An old wives' tale suggests pouring a capful of ammonia into the trash bag before putting it on the curb. The theory is that if an animal rips the bag open, he'll get a strong whiff of ammonia and run away. But here’s the problem: Ammonia is a strong irritant and can cause lightheadedness and burning of the throat, nose and respiratory tract. If you want to prevent animals from getting into your trash, utilize wildlife-resistant trash cans with tight-fitting lids. And if you do put your bagged trash out on the curb, do it the morning of trash pickup -- not the night before.

According to the Sierra Club, the average office worker uses about 10,000 pieces of copy paper every year. Obviously, one of the easiest ways to cut down on paper waste is to determine if what you need to print or copy is necessary. If it is, the organization says the next best thing is to avoid color printing and stick with black and white. When color printouts are not necessary, using only black and white settings reduces the toxicity load. Brightly colored hues have more chemicals, and printing these can lead to less healthy air quality in the office. And opt for settings that automatically do double-sided printing to cut your paper usage in half.

The statistic is staggering: Americans throw away about 40 percent of the food they buy. This food overwhelms landfills and wastes money. One way to help cut waste at home is to look at the ingredients you have in your pantry and refrigerator and use them to create new meals from scratch. To help you do that, the recipe app Handpick pairs the ingredients you have on hand and presents recipes you can make on the spot. With over 10,000 ingredients in the app, not only will it help you cook, it’ll give you options so you can choose what looks the most appetizing and appealing to you and your family.