The recent No-Straw Movement has been massively successful and has had many jumping on board with making environmentally conscious choices, but there is also much more that you can do to be greener. Here are a set of ideas that you can implement in your daily habits to decrease your wastes and carbon footprint.
1. Use plastic-free charcoal filters
Take an additional step to go plastic free by using a eco-friendly water filter. You can now use plastic-free charcoal filters to clean you water. While traditional plastic charcoal filters decrease plastic use from single-use bottles, their plastic casings still go to the landfill once they’ve fulfilled their filtering capacity. To step away from this invest in a glass beverage canister and a charcoal filter like this one! Also here’s a how-to article on setting this water filtration up!
2.Use reusable cleaning towels and napkins
Why did we ever step away from reusable fabrics? Now has never been a better time to start using them again. Give forests a break by using reusable cleaning towels and reusable napkins. Cloth napkins have been my latest change! You can find all sorts of patterns to match your kitchen’s style, and quite honestly, I think they work a lot better than flimsy paper napkins!
3. Use manual brew methods for coffee
Are you a coffee fanatic? Single-use coffee pods can be easy and quick, but their plastic casings can’t be recycled and add to our plastic pollution issue. Instead, think about using a manual brew method like a pour-over or a chemex with a reusable cloth filter! Pour-overs changed my relationship with coffee, and hopefully it will be the same for you!
4. Use reusable bags
Stop making excuses for plastic bags! Keep reusable bags in your car, in your book-bag or even in your purse for easy access. If you’re only buying one item from the store carry it out without a bag. Single-use plastic bags cause so many problems and reusable bags are an easy solution!
5. Walk, ride or share
Walking to classes, to the store or wherever you can go easily reduces your carbon-footprint and benefits your health! If your destination is too far to walk, then try a bike, and if all else fails try to carpool.
6. Make environmentally conscious purchases
Last but not least, try and make environmentally conscious purchases. Reach for the product that doesn’t contain plastic or find a product that is made out of recycled materials. If you can make an eco-friendly purchase to begin with, you’ll be left with less waste to put up with in the end!
It has never been a better time than now to make environmentally sound choices. I encourage you to make changes in your daily habits to use less resources and decrease your wastes relating to pollution that is wreaking havoc on the planet. As a society, we can do better and make changes to support a more sustainable future!