Earth, our home, is one of the most beautiful gifts that nature has gifted us. And it is our responsibility to keep it clean, green, and full of beauty for the future generation. However, one of the things that humans use religiously is harming our beautiful home- plastic.
Yes, plastic waste has been on the rise for ages, but now it has reached a catastrophic level harming marine life, leading to climate change and pollution. Recent survey shows that we are producing over 3000 tons of plastic. We understand that plastic has few valuable uses. However, most people use disposable or single-use plastic, which takes years to break down. Also, few of this plastic waste doesn’t even find itself in a trash can, slowly filling the land field.
Do we give up then? Not a chance! We can win the war against plastic and make our home clean again. It doesn’t even require massive changes. A few lifestyle changes are all we need to make the earth free of plastic.
On that account, here are six ways to beat plastic pollution.
1. Use jute or cloth bags instead of plastic bags
Whether it is going grocery shopping or to the market to buy vegetables, it is essential to carry a bag of your own. If you do not carry, you will end up getting groceries in a plastic bag. Also, you will throw it away at the end of the day.
The best thing for everyone is to carry a cloth bag or jute bag. They are convenient as they are sturdy and will not break due to the heaviness of the things inside the bag. Also, they are better for the environment, as you can wash them and reuse them.
2. Carry your own bottle
Whenever you leave the house, do not forget to carry a water bottle with you. Finding water at stores is not challenging, but you get a plastic bottle, and it is not great. Most of the time, these water bottles fill up the landfills increasing plastic pollution.
The better thing is to carry a bottle from home- stainless steel or other sturdy materials. You can fill it up with filtered water from anywhere and can even put cucumber slices or mint in it for flavor.
3. Say goodbye to disposable plastic utensils
Every one of us is guilty of using disposable plastic utensils like forks or plates or so on. They add to the plastic waste, and the spoons and forks can sometimes break. When that happens, finding the small pieces to recycle becomes challenging.
The best thing you can do is switch the plastic with reusable utensils. You can find tons of them online at affordable prices.
4. Use biodegradable coffee pods
Coffee pods are the way so many people prefer to drink coffee now. It is convenient, super-quick, and comes in numerous flavors. What more? It makes an exact cup, which reduces the wastage of water and coffee.
However, the plastic pods or capsules posed a serious challenge as it was difficult to recycle them. It raised the question regarding how environment-friendly was the coffee pod?
Fortunately, manufacturers understood the concern regarding plastic pods, and thus, have switched to manufacturing biodegradable coffee pods in Australia.
These pods are easy to recycle and don’t take much energy or money to do so as well. If you are into coffee pods, it’s time to switch to biodegradable coffee pods.
5. Repurpose plastic items
There are few plastic items that we all get when we buy groceries or so. Instead of throwing them out, repurpose them. For instance:
A plastic tub/container can be incredible for growing vegetables or herbs in your home.
A plastic pod can be used for multiple DIY projects, just check the internet.
6. Say no to single-use coffee cups
Whenever you visit your local café, the cup from which you drink that delicious java is not recyclable. It ends up in the landfill piling on the waste. The alternative is to switch to reusable coffee cups that most high-end cafes are providing.
Or, if they allow, you can carry a cup from home or start brewing coffee at home with ease using pods.
Take the initiative now and start making these changes. As the saying goes, Change begins with you. Who knows? You may motivate others to do the same!