Can a Human Stick to a Single Food
30 Like shooting fish in a barrel Ways To Reduce Your Waste
At that place is a waste matter crisis on our planet today, with plastic everywhere we wait. And it is our responsibility, equally individuals, to practice something about information technology. I have become increasingly aware of my ain personal affect, especially since going vegan and embarking on minimalism, and institute dissimilar ways to make pocket-size but significant changes to my lifestyle to reduce my waste.
Having said that, I'm not perfect. And if you're looking to reduce your waste, endeavour not to beat yourself up if yous attempt and fail, over and over again. It's a battle confronting a organization that doesn't seem to care at all about the waste product we're producing or the impact we're having. Just do your best to reduce in the ways that make sense for your lifestyle. If we were all to do that, we'd make a considerable joint endeavor towards reducing our overall waste material.
That's why I wanted to put together 30 means in which you tin reduce your waste product, very hands. There volition be at to the lowest degree a few things on this list that you can change today to make a divergence to your personal waste footprint.
1. Finish buying stuff
One of the biggest things y'all tin can do to reduce your waste, is to just stop buying so much stuff. When you're buying new things, you're creating demand for that thing, equally well equally creating demand for its journeying of product and the waste matter that comes along with it. Simply saying no to things you don't need, and beingness beholden for what you lot already have is 1 of the biggest steps y'all can take to reducing your waste.
2. Avoid food wrapped in plastic
Sadly most food these days is wrapped in plastic. The Uk alone produces more than than 170 tonnes of waste matter every year, much of which is food packaging. And if yous were to look in your bin right at present, I'm certain a lot, if not most, of it is plastic that was wrapping your nutrient. For me, this is ane of the biggest struggles I am working on in my day-to-twenty-four hours life, as supermarkets embrace everything in plastic. You tin can't always win, but practice your best to seek out foods that aren't wrapped in plastic.
3. bring your own bag
When y'all leave the firm, make certain to bring your own bag. Plastic bags need to exist a thing of the past, and instead nosotros need to all be bringing our own reusable option. I take these really bully cotton bags that are perfect for loose fruit and veg, and I am usually wearing a backpack when I'k out and about so I ever have somewhere to put anything I am buying. I dear these colourful motivational numberless designed in Cornwall. The perfect size for carrying nutrient or shopping home. Remember, if worst comes to worst and you forget, but behave the items! Don't be embarrassed to say no to single use plastic, and use your artillery instead.
4. Store local
Not but is it better to support the local economy, only local markets and stores often apply a lot less plastic to wrap their foods. So get organised, and try planning your weekly store to visit the local farmer's market or greenish grocer's earlier heading to the supermarket. This is how we take been doing information technology for a while at present, and it'southward a great way to find more zero waste options, get bargains on fruit and veg, equally well as experiencing a sense of community from shopping locally.
5. Purchase things in bulk
Look upward online to see if there is anywhere locally that you tin buy foods in bulk. Accept your ain containers, and stock up on the essentials without the extra packaging! I've been buying toilet ringlet in bulk for a while now from Who Gives A Crap .
half dozen. Avert single use items/foods
Endeavour avoiding items like plastic cutlery, straws, plates, cups and single employ food items like pre-packaged salads, sandwiches, dressing, yoghurts etc. These things are easily replaced by reusable, or multi-purpose options, simply by staying prepared and proverb no.
7. Become your own reusable bottle
Plastic bottles can take upward to 450 years to intermission downwardly, and then its more of import than always that we finish buying plastic h2o bottles, and bring our own reusable versions. I have this astonishing water bottle from Contigo which I take with me everywhere. I take my water bottle with me everywhere I go, and just enquire kindly at cafs or restaurants for them to refill it for me, or fill information technology up myself at a refill station. So if y'all're new to the low waste product lifestyle, getting your own water bottle is great place to start. For more than sustainable products bank check out my Zero Waste Products I can't Alive Without blogpost.
8. Reusable cutlery and storage containers
When avoiding single use items, information technology's important to bring your ain! I've had a ready of reusable cutlery for years, and I use them out and about, too equally at home. I also picked upwardly a super handy cutlery fix before my travels (although I ended up losing the spoon, then replaced the cutlery with this set from Kokosnoot Bowls). They're super easy to catch and throw in your handbag when you're heading out, so you lot can avoid plastic spoons and forks. The same goes for containers. Catch whatever containers you already have, throw them in your bag when you know you're going to be eating nutrient out that twenty-four hours that will potentially come in plastic packaging, and kindly inquire for them to apply your container instead. These simple swaps volition very rapidly brand a huge impact on your overall waste product production.
ix. say no straws
It can exist an like shooting fish in a barrel one to forget, but attempt practicing saying no to straws when y'all order a drinkable. As adults, we really don't demand to drink our drinks through straws. So bring your own or simply say no to avoid that extra plastic.
