Sustainability Tips

Conserving gasoline is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint and personal emissions. Check out some of our tips on how to reduce your gasoline use.

• Walk, ride a bicycle or safely use one of the electric scooters in the city.
• If you are in the market for a new car, consider going electric! Winston-Salem has electric vehicle charging stations located in and around the downtown area. We are always working on increasing the number of these stations, and currently have three locations: 
  • Location 1 – Old Salem roundabout in the tennis court area 
  • Location 2 – 4th and Church street parking garage through the 4th street entrance 
  • Location 3 – Bailey park area on Patterson Ave. 
• Plan your driving by making a list of where you need to go and the shortest route to get there. Combine several stops and get everything done in one trip. If you avoid rush hour (stop-and-go) traffic, it will help even more. 
• Use public transportation such as Winston-Salem Transit Authority (WSTA) bus service or PART. 
• Carpool! Share rides to work, shopping, special events, meetings, etc. 
• When you are waiting in a car, do not let your engine idle. By stopping your engine, you are saving emissions (twice as much as when the car is moving!), saving gasoline, and saving on oil.

Reducing waste is an important part of practicing sustainability. Listed below are some easy ways to reduce waste in day to day life:

• Take reusable bags on shopping trips. You can also reuse paper or plastic shopping bags.
• Be sure to recycle your plastic bags correctly by bringing them back to a local grocery store near you. Do not put them in your blue recycle bins!
• Use reusable products when possible. Using reusable water bottles, travel coffee mugs, and washable plates and silverware are all ways to cut down on single-use items.
• Start a compost area in your yard for kitchen waste, leaves, and yard clippings. When properly composted, kitchen wastes can become natural soil additives for lawn, gardens and even house plants.
• Buy more local and seasonal foods and throw less of it away.
• Try buying food and other items with less packaging.
• Take your old computer, DVD player, or other electronics to a recycling center. This helps keep hazardous substances out of the landfill. You can also find out if your local Goodwill accepts these items too.

Reducing how much water you use at home can help reduce water bills as well as save water in the community. Below are some helpful tips to save water for homeowners and renters.

• Run your dishwasher only when it's full. This will minimize the amount of water used per dish.
• Buy water efficient fixtures and products. The WaterSense label helps shoppers identify water efficient products and programs.
• Replace the head on older faucets with a water restricting head for an inexpensive water saving fix.
• A full bath tub requires 30-70 gallons of water while taking a five minute shower saves water by using only 10-25 gallons. Make sure your shower head is a water efficient model and you may save even more!
• Leaky faucets and toilets can waste thousands of gallons of water each year and represent money down the drain. Repair or replace old or damaged fixtures. Pour a little food dye in the rear tank on your toilet and if the dye shows up in the toilet bowl after a few minutes, then the toilet water is leaking down the sewer. An inexpensive tank valve is the fix.
• The average washing machine uses 40.9 gallons of water per load. Buy a high-efficiency washer or save up for full loads.