We all know how bad plastic is for the Earth, and now it’s our turn to do a better job of reducing plastic. It’s easy to feel hopeless in the ongoing war on climate change, especially in the fight against single-use plastic. We are all guilty of using plastic in our daily lives, but reducing plastic is not as difficult as it sounds. We hear you think, “How can someone like me make a difference?” You can and easily make a difference with the following plastic-free travel and reduction of plastic tips!
1. Bring your shopping bag
Plastic bags are usually used for a few minutes before being thrown away and then take hundreds of years to decompose. Most of us have reusable bags, but the challenge is remembering to bring them with us when we need them. An easy way to remember is to always have a reusable bag at the front door, in your purse, laptop bag, coat pocket, glove box… wherever it’s convenient. If you do forget, instead of accepting a plastic bag on autopilot, see if you can manage without it. Often we can simply carry the items lost.
2. Carry a reusable water bottle
Many studies have shown that, in addition to being less environmentally friendly, bottled water is less healthy than tap water, despite all the marketing efforts of bottled water companies to convince us otherwise. Bottled water is much less regulated than UK tap water, so when we buy bottled water we have much less confidence in the quality of the water we drink. Meanwhile, toxins from plastic water bottles have been found to end up in the water, especially when the bottle is used more than once or has ever been left in direct sunlight or heat, which may have happened during shipping. The healthiest and most sustainable option is to carry the refillable water bottle that you fill with tap water at home, work, the gym, or even your local coffee shop.
3. Say no to disposable straws & cutlery
Disposable plastic cutlery and straws are among the top culprits of plastic pollution. Like plastic bags and bottles, disposable utensils and straws are typically only used once, for a couple of minutes before being thrown away and then littering our cities and fields, piling up in landfills, or ending up in our waterways. and oceans. However, it’s very easy to get into the habit of bringing your cutlery and leaving the set in the car. There are many options and you don’t have to spend money. You can simply take a stainless steel knife, fork, and spoon (or chopsticks!) from the cutlery drawer at home and store them rolled up in tissue paper with an elastic band around it. In addition, you can buy bamboo cutlery in a travel bag, a fork, or stainless steel cutlery in a travel case – whatever suits you so you have it when you need it.
4. Check and buy the right Deodorant
The compressed gases contained in the aerosol cans and plastic containers of all standard deodorants are extremely harmful to the environment. Solid deodorants or powders are the perfect replacement for plastic-free travel. Solid deodorant is like a natural bar of soap that you simply rub under your arms and lasts much longer than spray deodorant.
5. Reduce plastic and get a shaving razor
Plastic disposable razors often go unnoticed in the war against the plastic reduction, with more than 2 billion disposable razors ending up in landfills every year. To combat this, buy a reusable safety razor that is free of plastic and made from sustainable materials. While the price might be a little intimidating at first, the blades are very affordable!
6. Stop using your Cotton Swabs
A few years ago, a terrifying photo of a seahorse clinging to a cotton swab in the ocean went viral. Q-tips may seem harmless, but they are bad for the environment, especially since they are almost entirely made of plastic. Fortunately, Europe has agreed to ban cotton swabs by 2021, but we can all get by with the bamboo alternative.
7. Harmful Menstrual Products
Menstrual products are the environment’s worst plastic nightmare. For hygiene reasons, they are not recyclable and end up in landfills along with 12 billion sanitary pads in the US alone. Switching to a menstrual cup means you need to change it less often, as it can be left on for about 12 hours, it’s made of comfortable silicone (which doesn’t release harmful toxins like plastic), and it can be reused for up to 10 years. It may seem like a small investment, but 10 years of tampons and pads will cost you a lot more.
8. Replace your sunscreen
Our sunscreen is killing corals in the ocean. Yes, conventional sunscreens contain two harmful chemicals: oxybenzone and octinoxate. Coral reefs produce almost 50% of the world’s oxygen, so taking care of them is extremely important. In 2019, Hawaii even banned these harmful sunscreens entirely!
9. Take part in a beach clean up
Unless we are traveling in a landlocked country, chances are we’ll never be far from the ocean. We were lucky! Unfortunately, the world’s beaches are crumbling under the weight of the plastic waste problem. Although this problem needs to be addressed at the root, we can help a little by taking part in the organized cleaning of the beaches. Alternatively, always carry a bag with you and try to collect plastic wherever you see it: find out where the nearest beach is being cleaned or organize it yourself.
10. Say ‘No’ to hotel mini toiletries
Being pampered in a beautiful hotel and enjoying all the amenities is great, but using miniature plastic toiletries is not. Bring your bar of soap, shampoo, and toothpaste so you don’t have to use hotel toiletries.
Take care of the above, so that you can help heal the earth!