10. Drink loose leaf tea
I but recently made this switch, considering I establish out that teabags have plastic in them! I've been actually enjoying drinking loose leaf tea from a teapot with an infuser, and if y'all potable a lot of tea like me, then that's saving a lot of waste.
11. Thrift shop/charity shop
Ownership secondhand clothes is always improve than ownership new, plus it saves you money. The fast fashion industry is i of the most destructive on our planet, and nosotros're buying more than habiliment than ever before, with the world consuming over lxxx billion pieces of vesture every year. So the solution is to ditch fast fashion and opt for secondhand instead. Side by side time y'all're afterwards a new jumper, jacket or summertime dress, visit your local thrift/charity shop, or look on secondhand apps such as Depop or eBay to see what gems they take (and take hold of yourself a bargain!). Bank check out my guide about How to Shop Sustainable Shopping.
12. Buy secondhand electronics
I recently got my new photographic camera setup for a fraction of the cost simply by buying it secondhand, saving around £500. So similarly to wearing apparel, side by side time y'all're in need of a new electronic device, accept a look around to see what y'all can buy secondhand. You'd be surprised how many people are selling electronics that are every bit good equally new, for a fraction of the cost.
13. Compost your food waste
If you aren't composting, then most of the weight in your rubbish bin is likely coming from nutrient scraps. Unfortunately, when food waste material goes to landfill, it tin can't decay properly and therefore produces methane, a greenhouse gas. If you lot compost, you're therefore reducing these emissions that are going into the surroundings. So if you have a garden, get composting, or if non, see what other solutions there are for you lot. Where nosotros live, they don't collect food waste product, so nosotros rang the council to join a local composting scheme across the city's gardens. We just collect our food scraps, and take it to the compost bins at our local garden to be composted.
14. Don't throw away your food
Approximately one third of all food produce in the world for human consumption every twelvemonth (approx. 1.three billion tonnes) gets lost or is wasted. In the Uk alone we throw away vii million tonnes of food every unmarried year. The average household throws away £470 of food each year. These figures are staggering and put more than emphasis on how much we demand to be making sure our food isn't catastrophe upward in the bin. If you have leftover food, store it in a container to eat the next day; if nutrient is about to go off, freeze it; meal plan your week; don't over-buy on foods you won't eat, and become more prepared and organised when it comes to your nutrient consumption. I often like to practise a pantry or freezer challenge where I effort to articulate out either, and brand meals with the foods that demand to be used up. Food should never be ending upwardly in our bins - and if it is, we need to sit back and retrieve about why and find a solution for it next time.
15. Meal program
As same, repast planning can become a long mode to reducing your food waste product. Becoming organised with what you're going to swallow during the week makes sure you're non over-purchasing on foods that you won't consume, or volition go off, and end up in the bin. Merely spend 10-15 minutes each calendar week sitting downward to repast plan what you're going eat that week, and create a shopping list. You lot tin can even go ane stride further and meal prep your foods to ensure you don't buy plastic-packaged foods when you're out and about!
xvi. Go vegan
Going vegan is one of the most incredible ways to reduce your impact on this earth. Compared to a meat-eater or vegetarian diet, a vegan diet'due south carbon footprint is dramatically lower. Animal agriculture requires massive amounts of land, water, food and energy, therefore making it a leading contributor to global greenhouse emissions (more than the entire ship sector). For example information technology takes more than 2400 gallons of water just to produce 1lb of meat, compared to 25 gallons of water to produce 1lb of wheat. Not to mention the impact of animal farming on the destruction of wildlife, overfishing, deforestation and the depletion of fresh h2o sources. Therefore, ane of the well-nigh direct means you can change your impact on the planet is by changing the food on your plate.
Photo credit: The Carbon Footprint of 5 Diets Compared, Shrink That Footprint
17. Learn to cook and make your own food
I accept lots of videos to assist you larn how to cook your ain succulent vegan food and to avoid getting takeaway. Cooking from scratch will enable you lot to avert the plastic packaging that then often comes with takeaway food, become more bang for your cadet, allow you to prepare food so that less goes to waste, and it'll make your body feel amend too!
