There are more conversations to be had about creating less waste with or without a pandemic so I thought in continuation of yesterday’s article (find it here!) I thought I could come up with another handful of ideas on how to be more eco friendly during a time of extra precautions in the form of single use items for everything. 

 

These ideas are small and specific ways that you yourself can contribute to a more sustainable life. 

 

As I mentioned in my previous article it is extremely difficult to be changing your lifestyle dramatically right now for the sake of the environment. Whether you are back to living at home with a big family or need to take extra precautions when going to the grocery store. Everybody is just trying to get by right now and if some of these ideas don’t fit your lifestyle then continue to practice what is safe for yourself and your family. But without further adieu let’s jump in. 

Using Reusable Bags: A lot of places are now allowing you to use your own bags again even when shopping at big chain stores, so take advantage of that. A major difference between buying cheap, plastic bags at the store and bringing your own is that you know where your bags have been, you can disinfect them when you get home and it creates a lot less waste. 

This is a really good first step in cutting down your waste because it is way too easy to

purchase single use bags and say you will use it again. I feel like everyone has that collection of plastic bags they have accumulated with the intentions of using them for other things, but end up just throwing them out when you get too many. Reusable bags are a great way to scrap that and you probably have some lying around the house from other purchases you have made in the past.

A lot of what it takes to create less garbage is just getting into habits and remembering to bring things with you. Using reusable bags is the perfect example, as you have to get into the habit of taking them with you.

For myself I found the easiest way for me to remember was to purchase roll up reusable bags and just leave them in my purse, but you can also clip them to your car keys or store them in the FRONT of your car where you will see them before leaving your car.

This tip is especially useful if you have a bunch of reusable bags in the trunk of your car with the intentions of bringing them with you into stores but then always forgetting to grab them until you get to the cash register. 

No more plastic bag.⁠
⁠
Even just one reusable market bag can help eliminate hundreds to thousands of plastic bags a year.

Instead of throwing plastic bags in the trash, you just need to roll up the market bag for your next use. pic.twitter.com/aFXJZih7Bg

— nature4mula (@nature4mula) August 21, 2019

Using What You Have: This is a really underrated point about how to be better with the environment, people tend to gloss over it in favour of our consumerist tendencies. 

For example, there was a surge of people trying to create a zero waste lifestyle and a lot would be documenting it on Youtube and Instagram. 

For those who don’t know, “zero waste” means you are producing little to no garbage that would be headed to landfills and instead using products and creating habits that require less natural resources and therefore being better for the planet.

 Anyways, these people would showcase their gorgeous, new stainless steel food containers and bamboo toothbrushes all with the intentions of promoting how it can be cool to be zero waste. But having all these new products really goes against the idea of creating less waste because all of these influencers were not just using their old, regular tupperware containers  and they definitely were not promoting to use what you already have. By doing this it just creates more waste anyways and reinstates our societies needs to be consumers. 

By using what you have instead of searching elsewhere for something new and shiny is the ultimate way to be more sustainable. 

This applies in every other aspect of your life, use up the food you have in the refrigerator before going out and buying new groceries and taking stock of what you have before you do purchase more food (it sounds simple but it happens in my house all the time, I’m sure this sounds familiar to you too!)

Same with clothing (this is something I continue to practice because I love clothes so much).  You don’t need multiple variations of the same shirt, and being mindful of what you already have in your closet before purchasing something new is a way to be more sustainable (it also helps your wallet too).

Buy Secondhand, Sell and Donate: When you do need items and have made the conscious decision to look for a specific piece whether in your closet or in another space in your life, shopping secondhand is an easy and affordable option. This has become so trendy in the last few years, it is now cool to shop secondhand, meaning there are a ton of new ways to find second pieces. There are stores and other platforms that encourage this including thrift stores, curated vintage shops,  apps like Depop and Poshmark and (my personal favourite) Facebook Marketplace where you can literally find anything. 

You never know what you might find… #thrifting #kerrysboutique #newwestminster #vancouver #consignment #charity pic.twitter.com/RM6j85cCfV

— Kerry's Boutique (@Kerrys_Boutique) May 27, 2016

These online platforms have also made it easier to shop secondhand during COVID if going to a thrift store is unsafe for you.

A big point to remember during a pandemic (but also when you buy at any point) is to wash your items once you get them, throw them in the wash or clean them up with a good disinfectant. 

For the opposite of shopping secondhand when you are also no longer needing certain items, the best idea instead of throwing them away is to try to sell or donate them.

Donations may look different these days depending on stores you may choose. Some places accept donations only over the phone and some are not accepting at all. Research the shop before sending everything over.

There are also options to sell items, repurpose them or recycle them as well. Some stores, like London Drugs and Ikea take things that no longer work like blenders,  hair dryers or batteries and recycle them (properly) for you, so you don’t need to add another stop on your outings.   

That is all from me today, I hope these ideas were helpful for you to try to bring more conscious habits to your life.