Hello, again! Since becoming passionate about health, I have also discovered the importance of being eco-friendly. The earth uses so much energy each day to allow humans to do what they want everyday. Eventually, the earth will not be able to take it anymore and will not be able to provide what we need each day. But don't worry because there are a few simple ways that you can reduce your harmful impact on this earth!
10 Simple Ways to Start Reducing Your Waste:
1. Use a reusable water bottle. Think about it, if you drink a healthy amount of water each day, you would be going through about 4 or more plastic water bottles a day. If you did this every day for a year, you would use 1,460 water bottles. That's a lot of plastic being put into our earth. And if you don't know, plastic cannot decompose. Therefore, it will continue to break down into smaller pieces over decades of time, but it will NEVER fully go away. That means that every single plastic ever produced still exists today. That's a pretty scary thought, but luckily just cutting down on plastic water bottles by using a reusable one, can save 1,460 pieces of plastic from being created each year. I personally use a yeti, but you can use any water bottle that your heart desires.
2. Stop using plastic silverware and straws! Again, this is an easy way to reduce plastic production, as many of you probably have wooden or metal silverware at home. Simply, bring these to the next party you go to, when you go out to eat or to work/school for lunch. You don't need to buy a fancy set of silverware, just use what you already have and most importantly, refuse straws!
3. Bring produce and grocery bags. If you bring your own cloth bags each time you go shopping, you reduce so much plastic! Think about how many plastic bags you use each trip to the grocery store; a couple for produce and multiple to pack everything at the end. So just cutting down on plastic bags can reduce your plastic consumption a lot. It's also pretty easy nowadays, as many places give away free cloth grocery bags.
4. Buy responsibly. This one involves more research, awareness, and focus, but it really isn't hard once you get the hang of it. What I mean by this is; research companies who use good environmental practices such as using recycled products, organically producing products, or focusing on having little to no packaging. All of this will reduce your purchases of harmful plastic or trash. Your money is what really makes changes. If you put your money into something you care about, companies will see this and change their practices. If this sounds to tough for you, you can simply increase your number of second-hand purchases, as these items have already been produced causing no additional harm to the earth or you can buy locally which reduces the amount of energy used to ship products.
5. Use/reuse what you have! If you have a ton of plastic bags and parchment paper at home, use those first and reuse them if you can. If you throw away what you have so you can buy the more 'eco-friendly' product, you miss the point. Being zero waste or trying to be zero waste is about reducing your waste as much as you can and that means using what you already have. You can also find ways to reuse items that you already have to increase the life of those products. E.g. using glass jars for bulk, pencil holders, or toothbrush holders, using cardboard boxes and bags to wrap packages or store things in, and using old cardboard and plastic for crafts! You really can find so many uses for the trash lying around your house, and it doesn't have to look like trash. There are plenty of youtubers and bloggers out there with diy's that you can watch to master your reusing skills!
6. Use reusable containers. By this I mean, use plastic or glass containers to store food and use reusable bags to store what ever you need. You can even bring your own containers to restaurants if you like to order take-away. I personally use old plastic food containers as well as reusable silicon plastic bags as much as I can, but my family does have some regular plastic bags that we reuse as much as possible and regular plastic containers that we also reuse regularly.
7. Compost. Composting is another great way to reduce waste, as you can make beautiful soil for your garden out of old fruit and vegetable peels. If you would like to read more about composting, check out this article; https://www.planetnatural.com/composting-101/
8. Look for better materials. What I mean by this is to look for wood, bamboo, or cotton materials when purchasing regular furniture and home goods. You don't have to change everything in your house or change your sense of style, just simply looking for better quality materials that can decompose easily will help your overall waste. Glass and metal other good materials because they can easily be recycled or up-cycled.
9. Be more aware. This one is a long and deliberate process, but can help you become more in-touch with the environment. Simply picking up a piece of trash or recyclable product when you see it on the ground will show people how they can make a change. Make sure you become more aware with what you can and cannot recycle, so nothing is going un-reused. If you are still using plastic bottles occasionally, then take them home to be recycled rather than throwing them away and recycle your everyday cardboard boxes and plastic bottles you accumulate each week. I think this is the most important way to reduce waste because it allows you to start making small changes without overwhelming youself and it also inspires others to make a change when they see you picking up some trash!
10. Buy in bulk. This isn't always available for everyone, but if it is, it is one of the best ways to reduce waste. Buying in bulk allows you to purchase all of your food and some of your household items without unnecessary waste. You can even reuse the same bag or jar every time you go to cut down on your waste even more. This is not something I have been able to switch over to you yet, but I am working on doing so.
