"The city should look into having recycling at restaurants. I think it would be good if the city could start enforcing recycling programs at all homes/apartment complexes/ and businesses."

"Our family stopped using plastic grocery bags about a year ago. We carry our own cloth bags. Plastic bags that do come into our home are taken to the local grocery stores and placed in recycling bins."

"The City should consider using more mulch and less lawn in its green spaces. More mulch seems more appropriate to conserve water usage. Also, we can get free mulch from FPL. Seems like a win-win -to me."

"I have Xeriscaped my yard and use virtually no water. For more information, click here."

"I've been recycling newspapers and commingling items for years."

“Everyone should use compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. We replaced 43 incandescent bulbs in our house in Coral Gables more than a year ago and immediately saw our FPL bill go down, by a range of from 18% to 23% each month. CFL bulbs last much longer too. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program, if every household would change just one bulb to CFLs, it would reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses equal to taking 800,000 cars off the road.”

“Whenever possible, I print on both sides of a sheet of paper.”

“I suggest the City turn off lights unless it is vital for public safety and not mow the grass as often on medians.”

“I recommend using a cloth grocery bag, or if that isn't practical, then using paper bags. I think the city should make cloth bags readily available to its residents. The cold hard truth of plastic recycling is that it is not efficient. It is expensive to separate (only about 50% of the material received for recycling can even be recycled). It takes a lot of energy to break apart the very stable polymer bonds that make plastic so sturdy. That means burning fossil fuels to be able to re-use just 50% of the material. With current recycling technology it just doesn't make sense to utilize plastic as a disposable item for everyday use. Some day technology may make it a no brainer but not yet. When offered the choice of a disposable good being plastic or not I rest at ease by not choosing plastic. By all means, however, do recycle the plastic you choose to use. Anything is better than sending it to the landfill.”

“A City this beautiful needs bike lanes. I ride 3.5 miles to work at UM each day and at least one trip per week I have a near miss with a driver. There are essentially no bike racks in the downtown area so I must lock my bike to a parking meter or a bush. Yet, we have built new garages to feed still more traffic in downtown. The City Beautiful is not safe for bikers, but it could be. We need bike lanes along main corridors such as Granada and downtown streets. We need bike racks all around downtown, but particularly in front of coffee shops and restaurants. Bike riding is good for you and it’s as green as it gets!.”

"How about creating a compost container? Place kitchen scraps in a ceramic or metal compost container and use the rich mulch for outdoor gardening or house plant fertilizer."