I try to adhere to the statement "if you can't reuse, refuse" as much as I can in daily life, but there's always much room for improvement and education. Making commitments towards sustainable living can be daunting at first because there are truly SO many places to start. But the good thing is that reducing waste, plastic and unnecessary single use items is easier than you think!
Here are some easy and effective ways to be more sustainable in the areas of beauty, food and cooking, shopping and more!
Food & Cooking
Bring your own straw to restaurants
Using your own straw is not just about saving sea turtles my friends. Depending on your local city's regulations, most plastic straws are not recyclable -- so they just end up in a landfill for YEARS just for one drink. I'm not sure about you, but I'm not the biggest fan of paper straws, so I prefer to bring my own! Not only do you get to enjoy your drinks more, but this is also the more sustainable choice. Not using plastic straws also means that you'll get into the habit of letting your server know that you do not need a straw with your drinks.
The only inconvenience is making sure you clean your reusable straw, but there are so many portable and collapsable ones that can attach to your keychain or keep in a purse with cleaners included! Below are some of my favorites!
Use your own water bottle
I feel like this is the one thing we could all start doing immediately, because if you're anything like me, I have so many reusable water bottles in my cupboards that I've collected over the years! Using to your own water bottle when out and about will reduce a large amount of plastic water bottles, paper cups and plastic cups. All you need to do is fill it up at home before you leave, or at a water dispenser if there is one available to you in public. Plus, your water will stay cold for much longer -- win win!
Obviously there are thousands of cute water bottles out there, but I have three linked below that I'd totally buy!
Grocery shop with reusable bags
I took the plunge this year to committing to use fabric bags for groceries. I'll freely admit that I sometimes forget to bring them, and I also don't have reusable bags for transporting fresh veggies. I resort to using the plastic ones in the grocery store -- not great, I know! This is probably one of the areas where most of single use plastic comes from, so I have some great alternatives linked below that are my next commitment to make to sustainable grocery shopping!
Beauty
Use alternates to makeup wipes
Makeup wipes seem so easy to use at the end of a long day, but they're not super great for the environment or your skin. Not only do they fail to sufficiently cleanse your skin, but they create excess waste that a washcloth or reusable makeup pad can easily fix with warm water and some cleanser. A multi pack of reusable makeup pad for your face is going to benefit both you and the environment much more in the long run!
Replace Cotton Balls with Mini Makeup Remover Pads
I use SO many cotton balls between removing my eye makeup and using toner almost every day, so these truly make a huge difference. Hello Body Makeup Remover Pads are made from bamboo fibers, will last a lot longer than a cotton ball and are 100% natural. They are perfectly suited for the delicate eye area!
You can also get a 30% off discount with my code: REFQOXSLHQVUR
Recycling and Waste
Know your city's recycling regulations
This one sounds pretty boring, but it's incredibly important! Before you recycle your household items and waste, be sure to look into your local city's regulations and restrictions. They have a helpful list of do's and don'ts, how to tell which numbers can be recycled and how to prep your recyclable items effectively. All you have to do is google "what can I recycle in *your city*?"
Don't just recycle, try to avoid creating waste
While recycling is the way to go if you have certain items that shouldn't be thrown in the trash, the best way to avoid waste is by avoiding it altogether. For instance, you can easily buy a water filter instead of plastic water bottle packs. Do you know how much money you'd save every year, not to mention unnecessary plastic water bottles?!
Another great example is consolidating the carrier waste that contains commonly bought food items. Instead of buying a six pack of yogurts that will all be thrown away, you can purchase a larger container of yogurt and then recycle it. If you still want the yogurt to-go, you can simply invest in a reusable container! You may be surprised with how many you currently own for storing leftovers, which leads me to my next point...
Invest in reusable containers, bags and storage containers
This one can be tricky and takes time to work up to (for me personally), but avoiding plastic sandwich bags, plastic wrap, tin foil, to-go cups and much more could significantly reduce the waste in your daily life. I found it difficult to start this because of the many reusable items to invest in, on top of remembering not to purchase the single-use products I felt comfortable using for years. But just remember that this doesn't happen overnight, and even committing to cutting out one or two of these items will make a difference. You'll then feel more comfortable working your way up!
While there are numerous other commitments for sustainable living, these primary ones in the core areas of beauty, food/cooking and general waste from daily life will make a huge impact. It takes time to build up to consistency, so just remember that it's worth it in the end -- both for your budget and for the environment!
Comments