In order to sustain life on Earth as long as possible, it is our responsibility to treat our home with love. As Americans, we are contributing to our quickly expanding landfills. A lot of this trash is not biodegradable and will last, basically, forever. It is hurting our home. We are polluting our oceans and killing animals with our waste.
I wanted to make my personal impact less, but Rome was not built in a day. I decided to take small steps to reducing my impact. I am going to list all of the products I have purchased and been using below.
***I also linked the products to amazon, so you can purchase them***
Reusable Grocery Bags– Plastic is one of the worst. A lot of it can not be recycled and takes about 500 years to decompose in landfills. Buying reusable grocery bags is an easy way to reduce some of the plastic we regularly take in and then just throw away. I personally bought one of mine from H-E-B and then received another with a purchase.
If you don’t have a grocery bag with you, simply say, “I don’t need a bag” when making small purchases. I am super proud that I have gotten my mom to start doing this.
Produce Bags – Now, even when you are using reusable grocery bags, you still are using plastic when purchasing produce. A simple fix for this are produce bags! They come in different sizes and they can have different purposes. For instance, I used mine to organize my clothes in my suitcase, while traveling.
Beeswax Food Wraps – I know that people will not consider these to be vegan, since they are made from beeswax, but you can’t always have it all. Instead of using plastic wrap and baggies, give these a try. I have used them to cover bowls of fruit and even wrapped my sandwich and nuts to take in my lunch. ***Update- I had to get rid of these because the beeswax began to come off*****
Silicon Food Storage Bags – I like this purchase for certain things, like freezing fruit, but they definitely have their downfalls. They are hard to open and I can never seem to open them up completely. Plus, they are a little hard to air dry after cleaning because they do not easily stay open to let all the water evaporate.
Resuable Sandwich/Snack Bags- I like these for things, like nuts and chips, that I do not want to put in a Tupperware container. I also purchased these after the silicone version because I felt like they were not best suited for certain things.
Reusable Straws – There was a video going around recently of a plastic straw being pulled out of a sea turtle’s nostril. I bought some because I prefer to drink my smoothies and water through a straw. I got metal ones and love them, except for one little thing. I can’t use them in my yeti. There are silicon ones out there that would probably be better for this. And, if you don’t want silicon or metal, there are glass reusable straws as well.
Reusable Cotton Rounds – This is my most recent purchase! I personally use a toner every morning and these are a great replacement for the little cotton pads that you just use once and throw away. They are machine washable, so you will get many uses out of them.
Bamboo Toothbrush – Our normal toothbrushes are basically just a piece of plastic that we use for a short period of time and then throw away. A bamboo toothbrush is a better option because it is biodegradable.
Paperless Towels– I do not usually keep paper towels in the house. Instead, I use rags to clean with. I do want to make or buy something like this photo though.
Some of the next things I want to purchase-
Biodegradable Poop Bags– I love my pup, but when I have her in College Station, I have to pick up a lot of poop. I use poop bags made from recycled material, but I want to switch to some that I know will be biodegradable, since it is something I use daily.
Soap Without Packaging- I didn’t like this one because I haven’ t found one I want to buy yet. I want shampoo, conditioner, and body wash that has no packaging. The one problem that I am having right now is that I recently dyed my hair purple. This is a color that fades very quickly, so I have to use a shampoo and conditioner for colored hair.
I hope this post helps you realize how easy it can be to take steps to reduce your own carbon footprint. I will do my best to continuously try to reduce mine!
