10 Easy Ways To Reduce Plastic Waste

on March 8, 2010 - 16 Comments

Something hit me the other day…I realized how much I really DO NOT like plastic.

Here’s what happened: This past weekend I went to my local Target to pick up random household necesseties: toilet paper, paper towels, dishwashing soap, and sponges. There was nothing particulary special about this trip, just a typical Sunday of cleaning.

It wasn’t until I walked past the aisle with the laundry detergent that something hit me like a ton of bricks. And that was, how much plastic STUFF there is in the world, and how much we waste buying everyday items.

Virtually everything we consume and purchase has some kind of plastic.

Pack of gum? Plastic wrapping.

DVD? Hard plastic case

Toothpaste? Plastic tubing

It was a bit strange, as I’ve always been very conscience of my own personal plastic use. I’ve gotten rid of all plastic tupperware and traded it in for glass, I bring canvas bags to the grocery store, I cook with wooden or stainless steel utensils, and I very rarely drink from plastic bottles.

Perhaps it was the seemingly endless shelves of neatly arranged plastic jugs that stood out to me, but, I began to wonder as I was putting a 15 count package of paper towels wrapped in plasitc in my carriage, if I even really needed the paper towels?

Is there something else I could be using besides paper towels?

And, what else could I be doing to reduce my waste?

All of a sudden, I felt that bringing canvas bags to the grocery store and separating my recyclying wasn’t enough. Seeing the rows upon rows of unneccasary plastic packaging made me question myself:

Could I be doing more to reduce my overall consumption?

It’s funny to think how we can take a resource from earth (we use petroleum which is a by-product of oil, to make plastic) and create a non-biodegradable substance that eventually kills the very source it came from — our planet.

Ever heard of The Great Garbage Patch? Well, if you haven’t, just imagine a landmass the size of Texas floating between San Francisco and Hawaii that’s made up entirely of PLASTIC. Yep, a big heap of plastic floating in the Pacific. A result of our over-consumption of plastic materials.

Could I be doing more? Of course I could. We all could. So, for starters, here are 10 simple and easy ways to begin to reduce your plastic consumption. Enjoy!

10 Easy Ways to Reduce Plastic Waste

1. Eat fresh foods. Here’s an idea…drastically reduce or eliminate all processed foods. Not only is it better for your health, but better for the environment. The less processed foods we eat, the less waste we throw away with paper and plastic packaging.

2. Start toting around a stainless steel or even better, glass water bottle. According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, we (and by we I mean Americans), purchased 31 BILLION bottles of water in 2006. Sad to say that only 10% of that 31 billion was recycled. Which means that nearly 28 billion water bottles are floating around in our landfills. Using a resuable stainless steel or glass water bottle that you fill with properly filtered water is an easy, economical and sustainable way to drastically cut down on plastic consumption.

3. Bring canvas bags to the grocery store. One of the easiest and most convenient ways to cut down on plastic bag and paper bag consumption. In some countries, like Japan, stores will actually charge you a small fee to use plastic bags, a practice I feel we should adopt to help encourage the use of canvas bags.

4. Skip on putting all your produce in those little plastic baggies. This is huge source of waste that I don’t think most of us even pay attention to. If you’re anything like me, the majority of your groceries are veggies and fruit. And just think about how much plastic we waste by putting a couple of apples, a tomato and a cucumber in one of those little baggies. Put your produce directly into your canvas bag while you shop. But, don’t forget to thoroughly wash your produce when you get home, especially since they’ll be sitting naked on the conveyor belt.

5. Choose paper or glass packaging over plastic packaging. Buying eggs? Choose the cardboard egg carton over the plastic. Laundry detergent? Buy the cardboard box over the plastic dispenser. Soap? Choose bar soap over liquid in bottles.

6. Replace your tupperware with glassware containers. Glass containers are so much cooler than tupperware for many reasons 1) You’re not as likely to lose a glass container than you are a cheap plastic one. 2) You can cook, store and reheat in a glass container. 3) They don’t stain like plastic tupperware if you put spaghetti sauce in it. 4) No icky toxic chemicals will leak into your food.

7. Forget buying another bottle of lotion. Use coconut oil (sold in a glass bottle, of course) for a skin moisturizer instead. Coconut oil is a safe, natural and chemical and paraben free moisturizer. Gently melt a tablespoon in a small saucepan and use as an overall body moisturizer. Here’s a link to my favorite brand of coconut oil by Tropical Traditions (OK, I’m a little biased that it’s from the Philippines too!)

8. Buy in bulk and bring in your own papers bags or storage containers if you can. Not only does buying in bulk save a ton of money, but you also cut down on unneccsary plastic packaging. Nuts, beans, rice, spices and legumes are items that are great buying in bulk.

9. Choose wax paper or glass containers instead of Ziplock baggies. Pretty self-explanatory.

10. Use brown grocery bags instead of plastic garbage bags for your trash. There probably isnt’ a house in America that doesn’t have a pantry, closet, or storage space filled with folded up brown paper bags. Instead of buying the white plastic garbage bags, make use of the pile of old grocery bags to line your trash cans instead.


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  • http://easyfitnesswebsites.com/blog Tony M

    Nice list. I stopped using plastic bags quite some time ago at the grocery store. I’ve been using paper since I recycle. Well today I hit the store and the darn bags are shorter and thinner paper.

    I guess they are pushing for their canvas bags though plastic is plentiful. I don’t like those canvas ones because they only hold a couple of apples, a tomato and a cucumber.

