Friday 25 March 2016

Weekly Green Tips #1 - Disposables to Go


Over the next year I plan to arm you with 365 green tips that will help us all to reduce our negative impact on the world.  Each Friday I will post 7 ideas in a post called Weekly Green Tips with a different theme each week.  Some tips won't apply to you but I am sure you'll be able to do some of the others.   On our own it is difficult to see if the changes we implement actually make a difference but when undertaken by hundred and thousands of us small changes build up into big, positive change.  So please, do visit the blog every Friday and see what you can do to help make the world a better place.



Week 1 - 7 Disposable items we don't need


The world now seems full of disposable items (far more than my list) yet their convenience comes with a price.  Once you've chucked it in the bin out of sight is easily out of mind but please, stop and think where it goes.  Landfill sites are rapidly filling up and whilst incineration may reduce things to ash, this ash can be toxic and the burning of rubbish can give off greenhouse gases.  Better, surely, to switch to reusable items:

1.  Tissues - especially mini packs

Ditch paper tissues for ever and use good old handkerchiefs.  They'll easily slip in with your bed linen wash and save so much paper and packaging being chucked away.

2.  Disposable Razors

Over 2 billion razors are thrown away every year and I cannot even imagine what that amount looks likes but I know it's a lot.  Switch instead to an electric razor (these are now available with solar chargers) or razors with replaceable blades. Or grow a beard!



3.  Bottled water

Since when did bottled water become such an apparent necessity?  Americans used about 50 billion plastic water bottles in 2015 yet only 23 percent of these were recycled leaving 38 billion water bottles ending up in landfill.  San Francisco has been the first city to ban bottled water in it's public buildings and hopefully other cities will follow suit.  For more facts and figures visit Ban The Bottle then the stop buying water in plastic bottles and get a refillable one filled with tap water.

4.  Coffee capsules

One shot coffee capsules/pods are relatively new on the scene yet in 2014 9.8 billion of these difficult to recycle composite plastic cups were produced and only a very small percentage of them were recycled.  There are plans to make them from recyclable material by 2020 but in the meantime why not switch back to instant or filtered coffee, the latter being fully compostable.


5.  Tampons and Sanitary Towels

The average woman uses nearly 10,000 tampons/towels in her life so multiply that up to all woman and you reach some shocking levels of waste.  However you can buy washable pads and reusable products such as mooncups.

6.  Wet Wipes

First made for babies, now you seem to be able to get a wipe to wipe everything from your face to the toilet. One wipe and on to the bin (or worse still down the toilet where they cause huge problems at sewage treatment plants).  Is a washable cloth really so difficult to use?  Billions of baby bottoms survived quite well before the invention of wet wipes so lets bid these wipes farewell.

7.  Plastic cups

How many of you use use the drinks machine at work and then just chuck that once used plastic cup in the bin where I bet you it doesn't get recycled.  You can take your own mug or glass in and let's see the end of plastic throw-away drinks cups.


These are just a handful of disposable products that we could ditch.  Have you more items you could add to this list with what you could use instead?

Go on - pin me! 

    ethannevelyn

    Friday Fabulous

    18 comments :

    1. Great post. We all need to be conscious of our environmental impact. The statistics are truly shocking and so easily rectifiable.
      David
      www.pottyadventures.wordpress.com

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      1. I cannot even visualise how much these billions of disposable products are but if we all reduced their use by a even a small percentage it would make such a difference.

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    2. I've just recycled a load of cat food tins by using them to plant cactuses in, I hate to through things away. Great post. Sarah #FabFridayPost

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      1. I'd need a lot of cacti for all the cat food tins I recycle.

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    3. It is so important to be green! The only ones I'm guilty of are the razors and sanitary towels! Right now I'm lucky if I shave my legs at all and I've not had a period since sept 14!! Yay pregnancy & breastfeeding!

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      1. I loved not having periods when my boys were born and managed 3 in a row years not having to use sanitary products :)

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    4. Hi Rosie, some excellent advice there. I've been a Mooncup user for years now and they are so much cheaper to use than disposable sanitary wear and more comfortable too. And plucking is the way to go when it comes to unwanted body hair and the hair grows back much finer, so you don't have to bother with it so often.

      xx

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      1. I am not sure plucking would work for your average male chin mind you!

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    5. Good morning, first greetings to you and all your visitors. Some time ago I visit your blog frequently and I find it very important and informative, I usually find a lot of interesting content and can help many people. Regarding article is very interesting and useful mention important aspects notes. I congratulate you for taking the time to write and convey your knowledge. Thank you....

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    6. A great thought provoking post. We really need to think about how we dispose of our "rubbish" Or look for alternative more sustainable products.

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      1. Thank you and yes - it is all too easy to chuck things away and not think what then happens to them.

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    7. I am not sure I could use a Mooncup but there are some great ideas here. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for linking up to #TheList x

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      1. I am sure if you tried you'd manage absolutely fine. I am not expecting everyone to give up all of these overnight but if we all gave up at least some of them, some of the time it would be a big step in the right direction.

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    8. Brilliant post! I am shocked at how many water bottles weren't recycled last year, that's appalling. Absolutely agree with you, I wish everyone would follow suit. All these little actions DO add up. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the series.

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      1. Thank you - I thought I was going to struggle to reach 52 topics but I already have more than that! And every little bit we all do DOES add up.

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    9. I'm in the process of writing an article about coffee pods. The waste is astounding, and making them of recyclable plastic won't help much, if at all--most people will not bother to remove the foil, filter, and coffee grounds for proper recycling, and many programs will not take them as they are too small for efficient handling. :-( I don't understand why coffee pods are so popular, given that they are 3-7 times as expensive as making coffee from grounds!

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    10. The only one I would disagree with is the use of paper handkerchiefs, which I think are more hygienic than carrying around a snotty fabric one. I still shudder at the memory of my mother boiling a big pan of snotty hankies on the stove when we were children!

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      1. Although you could argue that a bin full of snotty paper hankies is not ideal either!

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