We all play a part when it comes to reducing waste. Unless you’re living a zero-waste lifestyle, there’s always more room for improvement. That is if you care about your environment.
Although it may seem scary to make the first move, what better place is there to start a change than in the comfort of your own home?
The little changes you make at home can and will make a big difference in your waste input. So, listed below are 6 ways you can work on reducing waste at home.
1. Compost food bits
Truth be told, composting is one of the greenest things you can do for your home and to live a waste-free life.
It’s also ideally one of the best ways to reduce food waste at home.
Fruits, vegetables, dairy products, grains, bread, coffee filters, eggshells are some things that can be composted. In short, if it can be eaten or grown in a field or garden, it can be composted.
Note: composting gives you better soil for your plants too. Hence, a healthier planet!
2. Make the switch to reusable bags
A paper published in March 2021 stated that since 2018, Malaysia has been producing more than 0.94 million tonnes of mismanaged plastic wastes’ per year.
Can you imagine the numbers now?
It’s been said before but it has to be said again; make the switch to reusable bags! They are truly convenient for everything, especially grocery shopping.
Hack: keep a bunch of extra bags in the trunk of your car so you’ll never run out of bags for errand runs!
3. Ditch your plastic toothbrush
Just like plastic bags for grocery shopping, your toothbrushes are generally made of plastic too. So can you imagine your plastic toothbrushes rotting in a rubbish dump somewhere, say for the next 400 years?
Make that simple switch to a biodegradable toothbrush instead for a greener earth.
4. Swap to a plastic-free pantry
Imagine how cute your pantry would look when everything is in identical glass jars!
Aside from the aesthetic part, for things like spices, baking ingredients, pasta and other loose food items, using airtight jars lets you reduce waste like a boss. Foods and ingredients can stay longer, plus you are aware of how much more you need to finish!
Hack: Try taking your jars to the market to stock up on goods!
5. Understand the rules of recycling
If you can learn how to recycle the items at your home properly, chances are you’ll not use your rubbish bin as much anymore, leading to less rubbish bag usage too.
For any object, regardless of its material, there’s always a way to recycle them properly. And by recycling them, they have a better chance to be processed safely and be reused in order to not deplete the earth’s resources. Great for saving the earth just with this initiative, huh?
To understand what you should and should not recycle, here’s a guide.
6. And finally, refrain from buying plastic water bottles
You’ve learned so much about plastic by now to know why this should be avoided as much as possible. While other tips on our list can take a longer time to implement, this one’s super simple.
Invest in your choice of reusable water bottles, be it metal or glass to help curb the purchases of plastic bottles daily.
If you search correctly, chances are there are some pretty amazing creations and designs of bottles out there waiting for your purchase.
Note: get a double-insulated bottle that’ll tend to both your hot or cold drinks fix
The bottom line
If you’ve heard of the saying “change is the only constant”, it only makes sense to want to apply changes to ourselves first, for the constant good of our planet.
Think about it; for your sake, for your family, for your next of kin and for your only home - Earth.