Study Shows San Francisco is America's Least Wasteful City
From rain barrels and recycling to walking and buying second-hand clothes,"The Nalgene Least Wasteful City Study" puts top 25 metros under scrutiny for wasteful behavior.
With thrift and conservation on the minds of many Americans, a new study put the spotlight on wasteful behavior in our nation's cities. "The Nalgene Least Wasteful City Study" ranked 23 waste-focused habits of urban Americans, from recycling, to using public transportation, to shutting off the lights when leaving the room. When the results were tallied, San Francisco earned the title of America's Least Wasteful City, while Atlanta ranked last in the study.
Other cities at the top of the least wasteful list are New York (2), Portland, OR (3) and Seattle (4). In addition to Atlanta, Dallas (24), Indianapolis (23), Houston (22) and St. Louis (21) were in the bottom five of those surveyed. Individuals can visit www.leastwastefulcities.com for complete rankings or to the take the survey themselves.
Surprisingly, in trying economic times, frugality isn't the leading factor motivating Americans to change wasteful ways. In fact, over half surveyed (57 percent) cited "that it is our responsibility to ensure the health of our planet for future generations" as the motivation for changing behavior, followed by "it makes financial sense" (22 percent).