my 2019 challenge:
this year i am challenging myself, my friends, family, and anyone that will listen to reduce our waste. recycling isn’t going to cut it, so here are a few tips that i am going to start and continue implementing in my lifestyle:
1. banishing single-use plastics
this means; plastic bags, straws, plastic water bottles, plastic cutlery, Styrofoam containers, to-go coffee containers, etc.
plastic water bottles, probably cost you around $1.50 a bottle, but there are pretty inexpensive (~$9 for a nice reusable water bottle, or, less than a week’s worth of plastic water bottles)
for most drinks, straws are not a necessity, so when you go out to eat, you can simply request that your waiter/waitress not bring any. or there are plenty of reusable options, like stainless steel straws (tons of options here) and speaking of restaurants, if you have leftovers, bring your own tupperware instead of styrofoam.
travel coffee mugs are also pretty cheap, and you or one of your friends might already have a few that aren’t being used. plus, some coffee shops will give you a discount on your coffee for bringing your own mug.
plastic bags. most of us collect tons of plastic bags after shopping. this creates tons of waste. instead bring your own bags when you go shopping. leave yourself a note so you don’t forget to grab them before shopping.
finally, there are tons of other things, like plastic wrap that can be replaced with beeswax wrap, zip lock bags that can be replaced with reusable snack bags, and much more. i challenge you to reduce what you can.
2. composting
i, personally, live in an apartment, so composting is not something i can feasibly do. however, the university i attend has an agriculture department with a compost pile and they welcome everyone’s compostables, so i collect all of my food scraps and freeze them until the end of the week when i am able to drop them off. if you can start your own compost pile, i encourage it, but if you can’t, check out if there are any near you. here is a source that lists some, but not all, composting facilities based on zip code. but, i’d also recommend checking community gardens out to see if they have one. here is a list of all sorts of things that can be composted.
3. reducing electricity consumption
i often times get into the bad habit of letting my phone, laptop charge over night, when really, these items only need a few hours to charge. leaving them overnight is not only tough on the device because it kills battery life, but also it is still eating electricity. so, i’m going to break this bad habit and charge only during the day and unplug when things are charge, along with unplugging all electronics when not in use/open windows and blinds rather than turning on lights.
this may sound trivial, but every small bit adds up, plus it’ll reduce your electricity bill. here’s a source that lists a few more ways of doing so.
4. cancel unnecessary mail
everyone hates junkmail, but we all receive it. this wastes paper and energy to deliever said mail. but there are several ways to cancel junk mail. paperkarma is a really neat phone app that allows you to take an image of the junkmail and they’ll remove you from the mailing list. here are more sources on that.
these are just a few, relatively straightforward things that you can do to cut down on waste. i’ll add a few more if you’d like more of a challenge (here, here, & here) a bunch overlap, but i like the differing styles of organization. And if you aren’t convinced already on why we should reduce our waste, here is an great source.
if you are already doing all of these things, good on you, i encourage you to spread these practices to others you know. change happens with every person. this is all in effort to be kinder to the planet that we share, not only with other humans, but every other living creature. be kind to each other and the earth.
