To honor our Earth, try to switch one product you use frequently, to a plastic-free product!
Did you know plastic garbage kills as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year? Do you wonder what you can do to reduce your plastic waste footprint? Recently, I began a journey switching out plastic products to plastic-free products. Here are some of the products I have tried:
1. Dish soap pucks for handwashing dishes. I like the Meliora Cleaning Product Dish Soap Puck.
2. I brought back bar soaps in our home!
3. Shampoo and conditioner bars. I haven’t found my favorite shampoo bar yet. I like the Reef Repair Conditioner bar but it isn’t my favorite.
4. Reusable K-cup for Keurig coffee machines.
5. Laundry detergent pods (the Dropps brand come in a cardboard box) and laundry detergent sheets (Earth Breeze).
6. Dishwashing pods (the Dropps brand come in a cardboard box).
7. Laundry and stain remover bars. Fels Naptha has been around for 100 years and you can find it at Walmart. Reuse a Stain Remover Spray bottle and make a stain remover spray out of Fels Naptha.
8. Reuse spray bottles by making your own All-Purpose Cleaner or Febreeze.
9. I am not perfect, but I try to bring grocery bag totes when I shop!
10. Toothpaste tablets.
11. Reusable sandwich bags.
12. I reuse glass spaghetti and honey jars for my lunches, left overs, etc. And yes, I put them in the freezer. I chill the jar with food in the refrigerator before putting it in the freezer.
Other easy items to switch to:
1. Reusable paper towels.
2. Cloth napkins.
3. Switch cling wrap to Bees Wax wrap.
4. How about deodorant in plastic free container? Target has plastic free options for both men and women. Old Spice even has an option.
5. Ditch lotion in a plastic pump to a lotion bar.
6. Mouth wash tabs.
7. Beauty brands are beginning to sell plastic free options.
8. Laundry detergent powder.
9. Dishwashing detergent powder.
10. Plastic free sunscreen.
You don’t need to switch everything. Just start with one item!
Guest blog submitted by Somer D. Dimaya, Civil Permits Supervisor with City of Chesapeake.