Protect the Environment: Ten Tips for Avoiding Plastic
In the earliest days of my blog I posted a list of tips on how to avoid using plastic, but I grabbed it from another site since I hadn't solved much of the plastic free puzzle yet. Well, at this point, I'm a bit wiser (although I still have much to learn) so I wanted to provide my own list. Here it is...
Ten Tips for Reducing Your Plastic Consumption
1. Bring Your Own Bag: The EPA reports that between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags are used each year worldwide. Avoid this needless waste by always carrying a bag or two with you and be sure to bring grocery bags and produce bags with you when you go to the market. Ecobags offers a wide variety of cotton and string bags that a great for grocery shopping, and you can also probably find great canvas bags at your local thrift shop. See here for tips on how to remember your grocery bags when you go shopping.
2. Drink Tap Water: Americans consume at least 22 billion bottles of water each year (I've also seen statistics reporting much greater numbers), and nearly all of these plastic bottles end up in the landfill. Unless you have serious water quality or taste issues, this is an easy way to curb usage. Here's an additional list of reasons not to drink bottled water.
3. Buy from Bulk Bins: This is a great way to avoid buying food products in plastic packaging. Stores like Whole Foods offer granola, cereal, dried fruit, dried beans, nuts, candy, and grains that you can bring home with reusable cloth bags. Use the internet to find out if you have stores in your area with bulk bins.
4. Carry a Reusable Water Bottle: Sometimes you just need a drink, so be sure to carry a reusable water bottle with you. Don't forget that Nalgene bottles are made of polycarbonate, a type of plastic that is likely to have many adverse health effects.
5. Bring Your Own Mug: If you love hot beverages, be sure to carry along a mug. Stainless steel mugs are a great option.
6. Discover Fresh Foods: Almost all processed foods come in plastic in some form or another. Buy fresh fruits and veggies (be sure to use your produce bags!), get your meat wrapped in paper from the meat counter, and find a deli where you can get your cheese in paper.
7. Do Some Baking: Lots of baked goods that usually come packed in plastic can be made easily at home. Favorite examples include cookies and bread. Note that breadmakers turn baking bread into an easy task and are simple to find at local thrift stores and garage sales.
8. Enjoy Slow Food: Among the many ills of fast food, it's almost impossible to avoid plastic packaging when eating at a place like McDonald's. That means it's time to slow down and start cooking your own meals. If your new to cooking, Allrecipes.com has an amazing collection of user-reviewed recipes.
9. Kick Your Soda Habit: Americans consume billions of bottles and cans of soda each year (note that aluminum cans are lined with plastic to prevent the aluminum from leeching into your soda). To avoid this waste and possible health consequences, pour yourself a glass of agua from the tap.
10. Use Natural Cleaning Products: Products like baking soda and vinegar don't have to come packed in plastic and are multi-purpose and effective. Learn more about natural cleaning products to reduce your plastic consumption.
Ten Tips for Reducing Your Plastic Consumption
1. Bring Your Own Bag: The EPA reports that between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags are used each year worldwide. Avoid this needless waste by always carrying a bag or two with you and be sure to bring grocery bags and produce bags with you when you go to the market. Ecobags offers a wide variety of cotton and string bags that a great for grocery shopping, and you can also probably find great canvas bags at your local thrift shop. See here for tips on how to remember your grocery bags when you go shopping.
2. Drink Tap Water: Americans consume at least 22 billion bottles of water each year (I've also seen statistics reporting much greater numbers), and nearly all of these plastic bottles end up in the landfill. Unless you have serious water quality or taste issues, this is an easy way to curb usage. Here's an additional list of reasons not to drink bottled water.
3. Buy from Bulk Bins: This is a great way to avoid buying food products in plastic packaging. Stores like Whole Foods offer granola, cereal, dried fruit, dried beans, nuts, candy, and grains that you can bring home with reusable cloth bags. Use the internet to find out if you have stores in your area with bulk bins.
4. Carry a Reusable Water Bottle: Sometimes you just need a drink, so be sure to carry a reusable water bottle with you. Don't forget that Nalgene bottles are made of polycarbonate, a type of plastic that is likely to have many adverse health effects.
5. Bring Your Own Mug: If you love hot beverages, be sure to carry along a mug. Stainless steel mugs are a great option.
6. Discover Fresh Foods: Almost all processed foods come in plastic in some form or another. Buy fresh fruits and veggies (be sure to use your produce bags!), get your meat wrapped in paper from the meat counter, and find a deli where you can get your cheese in paper.
