5 Easy Ways To Reduce Plastic Waste (The Cheap Way)
Feeling overwhelmed by the state of the environment but also on a budget? It is possible to save the world without breaking the bank, here is how.
- Bring your own grocery bags
When going shopping, we often store all of our items in thin and breakable plastic bags that will stay on the planet for hundreds of years. There are five billion plastic grocery bags manufactured in the world just this year! That sure will take up a lot of space in the ocean. But reusable cloth bags can be expensive. Instead, use an old pillow case or take your old clothes and make them into bags. Not only is this free, but it’s more eco friendly to reuse what you already have
2. Bring your own reusable coffee cup.
Life is tough, and what helps? A good cup of coffee. However, coffee to-go comes in disposable cups that are terrible for the earth. You might be thinking, aren’t coffee cups made of paper? Not fully, paper to go cups are lined with polyethylene which is, a type of plastic. The solution is to bring your own reusable travel mug to coffee places. Often places will give you a discount for bringing your own cup! You can find cheap travel mugs at any thrift store for just a couple dollars. Or, bring a mason jar that you already own.
3. Buy food in bulk
Have you noticed that the majority of food and general products in stores come in plastic? Even the food that we eat daily is all wrapped in plastic. The Solution? Bring your own containers pre-weigh them, get your food from the bulk section of the grocery store. Containers can be expensive, so try reusing old pasta jars, peanut butter jars, or your pillow cases. Note: not all stores have a bulk section, instead, try buying items that come in glass, steel, or cardboard packaging when possible.
4. Quit buying bottled water
While plastic water bottles can be convenient, they are terrible for the environment. Only nine percent of plastic is recycled, so even recycling your plastic water bottle isn’t the way to go. Instead, use a reusable metal or glass water bottle. But water bottles can be super expensive. Try getting your water bottle at a thrift store, they are often just a few dollars (clean your bottle before using). Or you could just use an old glass jar and store your water in there.
5. Say goodbye to crappy tampons and pads.
Tampons and pads are not only toxic and wasteful but they are uncomfortable too. Half of the world population gets a monthly period for the majority of their life, think of the amount of plastic waste that comes from disposable period products. The solution is to switch to a silicone menstrual cup. However, menstrual cups can easily hike up to 60 dollars. The brand Blossom sells reusable menstrual cups for just $15 on amazon.
Overall, plastic is still very common today and is extremely cheap to make. Hence why non plastic items are more expensive. But it’s very important to reduce plastic when we can and get creative with alternative options. Plastic is recyclable, however, over ninety percent of plastic in a recycling bin does not end up getting recycled. Instead, these plastic products end up in landfills, oceans, and in nature. The time to fix this crisis is now. If everybody even just did two tasks on this list, that would reduce so much plastic that would have ended up polluting the earth long after we are gone.