How You Can Stop Using Single-Use Plastics

Over the past two years, I have become much more aware of the impact that disposable single-use plastic is having on the environment. Most of this awareness comes from my encounters with trash in the wilderness. I am so sad when I make the extra effort to travel to beautiful, natural locations and then see so much non-biodegradable plastic. Motivated by a desire to be a good steward of the amazing Earth that God gave us, I decided to reduce my use of single-use plastics. I know I won't do it perfectly, but even my imperfect efforts can make a difference. So can yours.

Why is Single-Use Plastic a Problem?

Single-use plastic is not intended to be reused. This plastic is intentionally made to be thrown away. One of the biggest problems with single-use plastic is that unlike other forms of trash, these items don't ever seem to disappear. For example, a single plastic bottle takes 500 years to degrade in a landfill. 60 million plastic bottles are used every day, according to container-recycling.org.  Bottles are just one way we use disposable plastic. Where will all this plastic go if we keep using it?

What Single-Use Plastic Products Do We Use Now?
In a Bon Appetit blog article on zero waste, the author suggests that you do a trash inventory to see what waste you create. I did this and it was a little messy but eye-opening. Based on my experiences, here are the most common disposable plastic products I use (I just inventoried the plastics for now):

• plastic packaging (Young Living orders, Amazon orders, other mail orders) 
• Keurig coffee pods
• empty milk and juice bottles
• bottle caps
• empty food jars (nut butter, mayonnaise)
• take-out containers
• drinking straws
• take-out silverware
• take-out coffee and soda cups with plastic lids
• party cups (remember those red cups in college?)
• plastic shopping bags 
• grocery produce bags
• zipper food storage bags
• cling film used to cover bowls 
• trash bags to line my trash can (most RV parks require you to bag your trash)

Ways We Can Reduce Our Use of Plastic

Things like water bottles and plastic silverware are probably the easiest plastics to eliminate in your life. Many of us already have everyday silverware, metal coffee mugs and reusable water bottles in our homes. We just have to think about using them more often.

Harder to eliminate will be all the plastic that has replaced the glass and metal containers in grocery stores. For example, plastic is used for nut butter jars, yogurt containers, medicine bottles, shampoo, conditioner and even to wrap fresh produce. Since I made the commitment to reduce my purchase of disposable plastic, I try to buy things in glass jars instead. These glass jars can be hard to find, but there are still some options.

One use of plastic that I have little control over is the plastic packaging that comes in mail order boxes. This is probably the most difficult to eliminate since companies have their own zero-waste policies. The one thing I can do is to try and buy things at local stores rather than online. This will take more time, but isn't a cleaner planet worth it?

Affordable Products to Replace Disposable Plastics
Even though I can't eliminate the use of all plastics, I am making a commitment to reducing my use of single-use disposable plastic and I invite you to join me. If you are like me, you can't afford to buy a lot of the zero waste products being sold as part of what I see as a trendy movement. However, there are some affordable things we can do to be better stewards and to reduce our use of disposable plastics. Below is the list of some things I did to eliminate my use of disposable plastics:

Food Storage and Take Out Containers

• Put sandwiches in plastic or glass storage boxes or wrap in parchment. My favorite is the Rubbermaid Lunch Blox Kit. The containers snap together with a cold pack to keep your lunch fresh. I've had mine for five years and love them.
• Put leftovers in reusable plastic or glass boxes. 
• Wrap food in foil, wax paper or parchment paper. Mark with a sharpie pen.
• Bring containers with lids to restaurants to take home leftovers. I like to keep an empty Lunch Blox kit in my backpack to take to Disney World. When I order food at the park, I usually eat half a serving and take the rest home. Now I have a better way to do that than by asking for a takeout box.

Straws and Silverware for Eating Out

• To remember not to use single-use plastics when I eat at fast-food restaurants, I made this cute cutlery rolled packet out of a placemat. I use it to store my reusable plastic straws, chopsticks, and regular silverware. I keep this in my purse or put it in my backpack. (In a future post, I will show you how to make your own.) Now, I just need to remember to ask them not to give me any plastics.
• I have a reusable plastic silverware set I bought from Rick Steves that came in a tube. I like to take this set when I go hiking.
• I use regular silverware on picnics. This is one of the most enjoyable changes I've made. It's not that hard to wash them when you're done.  If you are like my mother, you've probably been washing plastic silverware anyway, so why not use your everyday silverware?

Drinking Bottles

• I own two stainless-steel, 17 oz. bottles and love using them. They are the same shape as the disposable water plastic bottles so they easily fit in the cupholders in my car and in my backpack pockets. They close tightly so I can also put one in my purse. Since they are double-walled they don't sweat and my drinks stay cold. I bought mine at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Take-Out Coffee and Soda Cups

• I have two 20 oz. Yeti Rambler Tumblers with really nice magslider lids. These also fit really well in car cupholders. I have had no problem asking coffee shops to use my tumbler instead of their cups. I haven't tried asking fast food places to use the tumbler for my iced coffee, yet.  Have you had any luck asking restaurants to let you use your own drinking mugs? If yes, what places let you? 

Plastic Shopping Bags

• I used to forget to bring reusable shopping bags with me until I found ripstop nylon ones with sewn-in stuff sacks. Two fit easily in my purse for those impromptu trips. For bigger grocery store trips, I keep a few extras in a tote bag in the back of my SUV. I recently bought a few more on Amazon from a company called BeeGreen.  These bags hold up to 50 pounds and are washable. They also stuff into their own corners to make a nice compact carrying case. (Love, love, love these)

Grocery Produce Bags

I hate using those flimsy produce bags, but I also hate just letting my produce roll around in my shopping cart. So, I did some research and discovered a wonderful Irish lady on YouTube (Fairyland Cottage) who made her produce bags from super lightweight muslin. The lightweight muslin doesn't add a lot of weight, so you don't end up increasing the cost of your produce. You and the cashier can also read the product label code when you check out.  I don't have a sewing machine, so I hand-sewed mine using a backstitch for extra strength. These bags are also machine washable.

Let's Make the Commitment to Change
I've only just started to try and eliminate disposable plastics and already I am noticing plastics everywhere.  I know it can begin to feel a little overwhelming and tempting to think that it's impossible to make a difference, but I encourage you to try anyway. After all, isn't this the beach scene you would like to see instead of the first one I posted above?

As Shelbizleee says on her YouTube channel,

"You can't do all the good the world needs, but the world needs all the good you can do."

Additional Resources 
Single-Use Plastics: A Roadmap for Sustainability by The United Nations
How Communities Have Defined Zero Waste by the United States EPA

Do you know other ways to reduce waste?  Want to share some fun tips or other resources with us?  Click on the comment link below and type away, friend. We are all here to learn from each other.