Dig a little deeper to make every day Earth Day.

Byline: RECYCLING By Pete Chism For The Register-Guard

As another Earth Day has been recycled through our calendar, the theme of making every day Earth Day should continue to influence our thoughts and actions. If you are on the quest of making every day Earth Day, the simple goals of reducing, reusing and recycling are a great start.

However, if you want to dig deeper and make more of a difference, here are some things to consider:

Recycled chlorine-free paper: Choosing post-consumer recycled paper helps preserve forests, cuts paper-manufacturing pollution and reduces solid waste. Chlorine-free papers reduce emissions of dioxin, a known human carcinogen linked to endocrine, reproductive, nervous and immune system damage.

Facts on paper: Each American on average consumes more than 730 pounds of paper per year. In the U.S., more than 90 percent of the printing and writing paper comes from virgin fiber. The pulp and paper industry ranks first in use of industrial process water, third in toxic chemical releases and fourth in emissions of the air pollutants known to impair respiratory health.

Producing recycled paper causes 74 percent less air pollution and 35 percent less water pollution, and creates five times the number of jobs than producing paper from trees.

Hazardless cleaning products: Indoor air pollution, some of which is linked to cleaning-product exposure, is ranked among the nation's top five environmental risks.

Green Seal, a nonprofit environmental standards organization, estimates that cleaning products contribute approximately 8 percent of total nonvehicular emissions of volatile organic compounds, which can cause eye, nose and lung irritation, as well as rashes, headaches, nausea, asthma and, in some cases, cancer.

Organic, nontoxic personal care products: Environmentally, these products contribute to our dependency on petroleum and the related environmental destruction associated with drilling and refining. Many chemical body-care ingredients - such as Propylene Glycol and PVP/VA Copolymer - are petroleum-derived.

Many companies have addressed these concerns and are committed to making natural and organic body-care products. Buying natural and organic body-care products is better for you and our environment.

Compact fluorescent lights: Electricity production is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., and lighting accounts for about 25 percent of American electricity consumption.

Though CFLs cost more at the outset, over the life of the bulb they will save you money. By replacing four standard bulbs with CFLs, you can prevent the emission of 5,000 pounds of carbon dioxide and reduce your electricity bill by more than $100 over the lives of those bulbs.

Organic cotton: Cotton uses approximately 25 percent of the world's insecticides and more than 10 percent of the pesticides.

The EPA considers seven of the top 15 pesticides used on cotton in the United States in 2000 to be "possible," "likely," "probable," or "known" human carcinogens.

Each T-shirt made from 100 percent organic cotton saves a third of a pound of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

Water saving showerheads and faucets: The average household uses more than 22,000 gallons of water per year just for showers and baths. Most of this water is also heated, resulting in increased fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse emissions.

For every 1,000 of us who install faucet aerators and high-efficiency showerheads, we can save nearly 8 million gallons of water and prevent more than 450,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

Rechargeable batteries: Clean, rechargeable batteries are readily available. The two most popular rechargeable battery types are nickel-cadmium and nickel-metal-hydride.

While these battery types perform equally well, and both can be recharged hundreds of times, one major drawback to NiCd batteries is that they contain cadmium, a highly toxic heavy metal, whereas, according to the EPA, NiMH batteries are nontoxic.

Pete Chism is the waste reduction specialist at Lane County Waste Management.