7. Do Some Baking: Lots of baked goods that usually come packed in plastic can be made easily at home. Favorite examples include cookies and bread. Note that breadmakers turn baking bread into an easy task and are simple to find at local thrift stores and garage sales.
8. Enjoy Slow Food: Among the many ills of fast food, it's almost impossible to avoid plastic packaging when eating at a place like McDonald's. That means it's time to slow down and start cooking your own meals. If your new to cooking, Allrecipes.com has an amazing collection of user-reviewed recipes.
9. Kick Your Soda Habit: Americans consume billions of bottles and cans of soda each year (note that aluminum cans are lined with plastic to prevent the aluminum from leeching into your soda). To avoid this waste and possible health consequences, pour yourself a glass of agua from the tap.
10. Use Natural Cleaning Products: Products like baking soda and vinegar don't have to come packed in plastic and are multi-purpose and effective. Learn more about natural cleaning products to reduce your plastic consumption.
Comments
I carry a stainless steel water bottle (not insulated though so, not good for hot drinks) and I love it! I also love the Workhorse bags from reusablebags.com (note: they are made of nylon). They stuff into a tiny little sewn on stuff-spot(ingenius!) so they are always with me.
Tupperware has been replaced by canning jars of all sizes and (clean/new) mens handkerchiefs tied with string for wrapping sandwiches.
Good luck with your breadmaking! Let me know how it goes!
Re: Number 2 and Number 4 on the list. I'm sure drinking tap water is better than buying water in plastic bottles, but our household pipes are PVC. My plastic struggle is on two fronts: the health of the Earth and the health of my family and I, and these sometimes conflict.
As for your water, I guess that sort of means you have a serious water quality issue and don't really have a choice. But that's okay, as long as you do your best to protect the environment in other ways.
As for thinking of the Earth and the health of your family, these things usually go hand in hand, except for cases like your PVC pipes. For example, choosing environmentally friendly cleaning products is also probably the healthiest way to go for your family...
New for fall: 12 oz. stainless steel water bottles that have a squirty top instead of just a twist-off. The reasons I like this one better than others: 1) it's not as heavy b/c it's 12 instead of 16 oz, which means it fits better and won't break my kids' backpacks and 2) I don't have to be concerned @ the kids losing the twist on/off top!
I don't want to shock you too much, but I work in logistics for one of the major retail stores in this country. Every day at work I see pallets of inventory wrapped in yards and yards of plastic. That's merely to keep a pile of boxes together (they also do this in some mail distribution centers as well). Take off the used plastic (which is now awaiting a landfill), and you have a pile of boxes. Open up one of the boxes and you have several options. You can have a box with items that can go onto the shelf with no internal packaging except perhaps a bit of shrink wrap (less frequent), a box of items with more packaging internally...usually plastic (most frequent), or a mixed box (less frequent). In a mixed box you have many different packaging options, but it mostly boils down to several different items in the same box with more plastic and/or cardboard being wasted.
The amount of plastic and cardboard boxes that are used to ship ANYTHING is astounding, even clothing. Clothes can be individually wrapped in plastic, put in a box with other plastic wrapped items of clothing, and then sent on its way. We have multiple cages of flattened boxes and plastic that are filled to the brim every morning. And the amount of packaging that these items are encased in from the products companies to the main distrubution center would also need to be factored in.
I can tell you confidently that the major source of plastic use for each item that you purchase is not in the packaging of the item you buy on the shelves, but in the way the item was packaged before it even got to the store. In this way, most items are created equal in the amount of waste from packaging. It doesn't matter if you are buying Pantene or Burt's Bee's. They are shipped in the same way, with the same amount of waste involved.
I'm not trying to disuade you from your attempt at being plastic free. I'm just saying that if you are trying to reduce your impact, then you should just stick with reducing consumption in general and not stress so much about each individual item. If you cut down on buying things you don't need, as I can see from your blog that you are doing, then you naturally reduce the amount of things that are packaged and shipped. That and buying locally will reduce your plastic "footprint" by a much higher degree than anyone around you and ensure that you are doing your part.
I hope this doesn't sound critical, as it wasn't intended to be. I do think your ten tips are great. I only occasionally get plastic grocery bags (as I use them for my bathroom trash). I always carry my reuseable cloth bags with me to the store. I carry my water bottle with me every where, etc etc etc and never buy bottled water or soda. But, I'm not going to stress over my once a week plastic gallon of milk. There are some things you just can't get around. At least not yet.
Debbie, Brooklyn, NY