18. Utilise silicone mats
Apply these silicone mats instead of single-employ parchment paper or foil. I get asked a lot about them in my videos, and I use it all the fourth dimension for cooking things in the oven!
19. Say no to trends
It can exist tempting to jump on every new tendency in fashion, gadgets or games etc. Whatever your weakness, retrieve nigh whether this is a trend or something you actually want. Ask yourself if you will want this item a year from at present - or will information technology probable exist something that will pass as fast as the fad did?
xx. Recycle
This may seem an obvious point, but there are many people out there still non recycling. Make certain y'all're recycling everything at home, including taking that extra effort to ensure items that aren't collected from your home are taken to recycle at your local dump.
21. Menstrual cups/cotton wool pads
People with periods will use, on average, nearly 10,000 tampons during their lifetime. And so this is i of the beginning areas we tin can look at if nosotros're menstruating each month. I accept non looked back since switching to my moon cup, information technology is the best option I have personally used for my periods - they merely take some getting used to. Not only are they better for the environment, just for me they're a lot less hassle, equally you typically only have to empty them twice a mean solar day, rather than having to alter your tampon or germ-free towel every few hours. Alternatively look into options such as flow underwear, or reusable cotton pads, to reduce the amount of sanitary products that are being thrown away.
22. Repair items earlier buying a new one
Get handy! Before you buy something new to replace that item that has broken, run into if you tin can mend it. Sew up that hole, buy new screws for that gadget, paint that table. Practice any you can practice to set it, and don't go sucked into this throwaway culture.
23. Build you own furniture
Building your own furniture sounds more complicated than it really is. And often, you tin can make the most cute pieces of article of furniture from recycled materials. I made my desk-bound from an old piece of wood that came from a wardrobe, along with some legs that I got on eBay. You can see how I did it in this video (it's very old, so be prepared to cringe). Get artistic - see what erstwhile pieces of furniture you can discover that tin be transformed and upcycled into something useful and beautiful.
24. Employ up the items you already have
Information technology's surprising how long it takes to fully use things up. I have realised this since incorporating minimalism into my life, and watching how just using one moisturiser can last me around half dozen months. So delve into your cupboards and see what you lot can apply upward, before replacing it out of habit. This could be done with toiletries, makeup, food in your pantry, whatever.
25. Keep a budget
This might seem asunder from waste. But going on a budget can really help to reduce the amount we are consuming, and therefore wasting. So accept a think nigh the things y'all want to exist spending your coin on, prepare yourself a budget and aim to stick to information technology. Setting up a structure to your finances will dramatically reduce mindless spending.
26. Abound your ain food
If y'all have a garden or windowsill you can grow y'all own herbs or nutrient in, give it a go! Things like herbs or potatoes are super easy to abound and saves y'all having to purchase it from the supermarket in plastic packaging.
27. Join a vegetable box scheme
Many areas volition take a local veg box scheme where you can get a box of fresh, seasonal vegetables from a local farm, delivered to your door. silicone mats
28. Recycle and reuse nutrient jars for storage and refills
I have an obsession with jars. Every fourth dimension we buy something in a jar from the shops, I will wash it out, sterilise it and re-use it for something new. I honey to use them mainly for storing foods in the cupboards, too as in the fridge. But you can as well use them to make your ain candles; as a pen holder; for your own beauty products; to go on your hair ties and clips in; to potable from etc. The options are honestly endless!
29. Pick upwards after yourself
This may seem obvious, but information technology is alarming the amount of litter I see every day, in my local area and at my local embankment. Make sure to e'er be careful about rubbish you're using, and dispose of it properly. Your waste is your responsibility and nobody else's.
30. Buy reduced items at the supermarket
Oft at the end of the day, supermarkets will have reduced items that will end up in the bin if we don't buy them. So when possible, try to do your next shop during the evening hours when the reduced items have been put out for auction. Very frequently there are things that were on your listing anyway, or that yous could use in your weekly meals.
MY Book: minimal
I hope this list has made a first in helping you start thinking of ways to reduce your waste. I know that information technology can be hard to know where to start when bombarded with overwhelming facts and statistics every solar day. We all want to make a divergence, so I've written a handy and easy-to-follow guide on how to simplify your life and live sustainably.
Handy and easy-to-follow guide. A lot of books on minimal living tend to be preachy, but I loved the kindness Olivia displays. A cute read. Women'southward Fashion
Source: https://www.madeleineolivia.co.uk/blog/30-ways-to-reduce-your-waste
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