Simple ways to reduce the amount of waste you produce
I’m extremely happy to see that people are becoming gradually more environmentally-conscious, but there’s still a long way to go. As most of you probably know, I’m very passionate about reducing the amount of waste we produce and the zero/less waste movement. I’ve noticed that a lot of people generally support the idea, but think it takes too much effort to produce less waste. Today, I want to show you a couple of easy ways in which you can reduce your environmental footprint!
1. Use a reusable water bottle
This first one is such an obvious one, but I don’t think most people realise that tap water is perfectly safe to drink in most places and research has shown that bottled water can even be more harmful than tap water. Additionally, buying a reusable water bottle isn’t expensive at all and will save you lots of money! Actually, you don’t even have to buy a reusable bottle – look in your kitchen cupboards, you might even have one at home already. You might be thinking ‘come on, it’s only a couple of plastic bottles, it’s not like I will make any difference’, but if you think about how many bottles you would throw away in a week or a year, you’ll realise that the number isn’t so insignificant after all. Bur bottled water isn't just bad for the planet, it’s not good for you, either. Many bottles contain BPA, but laced into plastic bottles are other chemicals that can seep out if bottles are exposed to heat or sit around for a long time.
Just take a reusable bottle with you wherever you go and fill it up with water either from the tap or from a filter jug if you don’t like the taste of the tap water at your house and the Earth will thank you!
Here’s my stainless steel water bottle that I got at Kaufland for really cheap:
2. Have a fabric bag with you at all times
There have been many incidents when I went for some unplanned shopping and I had to either put all of my things in my backpack only to then have massive backache for the next week or had to get the plastic bag only to then feel like this:
Moral of the story is, if you get your fabric bag (I’m sure you have some at home, don’t buy – just look around!) and put it in your bag or backpack, you won’t have to produce unnecessary waste when you go for unplanned shopping!
3. Make your coffee/tee at home or carry a reusable cup
Those of you who, like me, live in smaller cities may not do it on a regular basis, but every time I go to a bigger city I notice how many people get takeaway drinks in cafés in disposable cups. It produces so much waste if you think about it! I’d recommend that you either make your coffee/tea/any other drink of choice at home (it will also save you lots of money!), but if you’re just craving that Starbucks latte, just take a cup with you! Like with other things – you might have one at home already, but if you don’t, I’d recommend looking for one at Tk Maxx (they have some really cool designs for decent prices, I bought my thermal mug there and it’s the best thing ever!), online or at your favourite coffee shop (I know Starbucks has some cheap reusable cups, they are plastic though). They aren’t very expensive and some cafés will even give you a small discount for bringing your own cup!
You can see my cactus bamboo cup from Tk Maxx here (it’s honestly my favourite thing ever)
4. Use a fountain pen instead of a disposable, ballpoint pen
When we leave primary school, I think we forget about how great fountain pens are. Seriously, they’re awesome! They write so smoothly and make your handwriting look way better than normal pens. When it comes to the zero waste side, of course you don’t produce nearly as much waste as you would throwing away a pen every week or so. What I do (and I really recommend!) is I buy ink in a glass bottle and fill my pen with it using a cartridge every 1-2 days or so. It’s cheaper, more convenient and way more environmentally-friendly!
(I have the Parker Urban Core in the colour vibrant blue and here you can see the ink and cartridge)
Hopefully this post made you think about some areas of your life that you can improve slightly in order to produce less waste. Of course, you don’t have to make all these changes at once – even small steps that matter. Remember that what you do has an impact even if you’re just one person and I’ll see you soon!
Hier eine kleine Foto-Doku unseres Besuchs im Unverpackt-Laden in Mainz. Neben Müsli, Reis, Nudeln und allen möglichen anderen Getreideerzeugnissen wie Bulgur, Hirse und Quinoa gibt es auch Öle, Putzmittel und Gewürze. Man kommt also an mit eigenen Gefäßen, wiegt sie und befüllt sie. Wie großartig!
Ganz ohne Plastik geht es leider auch hier nicht, das seht Ihr auf den Fotos. Der Inhaber hat uns gezeigt, wie er die Lebensmittel geliefert bekommt, das waren zum Teil Papiersäcke, zum Teil große Plastiktüten in Papierkisten. Dennoch: Unter dem Strich entsteht so viel weniger Verpackungsmüll und man kann genau die Menge entnehmen, die man braucht.
Uns gibt das die Möglichkeit, unsere Vorräte mit bestimmten Lebensmitteln aufzufüllen, so dass wir vielleicht alle 6 Wochen einmal nach Mainz fahren. Zum allwöchentlichen Einkauf ist die Stadt dann doch zu weit weg...
Übrigens: Auch Zucker und Kakaopulver gibt es unverpackt zu kaufen, das hat mich enorm beruhigt :-)
Und, dass der Laden am Samstagvormittag sehr gut besucht war - auch von Leuten, die das erste Mal da waren und begeistert ans Abfüllen gingen.
Solche Läden gibt es inzwischen in einigen Städten, Kiel, Berlin und München, so weit ich weiß. Im veganen Supermarkt in Frankfurt gibt es zumindest einige Lebensmittel aus solchen Spendern - und diese Kette hat Filialen in vielen anderen Städten.
