By: Baylee Maust
Reducing your plastic usage to achieve a zero-waste household can seem like an impossible task; however, cutting out environmentally harmful products can happen one step at a time. Plastic waste is one of the earth's most detrimental pollutants. It is a cheap material to purchase and produce, but plastic gets discarded quickly and spends a lifetime decomposing in landfill waste.
By reducing plastic packaging, buying eco-friendly products, and using recycled materials, you can find non-plastic alternatives to many products.
- Swap out Plastic Straws for Metal
In 2018, 643,562 plastic straws were found across various beach coasts during a clean-up day. This single-use plastic product may be quick and convenient for our beverages, but the long-lasting and harmful implications mean we must seek alternatives. According to 4Ocean it can take up to 200 years for plastic straws to fully decompose.
Metal straws are becoming increasingly popular and are sold by many large online retailers at an inexpensive cost. The metal reusable straw is usually sold in a multipack so your entire family can enjoy it at home or on-the-go. Pair it with a reusable bottle and you're one step closer to creating a more sustainable future!
- Ditch Plastic Bottles for Reusable Ones
Plastic water bottles make up the third-largest plastic pollutant in the world’s oceans. This study conducted that 1.6 million plastic bottles were collected on International Coastal Clean-up Day. That’s enough bottled water to fill five swimming pools!
You may think that a single-use water bottle is a quick and simple solution to all your hydration needs, but what you save in time, you lose in cost, environmental sustainability, and convenience. A perfect alternative to a bulky plastic bottle case is a water cooler.
A Brio Water Cooler offers remarkably clean filtered water, whenever you’d like, without the need for wasteful products that are damaging to the environment! Bottleless units simply get connected to your home water line for limitless flowing water; this system makes it easier for you to drink clean water, at any hour, whenever you please.
Recommended Product: Moderna Bottleless Water Cooler
- Replace Plastic Bags for Cloth Totes
In an effort to become more eco-friendly, many states have discouraged single-use plastic bags by charging 10 cents for each reusable bag at grocery stores. To encourage people to bring their own totes, some stores offer reusable shopping bags. While the intentions are good, these replacements contain even more plastic than the disposable bags, which still severely impacts our plastic pollution.
An easy way to reduce this plastic consumption is by using cloth shopping totes. Cloth totes come in a variety of sizes and materials to suit your needs. They’re durable and washable which means they can last for years to come. Cloth bags can come in a variety of different sizes and colors that fit your unique shopping needs and can also be customized to suit your style! Your reusable bag can save the world from less plastic waste and help you look great while doing so!
One small act can make a change. Slowly reducing your usage of these common plastic products can make a tremendous difference in the environment. The switch from plastic to eco-friendly products may seem daunting at first, but using reusable, recycled, non-plastic alternatives is an easy improvement to help the planet thrive.