Activism can take many forms.

Most people think of environmental activism as something someone does in their spare time. It entails tasks such as going to a few meetings (maybe even a protest), writing some letters or perhaps making a few phone calls.

Being a waste prevention activist, however, can really be a full-time job and a state of mind. Whether you spend most of your time at home or at work, the best waste prevention activist knows how to be effective without annoying other people.

For instance, many of our old habits are the result of advice from family and friends. You'd be surprised how many of these decisions would be different if you had all of the facts about how much waste you produce everyday.

While each decision may seem to have a small impact on the amount of material that you throw away, there are accumulative effects. Each Californian, on average, leaves a legacy of over 90,000 pounds of garbage! With this disturbing fact in mind, let's see how each and every state citizen can become a waste prevention activist.

If one were to hand out report cards to waste prevention activists, here's the type of activities one would expect from the top, average and bottom waste prevention activist students.

An "A" activist would live a near waste-free life at home and at work.

All forms of waste at home would be tightly managed.

For example, you would have written the Direct Marketing Association (P.O. Box 9008, Farmington, NY 11735-9008) and reduced your junk mail to almost a trickle. All paper -- mixed mail scraps, magazine, newspaper and cardboard -- would regularly be sorted and recycled.

When shopping, you would bring your own bags (or boxes), choose only products with recycled content packaging (or no packaging at all) and purchased in bulk, but only in amounts that you would realistically use. As a gardener, you would only plant drought tolerant native plants that require little pruning, would grasscycle your lawn and mulch or compost your green waste. To persuade your neighbors, you would set an example. And you would bring up the reasons for some of your yard and home projects in simple conversations.

You would also set an example at work and try to convince fellow employees to develop companywide programs. Developing a proposal for top management, based on long-term economic savings for the firm, would be a priority. You would also write to manufacturers of products you like, but which feature excessive packaging, to ask them to reduce waste in their product packaging.

A "B" activist would focus on durable, repairable products when shopping, but still might stop at a fast food restaurant and help fill the nearby waste container with packaging waste. Nevertheless, you often purchase products in refillable or reusable containers.

You like junk mail. But you spend hours every week carefully sorting the paper heaps into appropriate white, mixed and magazine stock holders that are then donated to a local charity for recycling.

You love that old-fashioned lawn, but are careful to limit the use of fertilizers and pesticides to limit growth spurts and corresponding increases in green waste. And you've started a compost pile, (but still dump lawn clippings on the street.)

Though you are careful to limit waste production at work, you haven't quite figured out how to tell your coworkers about ways they could improve their less-than-stellar performance in reducing waste.

As a "C" activist you would, at least, be thinking about the amount of waste generated in your household. On the plus side, you can say you repair and maintain the equipment you have and rent, borrow or share things that you use infrequently. On top of that, you often buy safe substitutes for harsh chemical products that are difficult to dispose.

You still like to stick all of your produce in disposable bags and -- worse yet -- you still buy individually wrapped cheese slices for your kids (because that's the only kind they say they like). On the other hand, you once asked the local store manager if he could carry more products that create less waste.

A "D" waste prevention activist recycles beer cans and just started sorting the bottles too. But glass containers that cannot be redeemed are tossed in the trash. Every once in a while, you think about all the junk that flows into the waste cans, but its never really changes your purchasing habits or motivates you to reform the habits of family members or dudes at school.

An "F" activist is rally not an activist at all because this person makes no effort to reduce, reuse or recycle.

Putting the practice of waste prevention into practice will require some lifestyle changes, particularly for those whose current efforts might merit a D or F grade. But changing habits doesn't mean life will be more difficult. Quite the contrary. A few simple changes can start you on your way. Besides, if we don't reduce waste, the economic and social costs of waste disposal will continue to skyrocket and all communities -- large and small, urban and rural -- will face increasingly harder decisions about managing their trash.

As a waste prevention activist, you should also know that the federal government develops and provides information about this important issue and is working to create incentives to reduce waste. Likewise, state government does much the same. For example, the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) has a Waste Prevention Information Exchange that can provide you with factsheets, clip art and expertise to help you start a waste reduction program at work. Just call (916) 341-6363. The CIWMB also sponsors the Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP) every year to recognize California businesses for outstanding efforts to reduce nonhazardous waste generation. Successful firms receive an award and are allowed to use the WRAP logo on products, advertising and promotional materials.

As an employee or businessperson, remember that the workplace is a critical site for waste prevention activities. Whether initiating a paper reduction campaign or convincing upper management to participate in the California Materials Exchange, a program administered by the CIWMB, sharpen up on your presentation skills. Don't be afraid to let those creative juices flow. Highlight some startling facts to grab people's attention: Californians generate enough waste per year to cover the entire city of San Francisco with over two feet of compacted garbage. Talk to people one-on-one. Be careful not to make neighbors uncomfortable about activities that generate too much waste. Just gently let them know there is a better way.

The bottom line on being a waste prevention activist is teaching by example. And bragging about the results. Let everyone know how much money you've saved, and waste prevention just could become contagious!