For those of you who don’t know it was Earth day a couple of days ago (on the 22nd of April), so I thought now would be a great time to discuss how I am trying to reduce my one-use plastic waste this year. Reducing my plastic waste was actually my 2017 new year’s resolution and these are the five main ways I am achieving it.
Reusable coffee cup– Many one-off coffee cups are not completely recyclable and I’m sure you can imagine the huge number of these cups being thrown away. I have purchased a reusable coffee cup (I got mine from McDonalds because that’s where I get most of my coffees from). I must admit I still do buy coffee in non-reusable cups occasionally but I am halving (at minimum) my use and wherever possible I don’t get lids on the non-reusable cups.
No straws- Again, plastics straws are used once and then thrown away. Whenever I get the option I never take a straw, and when I can I ask for no straws (sometimes the straw is put in my glass before I can say anything). If you can’t live without a straw, invest in some stainless steel ones.
Beeswax food wrap- I invested in some beeswax food wraps a couple of months ago (alternative to gladwrap/clingwrap), and have loved them. They are reusable, super easy to clean, and pretty! There are many brands to get them from, mine are wrappabees (http://www.wrappabees.com.au/), and there are new vegan alternatives as well (which I am going to try next purchase).
No plastic bags- This one is well known and I think many people have jumped onboard the reusable bag bandwagon. I make sure I take my reusable bags to the grocery store everytime!
Avoid balloons– Another plastic product causing havoc to the environment is balloons, and in particular helium balloons that are released (many of which end up in the ocean). I have made a conscious effort to not use any balloons this year.
As I said in my Instagram post about Earth day- we all, myself included still have a long way to go to ensure our impact on this beautiful planet is minimal, but it is so important to remember that “the biggest disappointment of all is for people to do nothing because they don’t understand the value of little”. So as a start, try to do these little things as often as you can.
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