Six Sustainable Swaps
SIX SUSTAINABLE SWAPS
Making small changes matters. Here are easy, no-brainer ways to swap what you usually do with a sustainable alternative.
It is super easy to love on the earth. Here's how:
1. Bring your own produce bags to the store. Plastic bags will be here for 100s if not 1000s of years. Even the compostable plastic bags are not a necessity. Use fewer resources at all times. Bring your own cloth (or reused plastic bags!) from home. There are thin cloth string bags you can purchase or simple patterns for sewing your own produce bags.
2. Collect your food scraps and compost. You don’t need a big yard...you don’t even need a yard...to compost your food scraps. Throwing away apple peels, eggshells and coffee grounds is passé. You could purchase a kitchen countertop composter but you could also just reuse a plastic container (think ice cream or yogurt) to begin simple composting habits.
3. Use refillable cleaning spray bottles. Gone are the days where you have to purchase an array of cleaning supplies in thick, toxic plastic containers. You can buy one and reuse it for...probably the rest of your life. Not only do some earth-friendly brands offer refillable liquids but you can also make your own planet-lovers cleaning supplies.
4. Choose glass for kitchen storage. Glass is the new black when it comes to containing and saving your leftovers. Plastic wrap doesn’t serve and ends up in landfills or the throats of the earth’s wildlife. Plastic containers seem good but they’re brittle, soft and leach toxins into your environment overtime. Glass, metal, cast iron...these are the precious materials to replace plastics.
5. Walk, Bike, Bus, (Skip!). Sometimes a sustainable swap is as easy as choosing to walk, bike, bus (or how about skipping?) for an errand or a meet-up. True, opting out of taking a car is not always an option, but a short trip swap to a different form of transportation is great for the earth.
6. Cloth napkins! Tres chic. There is something special about cloth napkins...it always ups the party vibe. And it channels pleasure even at your weeknight dinner table with the family. Paper napkins are really unnecessary when you can choose cloth. Purchase cloth or make your own. If you have a ready supply, every meal gets an added touch of comfort.