10 Ways to minimize your plastic waste!
Trying to stay away from plastic is tough. When we shop, we put the products in plastic bags, and the things we buy contain it too! In conclusion it is hard to live completely without plastic, however there are a lot of effective ways to minimize your own plastic consumption. Here are 10 tips on products you can replace in your everyday life to create sustainability! Click on the pictures to get redirected to websites where you can buy these products!
Toothbrushes.
On average, a person change their toothbrush every three months. That means that at least four toothbrushes are being thrown/person/year. So instead of using (and throwing) away that much plastic, use a bamboo toothbrush instead!
Plastic bags.
Now this one is pretty obvious! Instead of buying plastic bags everytime you go shopping, bring your own! Mesh bags for example can be used to store fruit and vegetables as well!
Phone cases.
We buy phone cases on a regular. They are cheap, have fun prints and colors and come in a variety of shapes and styles. But they are also often made of plastic or have microplastics in them. But now there are more sustainable options! Phone cases in cork, wood and flaxseed are all great substitutes for the regular plastic phone case!
Kitchen tools.
Using kitchen tools in plastic and steel has their downsides. They conduct heat, plastic melts, and they can scratch your cookware. Use wooden utensils instead! They are soft and gentle, they won’t leach harmful chemicals into your food and they are very durable.
Makeup remover pads.
Getting rid of your makeup or cleaning your face often leads to using wipes and cotton pads, and when you do it on a daily it takes a lot of single use products. Well there are options for that too, washable bamboo and cotton pads! They can be used over and over, and are easily cleaned in the washmachine
Single use cutlery.
Ready for a picnic in a park, or simply ordering takeout? You usually get plastic cutlery with your food, you know the stuff that you use, it breaks and you throw it away. There are options for that too! Wooden cutlery. These things are lightweight, easy to use, and (of course) reusable! (And when you order takeout, ask them not to add the plastic cutlery)
Lunch boxes.
Meal prepping is economic, good for the environment and a smart investment in time. But regular lunch boxes in plastic are not a good investment! For the same price you can find lunch boxes in glass, which is both eco friendly and good for you since you won’t get any plastic in your food!
Straws.
Imagine this. It’s hot outside, you want to sit in the sun and enjoy an iced coffee, juice or any other beverage, and you add a straw… A plastic straw? No! A metal straw! Plastic straws reach out to the oceans, get stuck in poor turtles little nostrils and harm the planet. Buy reusable metal straws instead! It’s an investment both for you and for the planet
Plastic wrap.
You get leftovers, need to protect the sallad you made yesterday so it won’t go brown or pack a sandwich for the road trip, but you don’t need to use plastic wrap for that!
A great investment is beeswax wrap. the wrap is made of cotton and coated with beeswax to protect the wrap and the food! Also the beeswax makes it moldable, so by warming it up in your hands you can easily mold it to the bowl or sandwich
Shampoo and conditioner.
A lot of shampoos and conditioners contain microplastics and the bottles themselves are often made of hard plastic, which isn’t reusable. There are a lot of brands nowadays that are safe to use and doesn’t contain microplastics. Here’s an example!
