We have all seen photos of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) and shaken our heads at the terrible shame of the impact of pollution and Waste on the environment. Never before in history has there been human-created climate impact on the scale that we have seen in the past 100 years. I was thrilled to hear about clean up effort ideas for the GPGP, though it is discouraging to know how very long it will take to make a real impact due to the sheer size of the garbage field.
Problems that make the news, like the GPGB, feel too big for one person to tackle. I think it is easy to feel that there is little that we can do individually and we just go with hope that some organization will figure it out. I am here on a grey Sunday morning to lay this challenge at your feet. There IS something that you can do to make a difference in our environment. You can make small choices every day that reduce waste, reduce Plastic use and WILL make a difference. I am going to give you a list of easy ways to make an impact in your own household. If you only adopt three of these changes long-term, you will still be serving the world with making positive change, even if on a small scale. And like I said, these things are easy to do so why not??
In many areas of the United States you may never think twice about trash. With collection service being wide-spread in many locations, pulling the cans out to the curb for collection might be the last thought given. It probably would not have come to my attention if trash were easier to get rid of. Living on a remote island, here we get our hands dirty with our own waste. On our island there is no trash collection service. Residents haul their own trash to collection centers. The Hawai`i island stopped collecting most recycling a couple of years ago when China stopped taking other country’s trash for payment. It is easy to think that recycling is a magic bullet, but the reality is that recycling is not actually happening as much as you think (many places haul separated recyclables straight to the landfill) and recycling is actually incredibly resource intensive. When you are schlepping bags of trash and hefting them in a giant bin filled with rubbish for just one little community, you have the opportunity to be confronted with your own choices and to resolve for personal change.
As I was cleaning my kitchen this morning, looking out at the view of the beautiful ferns in the native forest where I live, I started reflecting on this topic. I am not sure why it came to mind, or maybe why it had never come to mind before, but I decided that to write this post in hopes of helping others begin their journey. I have put a lot of thought and time into this subject for my own household and I hope that it might be of help to you.
IF YOU DO ONLY ONE THING DO THIS
STOP with Single-Us Plastic Water Bottles
A couple of years ago a Kona-local, Alison Teal, was featured on a nationally aired television program called “Naked and Afraid”. I think most of Hawai`i tuned in to watch our local girl do good. After the program aired, Alison, who was already an environmental activist, took up the torch for ocean clean-up. In an interview she shared that the pristine-looking Maldive island where the show was filmed had actually been completely covered with trash and plastic water bottles. In preparation for the show the production hired a team for trash cleanup. She reported that it took weeks to pick up the trash piled on this little island. If you watched the show, this is a very, very small island. I was absolutely staggered. Here is a sobering video from Teal about this issue, which spurred her to form a not-for-profit to combat the issue. This real world example just helped bring home the scope of the problem and I have never forgotten it.
If you do nothing else today, promise me that you will vow from this moment on to stop buying single-use water bottles. This is a no-brainer. It takes actually less effort to use a refillable bottle than to lug cases of water from the store, into the house, then haul out the bottles as trash, which will later fill our oceans. There are so many options for refillable bottles, including collapsible bottles that you can fold up and pack when travelling or hiking. Airports have refill stations. If you water at home is terrible, consider installing a Reverse Osmosis system or getting water delivery, since these bottles are completely reusable. In any case, Single-Use Bottled Water has to stop. Please, please do this.
Smarter purchasing ideas for reducing waste in your own home:
Much of the changes you can easily make come down to smart buying choices. Instead of plastic or disposable, put that extra bit of time and money into more sustainable solutions. Ultimately, reusable products will save you money and will make an impact.
Try Dehydrated Laundry Soap
Stupid Facebook and their targeted ads. I hate that they know me. They got me again with these TruEarth laundry strips. I love these things so much. Instead of hauling a heavy, plastic jug from Costco, that make a big mess all over my washing machine, TruEarth come as a subscription in a little envelope, straight to my house. I simply peel off a little strip and toss it in. This works great and it is the most convenient. And more than just the reduction of plastic waste, think about the manufacturing of those plastic bottles, then the fuel waste shipping the filled bottles in huge trucks and barges. It is more than saving a single container, it reduces waste along the entire manufacturing and distribution chain.
