10 Really Easy Ways to Use Less Plastic

There are many easy ways to use less plastic in your everyday life. Doing one or some of these every day can make a difference.

1.  Bring your own reusable shopping bags to the grocery store. According to Forbes, Hawaii and California have statewide plastic bag bans, with other cities in the U.S. having taxes on plastic bag use as of September 2018.
2.  Switch to beeswax or paper food wrap instead of plastic bags for lunches.  Beeswax wrap is washable, reusable, and compostable. It’s also 100% biodegradable.  
3.  Do away with plastic straws. You’ve probably heard this one but it really is easy to do. Try a stainless steel or reusable straw if you can’t do without.
4.  Forgo plastic silverware when getting take-out food and going straight home. It doesn’t work that well anyway.
5.  Refill your liquid soap containers instead of buying a new one each time. Or simply transition to bar soap completely.
6.  Avoid buying plastic water bottles. We all have reusable water bottles at home; we just need to remember to use them more often.
7.  Stop using plastic produce bags. It’s really not necessary; just wash your fruits and vegetables well when you get home. Plus, if you bring your own shopping bags they can go directly in there.
8.  Look for products in cardboard or easy to recycle packaging.  Buying products in these materials encourage companies to move away from using plastics too.
9.  Avoid beauty products using excess amounts of plastic packaging. Many beauty companies are going “package free” or wrapping their products in paper.
10.  Reuse your existing plastics when you can. A plastic grocery bag can be used for an infinite amount of purposes. If recycling isn’t an option, think about how to use a plastic item more than once if you must have them in the first place.