As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, we thought it would be fitting to share some of our favorite ways to incorporate sustainability-improving habits! We often think that being sustainable means making a huge change to your routine but, the truth is small steps can lead to a big impact! Here are our five favorite (and easy) ways to promote sustainability at home.
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Reusable Silicone Bags
Ditch the single-use plastic bags and upgrade to silicone reusable bags! We are big fans of bags like Stasher Bags which come in multiple sizes and can hold dry and wet goods. The amount of single-use plastics that end up in our oceans every year is growing exponentially and this is a small (and cost-effective) way to reduce your plastic-use footprint. Bonus: they come in super fun colors and a portion of every Stasher sold goes straight to high-impact nonprofits like Surfrider that are dedicated to preserving and rehabilitating our oceans.
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Mesh Produce Bags
Investing in a set of mesh bags makes those green plastic bags in the produce section a thing of the past! Let’s say 500 people a day purchase produce at the grocery store and each person uses 3 plastic produce bags. That’s nearly 1,500 plastic bags that are now going to end up in landfills or our oceans, just from one store! YIKES. Our answer? Mesh produce bags. These reusable, washable bags also work for bulk bin items like rice, nuts, and coffee!
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Reusable K-Cups
If you’re like us, we love our Keurig but we don’t love all of the waste that those little k-cups produce. These reusable k-cups are so easy to use, reduce plastic waste drastically and BONUS: you can use whatever coffee you want! Just fill a pod with your favorite ground coffee and pop it in your machine. Rinse after use and it’s good to go when that next caffeine craving strikes!
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Reusable Napkins
Swap paper napkins for meals and invest in some fun linens! Paper towels are one of the leading examples of paper waste and we often forget they come from trees. Our favorite new fix? Investing in some fun table linens to use for mealtime and saving paper towels for the spills or cleaning needs. We love these napkin sets from Anthropologie.
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Upgrade to Non-Toxic Cleaners
It’s easy to forget that the cleaners we use in bathtubs and sinks ultimately end up in our water supply and oceans. Not to mention, the plastic packaging and waste that comes along with every single-use spray bottle. We are big fans of using non-toxic, plant-based cleaner concentrates that can be mixed at home and used with glass bottles. Concentrates allow for customization based on needs and can last much longer than a single bottle of cleaner! Branch Basics and Grove Collaborative offer non-toxic, eco-friendly concentrates and glass spray bottles.
If you’re wanting to set out on a journey toward sustainability, work through the list above as a starting point! Small steps lead to a big impact and it starts with all of us. Happy Earth Day!
