Consumption of plastic by masses is one of the leading environmental problems of the world right now. Only a few types of plastic can be recycled by most municiples and rest goes in the dump. The non-recyclable plastic keeps accumulating in our ecosystem, water bodies and landfills. People across the globe are talking about ways to reduce daily plastic use.
This plastic takes hundreds of years to degrade and releases many toxins in the environment. According to the studies we have more than 150 million tons of plastic waste polluting our ecosystem.
We don’t realize the amount of plastic we use every day. While cutting off from the plastic completely might sound a difficult task, we can definitely take baby steps towards it. The small efforts lead to big results and if every person changes their daily habits, it could lead to plastic reduction by 40 whooping percent. Complete no-no to plastic could be daunting considering our modern lifestyle, we can also start easy.
Here are a few tips and tricks that will help you reduce your daily plastic use and make this world a better place to live.
1. Replace Plastic Water Bottles With Metal Bottles
Plastic bottles rank number one in the five most common litter found on beaches and tourist attractions. Instead of buying packaged water, carry your own water bottles that are reusable. Not only this is an effective way of cost-cutting but also a great step towards saving the environment.
Plastic water bottles take decades to degrade and are an absolute waste as they can’t really be reused. Switching to metal or steel bottles also have great benefits for your health. One should also displace the plastic water bottles used in the house every day with that of glass or metal.
2. Say No To Platic Straws
Plastic straws are possibly the most useless thing in the environment that are harming it to a great extent. They are generally single-use and increases the amount of plastic waste in the world.
Next time you order a drink at a bar or sipping on some cold drink at the theatre, try using the glass directly instead. Another great way is carrying your own metal or bamboo straws. The metal straws can be used multiple times and are ecofriendly.
3. Re-think Your Food Storage
We unknowingly and unintentionally use a lot more plastic than we think we do. Walk into your kitchen and you’ll realise it within seconds. Right from plastic packages to plastic wraps and storage containers we use it all on an everyday basis.
What we can do instead is use glass/ clay/ steel storage boxes to store groceries. Similarly, instead of plastic wraps, we can use paper bags or just use tiffin boxes to store our food products. These small efforts can really help in the long run and when calculated is actually cost-efficient.
4. Use Cloth Shopping Bag
Next time when you go for grocery shopping or to the nearest mall carry your own shopping bag made out of cloth/ jute. If we stop using plastic shopping bags solely we can reduce plastic consumption by ten per cent.
The plastic shopping bags are a ubiquitous form of garbage and are one of the biggest concern by environmentalists. The flimsy plastic shopping bags are no good after one single-use. Using jute or cloth shopping bags will provide a better grip, are aesthetic and reusable.
5. Avoid Buying Items Packaged In Plastic
This is probably the most difficult to achieve out of all the steps to reduce your daily plastic use. Enter a supermarket and almost everything is wrapped in plastic packaging.
A simple way to get a step closer to this is to look for options with lesser packaging. Try to buy food products stored in reusable boxes. It could be food products, detergents, vegetables that arent packed. Instead, buy vegetables from a cart. Similarly, go to a bakery and buy fresh goodies instead of those packed in plastic. These small steps not only will reduce plastic use but also send a strong message to the makers to avoid using plastic packaging.
6. Avoid Plastic In Your Skincare
Microplastic which is used in a large quantity in skincare is almost impossible to filter out. It is also one of the leading pollutants in oceans. Right from avoiding plastic packaged products to one with chemicals and microplastic should be consumed by the consumers.
It’ll definitely help you achieve better skin. Products like a plastic toothbrush can be easily replaced with a bamboo toothbrush and plastic combs by wooden combs. You can DIY your own facewash, scrubs and toners using natural ingredients.
7. Buy Sustainable Material And Avoid Synthetics
Polyester clothing is namely made out of plastic. Washing and wearing of these cause fibres to come off. Due to the growth of fast fashion among millennials, the amount of garbage is rapidly increasing.
Most of the high street fast fashion brands use cheap synthetic materials for the manufacturing of clothes which are increasing waste every single day. Switching to sustainable material let your body breathe easy and also has environmental benefits. Brands these days are coming dedicated collections using sustainable clothing that is trendy and super affordable.
8. Say No To Disposable Cutlery
Right from table runners to plastic spoons or disposable cutlery, it all increases the amount of waste. Several times we use plastic cutlery while picking the take away from cafes and restaurants.
A great way of avoiding this is carrying a spare box in your bag. You can ask the food joint to pack the food for you in those or cardboard boxes instead of plastic. Carry wooden fork and spoons with you. They can be easily washed off. A home ban the use of plastic cutlery or table covers. Switch to cloth instead and contribute to saving our mother Earth.
9. Don’t Just Discard Electronics
Each one of us is guilty of discarding our electronics into the garbage once it stops working. Most of the electronics we use are made out of plastic and causes pollutions.
Aim at getting your electronics repaired or upgrade them instead of buying new. The other option is to sell them to someone in need when you decide to get yourself an upgraded version. You can even sell the parts of your electronics to the retailers who can reuse it or donate them at recycling plants.
10. Start Upcycling Today For A Better Tomorrow
Let your creative juices flow and try to reuse the plastic already present in your house. There are tons of DIY projects available on the Internet to give you a better idea at this.
You can use the food containers to stock up other things, make home decor out of them or for storage purpose.
Weren’t these steps too easy and can be achieved on an everyday basis? We human are blessed to be gifted mother Earth and natural resources. It is now our duty to save it. Stop buying plastic, educate people around you and stop splashing the plastic in the sea.
Also read: green-urban-development-initiatives-might-save-our-world/