Earth Day is next week on April 22!
On April 22, 1970, an estimated 20 million Americans took to the streets and parks to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Since that first Earth Day, the celebration has evolved into the largest civic event in the world as billions of people work to protect our planet.
The theme for this year’s Earth Day is Planet vs. Plastics. According to earthday.org, their goal is to phase out single-use plastic items and to encourage a 60% reduction in all plastic products by 2040. So, today I want to share with you some ideas for reducing single-use plastics in our daily lives by investing in their reusable counterparts.
Do you do anything special to celebrate Earth Day? Leave a comment and let me know, I’d love to hear from you!
Easy reusable product swaps
Have you ever thought about all the items you use on a daily basis, and where they end up? So much of what we buy ends up in landfills, such as plastic packaging used on products to food waste and more. There are lots of options for replacing disposable items with reusable options! Here are a few I’ve incorporated in my household.
Water Bottles: Instead of buying bottled water, I have several reusable water bottles on hand at home. Many places now offer water bottle filling stations, so you can refill your bottle. Many convenience stores will now let you refill your own cup or bottle with soda from their fountain machines instead of using their plastic or styrofoam cups.
Shopping bags: Reusable shopping bags have been popular for quite some time, and many cities have started banning plastic bags at stores. It can be hard to get in the habit of keeping bags in your car- and putting them back in the car after unloading groceries in your house! But, once you get used to it, it’s a great way to cut down on your use of plastic bags.
Produce bags: You can also buy reusable produce bags to carry in the grocery store, replacing the plastic bags used for bagging individual fruits and vegetables!
Straws: Reusable straws are another popular item to help reduce plastic waste. You can find them made of metal, silicone, glass, and other materials. Plus, there are many types of folding reusable straws that are easy to keep in your car, purse, or pocket. Just remember to clean them after you use them!
Paper towels or napkins: My household goes through so many paper towels, and I’m hoping to switch to reusable towels this year. It’s as simple as purchasing a package of cleaning cloths and using those instead of reaching for the paper towels. They can easily be washed and reused many times. I’ve already stopped buying paper napkins for regular daily use, and instead we use cloth napkins.
Sandwich and other plastic bags: Plastic bags are great for packing lunches, separating snacks, and storing small items. But, they can add up to a lot of plastic waste. Reusable silicone bags are a great option to replace disposable bags. They’re easy to wash, last a long time, and you can find them in almost any size.
Looking for more ideas? You can find a list of 36 reusable versions of household items in this article from Reader’s Digest.
Added benefits of reusable products
Not only does purchasing reusable versions of products help reduce waste, but it can also save you money. It might cost more upfront to invest in products like silicone bags or cloth napkins. But, when you consider the long-term cost of buying plastic bags and paper towels, you’ll likely find the reusable items to be cost-effective.
Don’t forget the aesthetic value: I always find my mood lifted a little when I carry my groceries in a cheerfully-printed bag instead of a boring plastic sack. You can add stickers to a water bottle to personalize it. Or, buy cloth napkins in colors to match your home decor.
What types of reusable items do you already use in your household? Do you plan to swap any disposable items for reusable versions? If so, remember to scan the barcodes of those items and report the purchases to NCP. Leave a comment and let us know what you think! I’d love to hear more ideas about how to reduce waste, especially plastic.
Happy Earth Day!
Regards,
Taylor
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New York banned plastic bags and Styrofoam containers several years ago and although we all griped about it at the time, we’ve adjusted well. We’ve eliminated paper plates and bowls except when camping, and then we burn them in the campfire. Fruit and veggie scraps and shredded paper are all composted for the garden. Plastic, metal and cardboard are put in the recycle bin for pickup by the city. We just returned from FL and the differences between our recycling and theirs is really noticable.
My husband & I recycle everything we can. I am having a hard time with the paper towels. But working on it. I can say when we use paper towels; only wiping down water from countertop, stove, etc. We will reuse the paper towels more than once. It’s really sad to me more places don’t have bins for recycling available. The amount of glass bottles, plastic, etc. I see in garbage cans at stores, gas stations, etc. I know not everyone would use them but I would hope more would take the time to place their recyclables in the containers. We just bring ours home & put it in our bin. It would be nice if more people would incorporate this in their households then one would think their kids would teach their children because this was taught to them in their upbringing.
My family and I use reusable bags for shopping I do use freezer bags for freezing my meats and veggies…I don’t know what I would use without them I can’t go every other day and shop for meats and stuff.
I like to recycle cans and plastic. Every week I do the same thing. I enjoy recycling. Thank you for posting the article.
I use brown paper bags a lot from the store. I know trees are used to make them, I get it but I can reuse the brown paper sacks for many other things other than just groceries. They can be reusable, used for art projects, used to line small trash cans AND for a deco retro floor covering project!!!!💕 I try to NOT use the plastic bags for MANY reasons but mainly for saving the 🌎 AND they are NOT durable and having your bags break while walking home is a pain in the arsh💯🙃 I could point out sooooo many reasons NOT to use plastic but IF you are earth conscious and recycle conscious, you already know many of those reasons. Thanks NCP for providing great blogs about many different topics AND for allowing us, the panelists, to add opinions & thoughts also!!
Yes, I used to worry about paper products using trees but at least they decompose and don’t cause as many problems as plastic bags. I do compostable plastic bags for my garbage and for cat litter box cleaning.