  • sirenab

    Tony,

    Very cool man. Once you stop using plastic bags, you begin to realize how much we accumulate. I still have a whole pantry of plastic bags from my pre-canvas days. I know that some stores take them back to recycle.

    Plastic sucks. Period.

    Thanks for hanging.

    Sirena

  • http://news.runtowin.com Blaine Moore

    Nice list!

    I’ve got a few handled…I bring my own bags to the store, I use a stainless steel canteen, I buy fresh food, I get eggs in cardboard containers, and I usually skip using a bag for my fruit and veggies (unless I’m getting something like beans or quinoa) Technically, I could count the lotion as well since I just don’t use any which means no plastic, right?

    As for brown paper bags, now that we bring canvas bags to the store, we’ve run out of brown paper bags. With the shredding and recycling of our old financial paperwork, we’ve managed to go through our remaining paper bags and have run out since we haven’t needed to get bags from the grocery store for a couple years now.

    On a related note, have you ever heard of Atayne? They recycle plastics into performance athletic wear. Great company:

    http://www.atayne.com

  • sirenab

    Wow Blanie, that’s great! Looks like you do a lot as it is to help reduce waste. I looked at the link — there are some cool clothes. Do they feel any different, since they’re made from plastic?

    Thanks for stopping by again!

    S

  • amy

    what is better when using the WF bulk items- the plastic container or the bags? Are they essentially the same–I wish they could up with something else

  • sirenab

    Meh, that’s a toughie. Some of the WF’s I’ve been to actually use paper bags. In this case, probably the containers as they’re easier to recycle.

    Thanks for commenting Amy! I’ll be in touch with you soon about NYC in April! Love you!

  • http://news.runtowin.com Blaine Moore

    Sirena – they’re good shirts.

    They feel pretty similar to any other “tech” shirt (polyester etc), you wouldn’t know they were made from recycled materials if you were given one and had never heard of Atayne before.

  • sirenab

    Cool, Blaine! I checked out that blog you mentioned on my Facebook. I’ll have to check them out along with some hemp wear.

    How was the conference this weekend? I wish I could have gone :(

  • http://www.waterfillz.com Ben

    Good list! I try to do a lot of these things already but the paper bag for trash idea is a new one that I’ll have to start doing. I’ve tried using bio-degradable trash bags but the quality is often pretty poor.

    I just recently worked on a website for a company (www.waterfillz.com) that makes water purification kiosks for schools, events and locations with lots of people passing through. The machines let people get purified water that retains minerals for free without having to buy a plastic bottle with it. It’s obviously overkill for home-use but for places like schools, etc it is a great way to promote cutting down on plastic bottle usage and waste.

    Ben

  • sirenab

    Hi Ben!

    Thank you so much for the comment and for stopping by :) )

    Only thing about using the brown paper bags is that if you put anything wet in it, it tears. But still better than plastic.

    I checked out the http://www.waterfillz.com website. You really made worked on the website? It looks awesome!!! And I have actually seen the machines in grocery stores.

    Thanks again Ben! :) )

    Sirena

  • bob

    all this stuff is kul

  • V.K.Rai

    The plstic bags should not be given free of cost and customers be encouraged to bring old plastics also. At conferences and marriages water bottles should be banned.Every other day in Environmental Conferenecs also water bottles are seen to be used. They should be discouraged as well as banned also. In hotels it has become fashionable to ask for mineral water where all facilities should be available to provide the best quality drinking water.If a hotel can not serve good quality water how can it serve good food ?,

  • http://www.ezsrecipes.com Emily Z

    Hi, there. I have a food/recipe blog that I am, during Earth Month, going to utilize to promote environmental issues. One of the big campaigns I am gearing up to start is an anti-plastic campaign. I was wondering if I could use this post as inspiration. Feel free to e-mail me and let me know. Feel free to stay tuned to my posts as well! I came across this article completely by accident in a Google search and I am glad I did!

  • sirenab

    Hi Emily,

    That’s so awesome, and I’m glad you stumbled upon it too. You can totally use it, for sure. I checked out your blog, looks awesome!

    Let me know if there is anything else I can help or contribute :)

    Best,

    Sirena

  • Guest From Sanity

    I love plastic. Those plastic bags at the supermarket are very strong and with handholds easier to carry than the brown bags. Outdoor gear is now waterproof and air permeable thanks to teflon. Skies with teflon surfaces are much less effort to use. Camping without plastics would have worn my joints out long ago. Medicine would be back a generation and millions unvaccinated without plastic medical products. Plastic food containers make shipment of foods much more energy efficient as to weight.

    The problem with plastic is that it is too good and too cheap, even one use items are proof against corrosion. The real problem is we who use it and abandon it to the elements which are not brutal enough to break it down right away. We can produce plastics that do break down, and we should.

    Another problem that enough people don’t keep their eyes on is the chemical interaction between some plastics and our biology. This needs to be analyzed and health effects determined and made more public.

    By the way, a lot of plastic is not made from oil, but from natural gas. Some plastics can be made from wood and soy products.

    It’s quite fascinating.

  • Tam

    You should do a little more research before bashing Tupperware! Tupperware is a SAFE plastic and is designed and approved for food storage. It also lasts forever so there is no waste. They have products that help you keep your food fresh and also veggies in the fridge for weeks on end! If you are one of those people who refer to every plastic container at Walmart as Tupperware, then you should change your statement to read “plastic containers”. Some glass containers contain lead especially the newer cheap things including the new pyrex which is made in China and will leach lead into your food, especially in the microwave. Just saying….do your research before you post please! Thanks for letting my share my information!