Use Rechargeable Batteries
Recycling batteries in my area is a challenge as they have to be shipped out and there are very few collection centers. I used store up batteries in a box and only recycle them when the box was full. Seeing a full box of battery waste gets you to thinking, however. A few years ago I made the investment in rechargeables for everything in the house, which is more batteries than you think! I had to place numerous orders because I was always short some batteries. I purchased a large battery charger that charges about 20 at once and also has solar charging. This has saved me so much money over the years and also has saved the waste and the fuel to take the spent batteries to the special collection center, which is a 40 minute drive for me.
Kick K-cup and Coffee Pods
I read an article once about the K-cup creator and how once he saw the impact of this invention and the extreme waste, her regretted ever coming up with the idea. These single-use plastic coffee pods have become all the rage due to their extreme convenience, but since many people drink multiple cups a day and with multiple members of a household, you can imagine the exponential waste this creates. Please consider a one-cup pour over pot instead. They are so quick and easy and use no power apart from heating the water. If you must use a K-cup, try the reusable cups, which reduce the convenience, but also reduce the waste.
Stop Single-Use Eye Drops
I recently was asked by my eye doctor to start using over-the-counter eye drops in advance of a procedure. When I went to purchase I was shocked to find that it was nearly impossible to find preservative-free drops that were not in single-use packages. SO much plastic waste! Each box had 30 or 60 individual plastic disposable bottles and there are dozens and dozens of brands making these.
Reconsider Disposable Diapers
No pressure intended for all of the parents who have so much on their plates. I am just leaving this here as an option for those people who feel strongly that they would like to use cloth diapers. We now have the benefit of many conveniences and services that make cloth diapers more manageable than ever in history. This is no longer the era of my childhood with safety pins and stinky diaper pails. With diaper liners, diaper laundering services and waterproof, fitted, pin-free diaper covers, things are much easier. The Honest Company has sustainable cloth diapers and also wipes and other consumables.
Start with Dish Soap Refillable Dish Soap Cakes
A local, sustainable farm in my area, Kalopa Makai Farms, makes these fabulous, farm-made refillable kitchen soap cakes. I use this in my own kitchen and think they make a fabulous gift.
Try Re-useable Zip Lock Bags
You do not have to give up the convenience of Zip Locks! Check out these re-usable resealable bags. I have tried a couple of types and couple of brands. I also like this Silcone Stand-Up type because they are super easy to clean and they have solid bottoms, which make them good for saucy leftovers.
Use Glass Reusable Storage Containers
I love my Snap Ware set. They are stackable in the fridge and are useful for storage and serving. I always wish I had more of them. Now the lids on these are plastic, but they are reusable and you are not throwing them out. I purchased my set at Costco. There are two types, be sure to look for the glass containers.
Opt for Beeswax Food Wraps
These trended a few years ago. I am posting a link from Amazon here: Beeswax Food Wraps. I did find someone making these at locally in my area and selling them at farmer’s markets, so check to see if you can find a local source first.
Look for Plastic-Free Deodorant
Native brand has a line of well rated plastic-free deodorants. Also, Lafe’s and quite a few other brands have deodorant products which utilize paper barrels and are also Aluminum-free. I am trying both brands out right now and will report back on my findings.
Other things that you can do to make an impact:
Bring your own bags
I know that this is a no-brainer, but I have to drop it here because the vast majority of people know the impact, but still accept single-use plastic bags from stores. In Hawai`i this is gratefully a problem of the past since plastic bags are outlawed, yet paper bags do persist here. I have reusable bags of all types, including these cute little bags my friend makes out of feed bags, but if you are like me you often stop at the store unplanned and don’t have any bags with you. Here are a couple of ideas for you.
- Get a large purse. I am not kidding. I wear a tote purse in a large size because it doubles as a shopper for me.
