What do you do to reduce your use of single use plastics?
I really love the idea of reducing single use plastics in my life. What have you done to successfully reduce or eliminate it?
I am finding that there are things that I can replace stuff with but they don’t tend to work as well. If I can get like 90% efficacy out of a more eco friendly replacement then I’m good, but it’s been more like 50% so far.
A great way is by charging for volume of trash produced. My city works that way (pay per bag) and we produce very little trash (sometimes not even filling a trash bag in one week). It also makes you really consider buying something when you include the potential cost of throwing it away, if it is not reusable.
If plastic grocery bags could be considered single use, then I think I have an interesting method to share.
Since I was young, probably in the 2nd grade or so, my mom and I were trying this project where we’d take plastic bags and cut them into strips. We’d then feed these into her sewing machine, which used one of its functions to stretch the plastic until it was about the same with as a thin strand of rope or thick yarn. We’d quite literally roll them into balls of plastic yarn.
She’d then knit them into all sorts of things. Drawstring bags, coin purses, and her favorite- tote bags. They were very pretty and had unique feel to them as well. The best I could describe it was it felt like a fake leather purse, but more bumpy due to being knit. It might not be the most efficient method of reducing single use plastic waste, but given that we still have the bags we made back then, I’d say we did a pretty good job of keeping them out of the landfill!
Knitters and crocheters call that “plarn”. But I’ve not heard of anyone feeding it through a sewing machine first. We just roll up the strips. There’s a way to cut the bag so that it’s one long continuous strip.
A popular use for this material besides making reusable shopping bags is to make sleeping mats for homeless persons.
Edit: meant to say that I find the sewing machine use fascinating and will see if Google can shed more light on how to go about it and what machines it can/can’t be done with.
Not sure where you are but there are many “refill” shops around me where they sell bulk soap, cleaning products, etc. Which I love and have been using for years.
There’s similarly places that sell food in bulk and you can just bring a reusable bag/container and get the basics like flour, sugar, seeds, snacks I’ve even seen like margarine and salad dressings at some places. There’s the bulk Barn in Canada and it’s pretty affordable
I try to buy only glass or metal Tupperware, avoid using Ziploc bags. They sell reusable sandwich bags now too which are still plastic but much more reusable.
I always have a cup or two with me for coffee and collapsible metal straws. When I used to go to restaurants pretty often, I would bring my own takeout containers.
The basics like bring my own grocery bags and I also have little produce bags to replace the plastic ones from the store, or sometimes I’ll just go without a bag for something like onions or oranges.
I still feel like I could be doing much better but it’s really hard, especially if I’m buying easy to make food rather than raw ingredients. I do my best to support local places that try harder to provide eco-friendly alternatives, and with the rising costs of groceries, I’ve honestly found a lot of these places have stayed the same which is still more than the big grocery stores, but not really by that much anymore.
My wife carries a fold-up nylon shopping bag in her handbag everywhere we go. Useful in a surprising number of situations.
We’ve switched from petroleum plastic to cornstarch plastic bin liners in our kitchen. They’re not as sturdy (basically they start to break down the moment they get wet) but they’re solid enough to carry a week’s cooking waste out to the big bin.
Absolutely nothing other than voting. Any individual “reducing their plastic use” is just a drop in the ocean. The only meaningful change is through legislation or some economic situation. The only positive outcome of reducing your own plastic use is that warm and fuzzy feeling that you get from believing that you are doing something good.
However, I do not want to discredit that warm and fuzzy feeling. It brings people joy, and I think that is great.
People have offered very going advice, something not mentioned is: buying larger containers for any plastic related things I do need to buy. If I’m buying dish soap, i’m purchasing a larger container to reduce the amount of plastic I’m purchasing per unit of product. Meats and fish generally use plastic packaging. I eat a lot of beans which can be placed in your own packaging at many regular grocery stores, and generate less green house gasses then meats and fish.
Most people wouldn’t consider these “single use plastic” in the same way that a plastic baggie is. But I always make an effort to get glass containers for things like oil whenever possible
Health related items are probably one of the few appropriate times to use plastic. I think that’s a pretty common opinion. The medical world uses a lot of plastic to saves lives, compared to cocacola which uses single use plastic to save money and make us unhealthy
If you can find one in your location we have been trying to shop more at a package free stores. We have found that the cleaning products which we have purchased are generally similar in price and work just as well if not better than we used to use. After living in a city that charged for bags at the grocery store we have gotten used to using a reusable bag for all grocery trips even though lots of items still have the single use plastics in packaging. For those we try to reuse that plastic as small garbage can liners or other uses but most get thrown away.
We have been trying to reduce our consumption in general (the high costs of goods has helped with this). We have been trying to only purchase the high quality long last version of any item instead of the cheapest one available. This has been difficult since the high quality is more expensive and its difficult to find what items are actually worth it instead of a brand name. Overall it difficult but being mindful of it has been helpful
A lot of the takeout places near me are exclusively handing out cardboard and biodegradable based utensils. Which is the better solution systemically imo
We replaced liquid laundry detergent with powered , replaced shampoos and soaps in bottles with bar soap etc. And bought netting bags to replace plastic bags
I started using those “eco sheets” for my laundry and they work just as well. The big win is the container is the size of your hand and is made of cardboard
We switched to these also, and they work great. We also tried this with dishwasher detergent, though, and didn’t have as much luck. Maybe it was the brand we chose.
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