15 Quick Tips to Reduce Plastic Use

There are plenty of mind-boggling stats that agitate me. Worldwide, we buy 1 million plastic bottles per minute. Only 23% get recycled. In other words, by the time you finish reading this article, 3,850,000 more plastic bottles will be introduced into our environment … forever. Not good. That should make you want to do something about it as well.

We don't have grand illusions that picking up trash around our neighborhood and avoiding single-use plastic for a month during #PlasticFreeFeb will fix our planet. But we will absolutely do our part to raise awareness and influence change. Part of that influence is educating and sharing tips for what you can do the help.

We can all acknowledge that our decisions are driven by ease and convenience. I get it. I’m in the same boat. Good news, there are countless ways to reduce our daily plastic use that won’t rock your “ease and convenience” boat too much. I’ve listed 15 of my favorites below. 

5 easy things you know about but still need to do:

​1 - Take reusable bags to the grocery store. Keep them in your car. Super quick, super helpful, and ridiculously simple. This includes the produce isle. More on that later. 
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2 - Carry a reusable water bottle. I bet you have a cabinet full of bottles, right? Use them. Put one in your car, office, home, travel bag, etc. Aside from the outrageous bottle stat above, the economics of paying for bottled water blows my mind. (A topic for a another Journal Entry)

3 - Rethink your food storage. Plastic wrap on your leftovers before tossing in the fridge? Nah, put an upside-down plate on top. Quicker, easier and way better for the environment.
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4 - Bring your own mug to the local coffee shop. We’ve mentioned it before, but many shops, including Summit Coffee gladly offer a discount for this. Save money and reduce your environmental impact. Easy.​​

5 - Avoid single use straws. You don’t need them. What about my kids? They’re fine. My kids enjoy drinking out of a colorful reusable straw more than a single use one. We’ve even turned this into a straw picking game at restaurants.

5 more easy things that don’t take any extra time:

6 - Opt for bar soap packaged in cardboard vs body wash packaged in plastic bottles. Don't worry, you'll still smell great.

7 - Repurpose food packaging that you already buy. Many companies are calling this out as a selling point “Resealable!”. That sounds eerily similar to a Ziploc bag to me. Thanks for the freebie, I’ll use that later. Twist top Peanut Butter jars are great for on the go needs as well.​

8 - Use replaceable razor blades vs disposable blazes. The blades themselves are the ones doing all the work, you don’t need to toss the entire thing out each time.

​9 - Like straws and water bottles, keep an extra set of reusable utensils in your car, desk draw, purse, or travel bag. Remember, plastic lasts in our environment forever. Reuse plastic utensils that you already have or snag a branded bamboo set from Recover Brands.

10 - Buy unpackaged produce and fruit. You do wash your items before eating right? Probably don’t need a bell pepper that in housed in a plastic wrap as well huh? This is also an indicator that the food item most likely traveled long distances to get on that shelf in the first place. (Again, another topic for another Journal Entry)

5 more easy thing that take a small speck of effort:

11 - Shop in bulk. Things like rice, oatmeal, pasta, beans, nuts, etc. have long and stable shelf lives. Buying bulk reduces the amount of packaging involved and saves money. This works well with the next tip as well.

​12 - Repurpose containers. Endless easy ideas are a quick google search away. HERE are a few examples.

13 - Buy products packaged in paper instead of plastic. This can be tricky since some paper-based packaging has a plastic layer of film so you’ll have to do a little homework, but here is easy example. Buy pasta in boxes vs plastic.

14 - Make your own cleaning products out of vinegar and baking soda. This eliminates the need for bottles of cleaner and is less toxic. I’m not a chemist, but HERE and HERE are two good articles that I found. 

​15 - Bring your own takeout container to a restaurant. See “repurpose containers” point above. You likely have a bunch of containers that work perfectly for this already. 

Conclusion:

Here’s the reality. Not all of these tips will work for every individual person and yes I understand that it take 2 more seconds of effort. That’s fine. Pick a few that you can implement and stick with. Understand that your impact is multiplied as you influence others as well. It's a small investment to make on behalf of our environment and our future.

Half the battle is awareness. The other half is action. We can’t win this battle ourselves and it certainly won’t happen overnight but our goal for the #PlasticFreeFeb challenge is to make strides in the right direction. Your support and action will help.

To dig deeper and learn more, check out other resources below.

• National Geographic – Multi-year “Planet or Plastic” initiative
• Green Peace – Learn About Plastic Pollution
• Environmental Protection Agency – Fact and Figures about Recycled Materials
• Plastic Free July – Take another month-long challenge

Journal - 15 Quick Tips to Reduce Plastic Use

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