Brooklyn. Because we live in Jersey City, it was a bit of a schlep, so I was pretty excited when my pal Siel clued me into the fact that Best Buy now recycles used discs, if not their jewel cases. The CD Recycling Center of America is another place that will take your used CDs and DVDs at no charge.

I prefer listening to tunes on online music stations like Pandora these days; otherwise, I buy songs off iTunes and dispense with the packaging altogether—sometimes, technology does live up to its promise.