stay alert when it comes to bottled water, take out drinks and straws
If you play “I spy with my little eye” game at a busy intersection, you’ll never run out of bottled water and plastic cups to spy on. It’s so convenient, so cheap, so available that we drink from them as if it’s not a big deal. You might be like me who make a conscious decision to not buy one, but man, I still somehow end up with one in my hand now and then. Stay alert, bring your own cup and say no to free bottled water!
swap disposable razor with safety razor
This one is not just for the environment, once you are hocked with safety razor, you will save a fortune over the years ($20 CAD for 100 double-edge safety blades VS $33 CAD for 4 disposable razor cartridges, you do the math)
swap Ziploc bags with reusable food containers
I used to zip through my ziploc bags so fast that I needed to reuse the ones that are not so dirty. It got me thinking why not just using reusable food containers to start with. I got a set of 24 glass containers in various sizes from Costco, and never lay my eyes on ziploc bags again. My next challenge is to bring these containers to buy fish/meat without feeling judged.
swap plastic bag with reusable tote (dah!)
stop reaching for the produce bag at grocery store
If you observe people in grocery store, you’ll find them reaching out to the free produce bag whenever they are about to pick up vegetables, fruits or spice. I used to be one of them until I realize I don’t need to put the tomatoes in a produce bag before putting them into my cart. It was liberating!
do you really need a garbage liner?
Guess what happened to the produce bags that I used to get from the grocery store? They became my garbage bin liners. I have 3 garbage bins and 1 produce bin which I empty twice a week at least, together this will consume 416 bags in a single year. After I stop getting these free produce bags, I stop using garbage liners. Now I empty them directly in the outdoor garbage bin and give them a good rinse and spray. Again, liberating!!
wipe your paint brushes and palette before rinsing
If you paint like I do, you might also contemplating on the most eco-friendly option to dispose art supplies. If you paint with acrylic, make sure you wipe off excess paint on the brushes and palette before running them under water to reduce the plastic particles getting into the water system. If you are really hard core, you can install filters in the drain to catch more plastic particles.
try shampoo bars
I wish I know about this earlier, but I did not know shampoo come in solid form until a few years ago. Now my go to shampoo bars are from LUSH, they are compact, naked and lather just as great, and I can travel with it without worrying about the size or weight. Liberating!!!
advocate for plastic-free swags
Nine out of ten times, I was handed with swags at conferences, corporate events and vendor meetings. They are mostly cheaply made plastic items like pins, stickers, pens and phone accessories, which will likely to end up in the garbage in a few weeks. If you have the power to influence this trend, do something! Stop ordering and giving out these wasteful plastic swags at your events. If you really want to give something with your company’s logo, consider something consumable (cupcakes!), reusable (decent water bottles!), or an experience (free ticket to the next event!).
think critically about the “recyclable” or “bio-degradable” statement
Sometimes we are ok with single used items as soon as we hear they are “recyclable” or “bio-degradable”, but have you thought about what’s the percentage of recyclable single used cups are actually been recycled? Who separates them from the garbage bin? Which companies recycles these? What’s the cost of recycling? How long does it take? How much man power, electricity and water does it take to recycle? Is there a market for the recycled raw material?
Think critically about what’s been said, research what’s been done. Maybe then you’ll want to eliminate single use plastic regardless if it’s recyclable or not.
buy bulk and do refills
Buying bulk will likely reduce the waste on transportation and packaging, but it’s definitely not accessible nor affordable to everyone. More and more refill stores are opening across Canada, do what you can to align with your lifestyle!