12 Ways To Leave Single Use Items Behind

It’s a new year and with the strike of the clock a promise for a fresh beginning starts with a list of New Year’s resolutions. At the top of many people’s lists you’ll find things like exercise more, eat healthier, save money, start a new hobby, or quit a bad habit.

What if this year the bad habit you quit would help us all have a healthier planet? What if this year we all focused on kicking our nasty addiction to single use EVERYTHING? Are you up for the challenge? Here’s a list of 12 single use items that you can leave in 2019. 

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash
  1. Get reusable produce bags.
  2. Bring your own reusable coffee cup.
  3. Bring your own bags for grocery AND retail shopping
  4. Replace single use plastic baggies with reusable ones.
  5. Ditch the cling wrap. Invest in reusable containers with lids or use silicon, cloth, or  beeswax reusable wrap alternatives to replace both plastic cling wrap, and plastic baggies.
  6. Say goodbye to plastic straws. Reusable straws are an inexpensive investment that take up very little space in your kitchen.
  7. Stop using single use water bottles. 
  8. Switch out your paper towels with paperless towels. Find some cute reusable paperless towels you can keep on your counter, and hide your paper towels away for emergencies. Use reusable napkins for meals, rags for bad spills, and clean kitchen towels for drying hands and dishes.
  9. Use concentrated versions of your favorite plant based cleaning products.
  10. Use reusable cleaning supplies like washable mop heads, dusters, and rags instead of disposable options.
  11. Ditch the toxic dryer sheets and replace them with wool dryer balls instead.
  12. Make a reusable travel kit to keep in your car. Include things like containers for leftovers, a utensil set that includes straws, and anything else you might need while eating on the go.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Just think of the positive impact your resolution will have if you pick just one thing to do from this list each month of 2020.

“We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly” 

Anne Marie Bonneau, Zero Waste Chef

 

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