My final post in this week’s series on easy ways to go green:
Ditch
as much single-use plastic – plastic bags, plastic bottles, plastic cups, and
straws – as you can, immediately.
Because
of how often single-use plastics– straws, plastic grocery bags, etc.– have been
(rightfully) maligned in the media, I almost left out this tip. In certain
municipalities, plastic bags are now essentially illegal or cost at least 10
cents per bag. Since plastic bags have been so heavily disincentivized in most
of the places I’ve lived in these past few years, I’ve forgotten in general
that some people still use them. Please, if you live in a backwards location
that still doesn’t have this ordinance, do yourself and the planet a favor and
ditch the damn things.
My
favorite alternative for carrying groceries is a simple backpack. If you’re
walking or biking to the grocery store, which should be your ultimate goal
instead of driving, a backpack like a Jansport is wholly sufficient to store a
carton of milk, a bag of bread, some boxes of pasta, and an assortment of fruit
and vegetables. There’s really no reason to use those single plastic bags. Try
it out for a week and see if you miss the ugly sight of a plastic bag in your
home.
If
you like, you can buy an actual reusable shopping bag, but I don’t personally
use those. They’re nice to have if you prefer to carry a bag on your shoulder;
I like to carry my stuff on my back.
Plastic
water bottles, plastic cups, straws, etc. go without saying, and they’ve been
talked to death in the media so I won’t rehash it. As an alternative, I
recommend storing your water in a thermos like those mentioned in my coffee cup
post. I have two thermoses: one for coffee, and one for water. The water one is
a regular athlete or gym style Camelbak, around $10. Even an old Tostitos jar
with a screw-on lid is a good vessel for carrying H2O. I’ve recently been reusing a small, tall, narrow jar that
used to contain olives as my primary water-carrying vessel. Or, if you’re cool,
take a swig out of one of those hip-flasks.
That
concludes this week’s series.
Why
not make a list of what you’ve already
done, and see what other strategies you can easily implement?
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