How Can You Reduce Your Daily Plastic Use?

Plastic is a material that you can find everywhere and that you use almost every minute. It is found in all kinds of objects, especially in packaging, building materials, accessories and even in clothing and some cosmetics. However, it is possible to reduce your daily plastic use, and today we are going to take a look at how.

Why is it important to reduce your plastic use? In this article we will tell you more about it and we will also suggest some practical measures that you can put into practice every day.

Plastic and pollution

According to the well-known ecological organization Greenpeace, the oceans and seas are flooded every year with the equivalent of 1200 times the weight of the Eiffel Tower in plastic. This amount is not the only problem, it is only part of it.

In fact, the most disturbing aspect of plastic is that once thrown away, it takes a very long time to decompose. For example, it can take up to 500 years for a plastic bottle to break down.

Given that the global production of plastic is still growing to millions of tons per year and we continue to buy all kinds of products and throw away the packaging everywhere, the amount of waste is not going to stop growing.

The vast majority of plastic eventually ends up in seas and oceans around the world, severely damaging these ecosystems. The impact is dramatic.

While recycling plastic products is a good step to reduce plastic waste, in reality it would be better to reduce your daily plastic use.

How can you reduce your daily plastic use?

The measures we are going to go through are very practical and easy to apply. They help you to use less plastic products without much effort and without feeling like you are missing something, such as:

• Trays
• kitchenware
• bags
• and so on

Use cloth bags instead of plastic bags in the supermarket

In recent years, more and more countries have made this very important measure mandatory. Stores are no longer allowed to give customers free plastic bags. If a customer asks for it, he has to pay for it. The idea is to create awareness of the problem in order to help reduce plastic consumption.

In addition, this measure helps people get used to bringing their own bags (made of fabric or other materials) with them. These bags can be used more often, instead of throwing them away immediately after using them once like they used to.

Cloth tote bags have become very popular and because of that you can find bags with all kinds of designs. Monochrome, stamped, smooth, and so on. There are designs for every style!

However, even more is being done to reduce the plastic problem. A growing number of countries have also announced a ban on lightweight and ultra-light, non-biodegradable plastic bags.

It is important to know that these bags are the most toxic. This measure is being introduced not only in Spain, but also in countries such as Italy and France. The ultimate goal is to implement the ban across the European Union.

It is best to use a cloth bag every time you go to the supermarket. In this way you reduce your impact on the environment. This is the best choice both from the point of view of saving money by not having to pay for plastic bags and from an environmental point of view.

Buy individual items and avoid excess packaging

Prepackaged products contain a lot of plastic (trays, wrappers, etc.) that ends up in landfills or the oceans. If you think about it carefully, it is also cheaper to buy individual products than to opt for prepackaged products. So you can buy exactly the amount you need and you can choose the best products.

When you weigh your fruit, don’t put it in a plastic bag. Instead, stick the sticker with the price of the scale directly on the shell. Then you can put it in your carrying case to take it home.

Avoid cleaning products in plastic bottles

It is best to use natural homemade options for cleaning. This way you avoid having to throw away the plastic bottle when the product is finished.

For example, people have always used certain ingredients to wash and clean objects such as soap, vinegar, and baking soda.

These are more environmentally friendly products than most commercial cleaners. This way you avoid throwing away too much plastic and you clean your house just as well.

Check the ingredients in your cosmetics

In case you didn’t know, many creams and other beauty products contain plastic microbeads. These are made of nylon, polyethylene and polypropylene and are commonly used in creams and exfoliants.

Microbeads are very harmful to the environment as they can be easily mistaken for food by animals. If they eat too much plastic, they can eventually die from this.

For this reason, it is better to choose natural cosmetic products that do not contain plastic ingredients. Another great idea is to make your own homemade creams.

Recycle to reduce your daily plastic use

Separating waste is very simple. In one container you can store everything made of paper and cardboard, in another plastic and aluminum and in another glass. There are countries (such as Switzerland) where they are a bit more specific and separate plastic into 3 groups:

• PET bottles
• aluminium
• other types of plastic

According to information from Eurostat from Spain, only 29.7% of waste in that country is recycled. This means we are a long way from a general understanding of the benefits of recycling.

Conclusion

By reducing your plastic use, you significantly minimize your negative impact on the environment of our planet. While you may not see the results right away, your actions are well worth the effort, and you should continue to do them every day.

In this way you reduce the amount of discarded plastic and the oceans will be cleaner in the future. In addition, you also prevent plastic production from causing more and more CO2 emissions.

If you change just a few habits, you can efficiently and effectively reduce your plastic use. You just need to think of clever ways to reuse the objects you already have. There are already a lot of tips on the internet!