Guest Blog: Why Reducing Plastic Use Should Be Your 2021 Resolution

Visitor Weblog: Shannon Bergstrom brings you inspiration and recommendation that can assist you scale back your single-use plastic consumption – important in serving to our oceans.

Yearly we produce over 381 million tons of plastic waste. Plastic waste pollutes the setting, endangers wildlife and contributes to international warming. Regardless of elevated calls to scale back our reliance on plastic, it’s anticipated that we are going to producing over 700,000,000 tons of plastic waste yearly, by 2034.

Take a look at our High 4 Ideas that can assist you scale back your plastic use this 12 months, a decision that can, past a shadow of a doubt, profit all the world.

Tip #1: Non-Plastic Merchandise Use

Our waterways are stuffed with single-use plastic gadgets, e.g., plastic baggage and non-recyclable microplastic containers. By utilising eco-friendly options and non-plastic gadgets in your on a regular basis life, plastic air pollution could possibly be tremendously diminished. Take a look at a few of our favorite swaps beneath!

• Reusable Baggage: By making certain you all the time carry a reusable bag you get rid of the necessity for plastic options. As well as, a tote bag is way extra sturdy than its plastic counterpart. Particular reusable produce baggage are a superb alternative for holding your contemporary produce in good situation while purchasing
• Reusable Containers: Keep away from buying one-off clear containers the place attainable. Not solely are they extremely flimsy, however they’re typically short-lived, and when thrown away pollute the setting in the same solution to that of a mean plastic bag or bottle. As a substitute, go for a container you’ll be able to re-use many instances, even after washing. Steel containers is usually a good selection, as can glass or thick plastic e.g., Tupperware.
• Reusable Water Bottles: Identical to plastic baggage, single-use bottles are extremely problematic to the environment. By selecting a reusable bottle, appropriate for storing varied forms of liquid, you’ll be able to simply scale back the quantity of plastic piling up at your native landfill and luxuriate in contemporary liquids for longer!
• Non-Plastic Utensils: When consuming out (or extra generally undertaken throughout COVID-19, ordering take-away companies), your meal could include single-use cutlery. If that is true on your native institution, why not strive asking them to inventory options, resembling bamboo, or asking them to not provide them together with your order.

Tip #2: Non-Plastic Buying

Eco-friendly purchasing means going to your native retailer ready. Bringing reusable purchasing baggage is a should, however there are different elements to think about additionally. For example, by shopping for produce from native markets / unbiased retailers, you not solely assist the native economic system however obtain more energizing merchandise, that haven’t travelled a protracted solution to find yourself being bought by your self. Many cities now inventory zero waste merchandise, that are nice to advertise a more healthy shopper life-style and might exchange many on a regular basis gadgets. For gadgets that can’t be sourced native, or in eco-friendly non-plastic packages, look fastidiously for merchandise that comprise minimal plastic packaging and keep in mind to make use of eco-friendly produce baggage / reusable containers the place attainable.

Do you know garments purchasing will also be eco-friendly? Go to native charity shops to search out pre-loved gadgets, typically product of extra pure supplies. Through the international pandemic, many have moved to promoting on-line, and subsequently you’ll be able to nonetheless replace your wardrobe with ‘new’ gadgets!

Tip #3: Training and Consciousness

Share your superb eco-friendly finds with household, associates and even strangers! By sharing helpful hyperlinks and real critiques, extra individuals are prone to strive options to gadgets of their on a regular basis routines and be a part of the plastic-free revolution.

Tip #4: Plan for a Plastic-free Christmas

Christmas holidays wouldn’t be the identical with the tree, decorations, presents, and meals! Sadly, a lot of these are created from, or incorporate, plastic. For instance, most synthetic Christmas timber are created from non-recyclable PVC. While these of us do reuse a majority of these tree for a number of years, their destructive environmental influence typically nonetheless outweighs the profit. As a substitute, why not strive shopping for an actual potted tree, that may be saved within the backyard and introduced into the house each December? Or attempting new rent-a-tree companies the place you hire massive, actual Christmas timber from native farms for a chosen interval earlier than returning for safe-keeping!

Equally, plastic decorations must be prevented in any respect prices. As a substitute, why not buy pure decorations created from wooden, bamboo, and different biodegradable supplies. For extra craftier people, you’ll be able to even make them yourselves!

Present wrap containing any foil / glitter does can’t be 100% recycled. As such, strive utilising kraft brown paper or making use of newspapers / magazines. Twine is a wonderful solution to wrap (as a substitute of Sellotape) and tags may be created from previous playing cards!

Some Ultimate Ideas

While 2021 is about to be one other troublesome 12 months, we are able to take consolation within the elevated protection concerning the difficulties the environment presently faces, and can face, if we don’t change our habits. If all of us comply with the following pointers, and make small adjustments, we can be doing our half in serving to to make Earth a protected, clear, and hospitable planet for all that decision it dwelling. So, begin making inexperienced decisions right now, and encourage these round you to do the identical!

Writer Bio

Shannon Bergstrom is a LEED Inexperienced Affiliate, TRUE waste advisor, presently working at RTS, a technology-driven waste and recycling administration firm. Shannon consults with shoppers cross-industry and writes for a number of firms throughout the globe together with Zero Waste.

Source link

from WordPress https://ift.tt/36cujfC
via IFTTT