Every day, our lives are inundated with plastic use. At the checkout line in the grocery store. At the take-out counter with a plastic-bagful of plastic utensils. At home taking plastic bags off of fresh paper towel rolls. It’s so ingrained in our everyday lives it’s sometimes easy to overlook.
But the problem is that our plastic use, more often than not, turns into plastic waste. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, we produce over 300 million tons of plastic worldwide each year. Half of that is produced for single-use items. Almost 80% of the plastics we produce ends up in landfills. Not to mention, they can take up to 1,000 years to decompose. Without a doubt, we are living in a plastic pandemic.
While recycling can help reroute some of the plastics from ending up in landfills, reducing our daily intake of plastic from the get-go is essential. And the first step in doing so is taking a mindful look at our day-to-day habits. Being a conscious consumer and living with sustainability at the forefront of our minds makes reducing your plastic waste much easier. Take it in bite-sized pieces and plan ahead, and you’ll find your efforts will fall into place nicely.
Here are 5 ways we love and use to reduce our own plastic use.
tip #1: keep zero-waste reusable essentials on hand.
This may sound like an obvious, but attaching yourself to a reusable water bottle is an incredibly powerful and easy step to incorporate into your daily routine. It also serves as a steady reminder to keep track of your water intake. According to the UN Environment Programme, one million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute. Every minute.
If you plan ahead, you can easily bring an entire zero-waste, on-the-go kit wherever you go. A reusable water bottle, a stainless steel straw, travel utensils, and a cloth or reusable shopping bag. If you’re a coffee or tea lover, add a reusable coffee cup to that list. Planning ahead and prepping these items is a pretty simple daily habit to form. And one that will prevent you from resorting to single-use plastic products.
tip #2: say goodbye to plastic bags.
Plastic bags are probably the most common single-use plastic we encounter. 5 trillion of them are produced each year. That’s enough plastic bags to encircle the world 7 times. Most of these aren’t accepted at recycling centers, so only approximately 1-3% of plastic bags are recycled every year. The remaining 97-99% are left in landfills or trapped in waterways, where they remain seeing as they aren’t biodegradable.
We’ve all been at the checkout line and realized we left our reusable bags in the trunk or in the pantry. If we start to consider something as simple as a reusable bag as part of our routine, rather than just an item, the odds will be in our favor.
Pro-tip: Set an alert reminder on your phone when you’re making your grocery list or heading out the door to the market.
tip #3: skip the take-out.
Pre, during and post-pandemic, takeout and food delivery have become a part of normal life. Now more than ever. Yet another unfortunate statistic? The U.S. uses more than 36 billion disposable utensils yearly — enough to wrap around the globe 139 times. While many takeout and delivery spots are now offering utensils only upon request, you can consider curbing back on the takeout and instead enjoying cooking at home.
tip #4: ditch the paper towels.
This is a tough one to go cold turkey on. Paper towels are of course not made of plastic, however they do come wrapped in plastic. And unfortunately, because used paper towels are considered contaminated waste — over 80% of them also end up in landfills. And people use a lot of paper towels. 13 billion pounds each year in fact, in the U.S. alone.
The good news is, there’s a solution: stock up on a good stack of kitchen towels and rags. Create your own system on organizing dirty towels vs. dirty rags, and keep the clean ones on hand in the places you most need them.
tip #5: shop sustainably.
Shopping is a part of life. Whether you’re on the hunt for a new pair of jeans or stocking up on groceries. Being a conscious and informed consumer is paramount in this day and age. With companies aiming to lower production costs by creating cheap, non-biodegradable materials, especially in the textile industry, sustainable shopping is a mindful choice we can make whenever possible.
At Goddess Garden, we’ve been committed to eco-friendly practices, products and production since day one. Over 16 years ago. Our founders, Nova and Paul, both grew up in the beautiful outdoors of the Pacific Northwest. The title “environmentalist” is just something they were ingrained with from childhood. Their commitment to sustainability, transparency and environmental health is reflected in all of our products. Goddess Garden was built out of the passion to create people-safe, planet-safe products, and is something we’ll continue to build on for years to come.
join us on our mission for a greener, cleaner planet.
Reducing plastic use isn’t quite as complicated as we sometimes make it out to be. Join the entire Goddess Garden team on our mission to incorporate these 5 tips into our daily routines, for this month and all to come. Lifestyle changes can seem daunting, but when we all do our part, we can look forward to a cleaner, greener and healthier planet for the generations to come.
Also, be sure not to miss out on FREE shipping sitewide for the month of July!
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