5 Easy Ways to Reduce your Plastic Waste
5 Easy Ways to Reduce your Plastic Waste
In honor of Earth Day, let’s talk about conservation and preservation of the earth and reducing waste, specifically 5 easy ways to reduce your plastic waste. A quick google search on “plastic waste” uncovers millions (literally) of articles about plastic waste. While plastic can be recycled, it does not biodegrade, so if the plastic items don’t hit the recycling bin (and get recycled into something else), they become waste and create quite a mess and wreak havoc on our environment. In fact, multiple sites stated that “50% of the plastics we toss in the recycling bin, can’t even be recycled” – WHAT!?
The first plastics ever invented would still not have degraded in our ecosystem. They still exist; which is insane if you think about it. We know we are not perfect, that there is always room for improvement and some things can not be avoided. While many are jumping on the zero waste train, which I fully support and think is fantastic. We want to share 5 Easy ways to Reduce your Plastic Waste.
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
5 Easy Ways to Reduce your Plastic Waste
- Straws
- Plastic Bottles and cups
- Produce (fruit and vegetable) bags
- Shopping Bags
- Bar Soap
Stick with me, I know you are slightly puzzled by bar soap, right?
Straws
Plastic straws cannot and are rarely recycled. They can easily be avoided. Order your drinks without a straw, don’t want to drink out of the cup, bring your own. Wait, stop, that is number 3. Back to straws, they are wasteful and unnecessary. Carry a reusable (bamboo, stainless) straw with you, or skip it all together. Honestly, the hardest part is remembering to order your margarita without a straw. Grab Reusable Straws Here
Plastic Bottles and Cups
Okay, I know how convenient it is to grab a bottle of water from the fridge, but stop it! Those bottles, while recyclable or worth a refund, are not helping our environment. Skip plastic bottles and plastic to-go cups altogether and bring your own. Many places even offer a discount when you bring your own cup (BYOC- did I make that up or is it a thing?) Grab a Reusable Container Here or Here
Produce Bags
You know how much of a pain it is to grab one of those staticky green produce bags when you have a bunch of cilantro in your hand? Well, skip it altogether and use these Ecowise reusable bags. They are eco-friendly, and they keep our produce fresher than plastic bags. Especially our herbs.
Shopping Bags
As with the produce bags, grabbing a reusable one makes more sense. Make it a habit, in fact, buy beautiful ones that you love that are functional, and that you want to use, that way you are more inclined to use them. Maybe they have a saying on them that you love or a beautiful design. Whatever you fancy, grab your reusable bags before you head out the door – we use reusable bags at the grocery store, pharmacy, when carrying take out – if we remember, clothes shopping. Keep them in your car, briefcase, purse, or wherever they are convenient. Grab some cool Reusable Shopping Bags HERE
Bar Soap
This was an eye-opener for me, and I researched whether bar soaps were “germier” than using a plastic dispenser… they aren’t. I had not considered changing to bar soap until one weekend; we ran out of soap in more than one bathroom, and the bottles of soap needed to be rinsed… so much packaging, so much rinsing, so much waste. That was when it hit me, what about using a bar of soap? So we tried it, we bought bar soap and placed it in little dishes next to the sinks. We liked it and have made a permanent switch. Grab some bar soap HERE.
Making the Switch
It may seem like these are no-brainers or obvious switches, and honestly, they are all pretty easy. However, the tricky part is creating the habit. The habit of grabbing your reusable cup when you head into the coffee shop. The habit of bringing your produce bags to the store when grocery shopping. It is all about habits.
We hope this post helps you create new Eco-Friendly habits. Want to watch our video on the same topic? Click here: 5 Easy Ways to Reduce Plastic Waste YouTube Video.
Until Next time,
Eat More Plants, bring your reusables, and Live VegInspired!
Kathy