I am not a resolutions girl. I don’t trust myself on the follow through. Can you relate?

But I know when I need to make a change.  Something that has been weighing heavy on my heart the last few years is the amount of single use plastic that is in my home. I have done a lot of thinking and research and I realize now how important it is to do your part. So this year I started being more mindful of my environmental impact. 

I know I was one of so many of us who wonder: how are my actions really going to matter?

I am one person.  But you know what? I am here to tell you ONCE again what you already know.  One person CAN make a difference. And every environmentally friendly motivated task you engage in is helping to reduce your negative impact on the earth.  I am sad to say that I am SO SO very far from zero waste, in fact, that is not my intent. I know that if I try to make too drastic a change, I won’t be able to maintain it. So, for now; it’s just small changes.

anecdote time:

At the end of the year, I was sitting at my desk at work, and I had a wrapper of some sort to put in the garbage, without a second thought I threw it under the desk into the bin and it bounced right back on to my foot.  I looked up from grabbing it off the floor and realized my garbage was full of single use coffee cups, ziplock baggies, and styrofoam boxes from lunches I had bought.

I don’t know why it took me so long to notice, just how much crap I was putting into the landfill in a week.  

You see, we have a cleaning service that comes to clean the office, once a week and they do not recycle.  They have been known to combine both recycling bags and garbage and put it out in the dumpster. So we kind of don’t bother trying. I know. I hate even saything that.

Okay so back to my garbage bin; I was actually in awe.  In the name of convenience, laziness and shear disregard for my surroundings I was taking part in a much bigger problem.  And I came to, of sorts.

I did a tiny bit of research and I realized the biggest impact I could make is by making changes in the daily repetitive tasks.  Here is a list of things I have done.

Small swaps to go eco-friendly

1. Switch from single use straws to metal straws for repeated use – I carry around a metal straw and even one that is thicker for bubble tea.
2. Invest in a reusable coffee cup – most coffee cups cannot be recycled because of the inner wax lining. So annoying. I have a cute ceramic one I love.  It gets really heavy to carry around, but there are lighter stainless steel travel mugs that are awesome.
3. Invest in a reusable water bottle – plastic water bottles are my pet peeve.  I don’t understand them. There are so many cute options for reusable bottles, go get one. I have mine personalized, because I love and use it constantly.
4. Opt out of getting utensils when you get your meal delivered – Often we are in places of work or at home when we get our meals delivered.  Consider opting out of getting plastic cutlery so you waste less. I have a set of cutlery, a coffee mug and a drinking cup in my drawer at work – always ready to chow down!
5. Make your lunch at home – I have started to make lunch 4 times a week and packing it in glass containers.  I also prepare my snacks so they have minimal to no packaging. I get a lot of practice packing my son’s waste free lunches so, this was a no brainer for me, yet took the longest to change about myself. (More on this another time.)
6. Use glass containers and mason jars instead of plastic – there is nothing more portable than a mason jar. I have packed lunch, left over food, pantry items all in glass mason jars.  They are easy to clean, they don’t transfer food odours and you can stick them in the fridge, microwave and wash right after eating without using extra things.
7. Reusable Totes – this one is a pretty big one.  Say no to NEW plastic bags. But also realize that cotton totes are really not that much better.  (Click here to read why) We all have a bin that collects all our single use poly bags and what I found in my research was that it was best to use those bags up until you just can’t use them anymore. And then recycle them.  The amount of energy and water required to make cotton totes would require you to use it thousands of times before the carbon footprint is accounted for.
8. Washable makeup wipes – I had not realized just how much I was using wipes. Through the magic of the internet, I was able to find some reusable wipes that you use and wash in your laundry.  They are working out so well, and because they are soft on my skin, I feel a lot better using them. 
9. Old T-shirts double as cleaning towels – what started as a lazy habit of mine.  I would grab a dirty t-shirt from my laundry basket to dust furniture and then throw it back in the clothing pile, now I see was pure genius. I mean I have a lot of clothes I no longer use, that are in no shape to donate; read: sleeping clothes (comfier with holes, I promise).  Just cut them up into squares and use them to clean the counters and dust and wipe down surfaces. The fabric is amazing for absorption and you can throw it in the wash, no problem!
10. TMI – Menstrual Cup – This is my next switch.  I have read up on it and OMG. Apparently it is life changing.  Imagine not feeling the wet diaper feeling, or having to buy a huge pack of pads/tampons every month, good for 5 years, they are a really great product to switch to. 

A few things to consider as you take the plunge into a more eco-friendly lifestyle:

• Make an intention.  If you consciously make the intention to be mindful of your environmental consumption, it will be a priority and a guiding factor in all your decisions.
• Look at your trash bin.  No seriously, look at your garbage can, see what things you are throwing out and analyse your purchases.  
  • Are you throwing out mostly…
    • Take out containers? – eat out less.
    • Coffee cups? – reusable coffee cup
    • Water bottles? – reusable bottle
    • Food waste? – Compost
    • Pads? – reusable/menstrual cup
• Figure out what changes you can make. Prioritize what you want to focus on.  
  • If you want to reduce food waste – repurpose waste, compost
• Use up before you buy the eco-friendly version. There is no harm in using up the products you already have.  I mean it’s pretty silly if you waste the stuff you have, to buy all eco-friendly products.  That’s pretty much contributing to the over consumption problem we have right now.
• One step at a time. Going eco-friendly will happen in stages.  The worst thing is when you start something and cannot commit to it.  Make small changes and be mindful of the options.
• Be aware. Take your time to research (I had no idea cotton totes aren’t that great) because being Eco-friendly is trending right now and you don’t want to fall prey to companies that use it as a marketing tactic.

I am learning.  I am still wasteful, I feel I have very far to go.  But I am so much more conscious of my actions. As I sit here writing this post, I look down at my work space. I have a water bottle, a coffee mug, I have a notes app open, a lunch bag with glass containers, with food I have cooked myself.  And when I look at my garbage can, I see that the cleaners can skip my bin today. That to me is a great feeling.

Thank you for reading,