- Consider keeping some of these cutie pie travel shopping bags in the glove box of your car in case of emergency.
- Place your goods back in the cart unbagged and just load them straight from the cart into the car
- Pay the price for forgetting and buy one more reusable bag at the check stand.
- Whatever you do, you have to make a decision that disposable bags are just not an option or the pattern will never change.
Buy in Bulk
Most grocery stores and natural foods stores have bulk bins. This offers you not only a reduction in packaging waste, but a reduced price, as well. Apart from bulk bins, purchasing at Costco, ironically, can reduce waste. Buying large containers of a product that you can use over time potentially saves quite a few small plastic bottles. An example of this is their eco-friendly dish soap. While it comes in a plastic bottle, it is a huge volume that lasts me over a year. I have a glass dispenser in the kitchen that I just refill.
Send a Letter to Costco
Costco is one of the largest distributors of organic products in the country and one of the nation’s most influential retailers. They have quite a number of great policies and I like them as a company. They support local and a large percentage of goods in every warehouse has to be sourced in the local area of the store. They provide excellent employee benefits. They have a great return policy for their customers. They bring in organic products in almost every category and they have even funded small organic farms to help keep up with the increased consumer demand for organic goods. Today, I want to highlight that they also care very much about comments. Speaking with one of their employees, I was told that every Costco has a comment box and each comment is actually individually reviewed by management. I was told that comments make a difference and do get consideration.
A few years ago I was a snit about wasteful packaging, so I penned a long note. This is something I especially noticed on small format products that they were trying to increase shelf exposure for. Costco has an extreme amount of involvement in every product on their shelf. They have a team that not only reviews packaging, but also gives design recommendations and oversight for every package in the store. They DO have the ability to reject wasteful packaging and if they hear from enough of us, maybe they will make a policy change.
Give Zero-Waste as gifts
Last year I had a Zero-waste holiday theme. For all of the people I love, I shared some of my favorite waste-reducing products. Perhaps these items might make their lives easier and spread some positive change.
Kick the processed foods
When you are thinking diet I bet you don’t immediately think about how your diet will impact your household trash. It makes sense, of course, but it just is not the first thing that comes to mind. Years ago I was prescribed a healing diet and it changed everything about the way we eat and shop. One of the interesting side effects of cooking almost everything from scratch is that we produce much less household waste. Food packages fill up landfills across the nation. Not only are these product high is waste, but they are usually packed with preservatives and chemicals that are not beneficial to your health. Your diet has an impact not only on your body, but on the environment. Prioritize making a few simple things from scratch and it might result in many positive changes.
Shop Local
One of the side effects of buying local is not only a smaller carbon footprint, but also reduced waste. Most local producers are not packaging and shipping products and often have reusable packages. Each time you buy a jelly in a reusable mason jar, you are reducing that much more packaging waste.
Buy from Farmer’s Markets
Most produce at grocery stores are sold in bulk, so we maybe do not consider the packaging waste in that department. It is not just consumer waste we need to consider, there is also pre-consumer packaging in the system. In order to get the produce to the store, there absolutely is packaging. Everything comes packed in something and produce shippers spend hundreds of thousands each year on packaging and supplies that are disposed of and are now in our landfills. Buying local is a great idea in lots of ways, but there is a big benefit from buying your produce from these small local growers where there is no packaging used at all.
Shop Used
It might go without saying, but thrifting used items actually supports your sustainable mission. Buying used reduces the waste of the item itself, but also the waste in packaging and shipping a replacement item. Also consider the real issues of fast fashion and clothing waste. This is a huge, global problem. For those of us who are particular about our clothing, ThredUp is an online thrift store that offers an unbelievably huge selection of used clothing, much of this designer fashions, through their slick and convenient website and app that shows you just clothing in your size and specifications. While it is not as sustainable as shopping from your local thrift shop, this is so much better than contributing to additional fashion waste. Ebay and Poshmark are also great ways to upcycle and to sell your own pre-loved clothing.
I hope that a few of these ideas might inspire you to incorporate more sustainable options in your own homes!
