In our last blog post, we introduced a few ideas of how to eliminate various single use plastics in each of our daily lives. We all use so much plastic on a daily basis without even realizing it! If you aren’t sure where to start, a great way is to look into companies that make sustainable products. Find sustainable bloggers on instagram to follow and glean inspiration from. Even just do a quick google search! Remember, any progress is progress, and you don’t have to be perfect to make a difference. Here are a few more of our favorite ways to remove single use plastics from our lives.
Only eat sustainably sourced seafood
Most of the plastic in our oceans comes from fishing waste, not plastic pollution from our everyday use. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to eliminate single use plastic, but it should be in conjunction with smarter seafood consumption! It often isn’t expensive, but make sure you research where your seafood was sourced. Restaurants will be proud to let you know that their fish is all single line caught, which means that there was no netting used to catch fish, therefore not contributing to ocean pollution. Just a little bit of research will help you find seafood that is sustainably sourced! A great resource is the Seafood watch guide. They have an app you can download on your phone to help you find sustainable seafood no matter where you are!
Bring a to go cup with you to your favorite coffee shop
Although some to go cups are recyclable, the best kind of plastic to use is no plastic. Investing in a to go cup will cut out the need to recycle a cup while you’re on your morning commute, plus most coffee shops provide a small discount to anyone who brings their own mug or cup in! So you’ll be saving money on your morning coffee.
Use wooden cutlery instead of plastic
Plastic cutlery is actually more expensive to purchase than single use wooden cutlery. Wooden cutlery can easily be washed to be used multiple times, if desired, and it is biodegradable. So when you’re done with it, you can rest easy knowing that it will not be harming the environment like those plastic ones would!
Glass spray bottles
Using a glass spray bottle for cleaning solutions will eliminate the plastic containers used for most cleaners. Companies such as Grove Collaborative sell cleaning solutions in a concentrated form, so you add it straight to your reusable bottle and add water. These products are also free of harmful chemicals, so your home is also safer and you can feel more comfortable cleaning.