7 Simple Ways to Reduce Plastic Waste

7 Simple Ways to Reduce Plastic Waste: We’re starting to see some of the more serious ramifications of excessive plastic use and well it’s not possible to eliminate all plastic from our lives there really are many ways that we can reduce the amount of plastic we bring into our homes we consume and ultimately plastic that we put into the landfill I have been doing this for some time now but I am always challenging myself to do more what else can I eliminate from our homes what else can we stop buying what else can we replace so in this article I’m going to share with you seven ways that you can reduce plastic use in your home.

If you believe that it’s time to take this plastic issue seriously one that everybody talks about is plastic bags these are such a culprit and there are so many alternatives when we go to a store if we buy one or two items we just asked for no bag please and thank you and we will hand bomb the items out ourselves other options include bringing bags along with you when you go shopping such as a canvas bag even when you go to a mall you can bring a canvas bag with you and put your purchases into that one bag or multiple bags depending on how much you’re planning on buying that day and when I do grocery shopping I picked up this little thing called a bag pod system and I’ll link to it down below it’s six reusable bags in a little pod system it has been so convenient we bring it in to the grocery store with us we always get excited looks whenever we pull it out and we don’t have to bring plastic bags home with us either way there are plenty of options for you to say no to plastic and yes to a more environmentally responsible option microbeads were an interesting addition to health and beauty products and the unfortunate part is they end up in the gizzards stomachs and digestive tracts of lots of small animals both on land and in the sea.

If you like that exfoliating property that microbeads offer there are plenty of alternatives out there so you can just look for products that contain those so a lot of companies will grind up beans or shells or pumice and they will add that to whatever the beauty product is you still get that great exfoliation but you’re not putting anything unnatural back into the waterways or into the environment and one of the things I love to use for exfoliating and you guys know this is baking soda plastic straws are an easy one to say no to and the funny thing about plastic straws is they often come wrapped in plastic so really the purpose of a straw is to get the beverage into your mouth but since you’re a functional person you probably know how to take a cup put it up to your mouth and sip it you really do need a straw let’s say you’re having a smoothie or some sort of blended juice and you really want to use a straw you can use a reusable straw there are plenty of stainless steel or glass straws it’s very simple to clean them you can just get a little teeny tiny straw brush you can pick those up even at your home store or a big-box store very easy to do a little bit of dish soap you can give it a quick clean I use them all the time for my smoothies and they work just as well if not better than a disposable one.

Choosing disposable razor blades instead of disposable razors is another way that you can make a better choice when it comes to your plastic consumption I had the same razor blade handle for about fifteen years no joke and it worked just fine but then one day it got to the point where it looked and felt disgusting and it was time for me to upgrade so I got rid of that one and I finally bought a new one but while I was using that one handle I just replaced the blades whereas if I hadn’t done that I would have had to replace several razors altogether and just toss the plastic the other thing to keep in mind is that when you use a reusable blade handle you tend to get better quality blades those disposable razors they don’t work as well and they don’t last as long if you’ve read even one Hello Cleaner article you know that I’m a huge advocate for making your own cleaning products and not only because it’s less expensive it’s easy it’s effective but also because store-bought cleaning products tend to be concentrates containing up to % water so what are you paying for what bottle.

Are you filling all the time yours filling it mostly with water so you might as well just reuse one bottle and make several cleaning products and then when the spray bottle fails you at that point you can get a new spray bottle when you have the fun and exciting opportunity to eat fast food there are lots of different options that you can choose and there are a lot of fast food joints or food courts that are making more environmentally conscious responsible choices for example they will serve all of their stuff on plastic reusable rewatchable plates and give you metal silverware but some places are still doing the disposable thing and that’s fine but keep in mind there are some places that are more responsible than others for example Chipotle they will serve you a bowl or a salad if you order one with a biodegradable base and an aluminum top so that is much easier on the environment than say a plastic or a Styrofoam container what you see here is my swell bottle that I’ve had for a couple of years you can see all of the little hearts are sort of faded and scratched off but I don’t care it does the trick and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said no to a plastic water bottle when I’ve just as easily and for free been able to fill out my swaddle.

I take this with me every day and I know if I’m saving on plastic bottles if all of us started to do it there would definitely be a significant impact now even if you go to a coffee shop or if you’re getting a soft drink you can fill your swell bottle or frankly any reusable bottle with the beverage of your choice and that’s really what I love about these they can handle hot and cold they’re very convenient and they’re easy to clean.

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