How To Reduce Your Plastic Use At Home | Earth Day Series

I wish I had thought about this earlier (maybe I should make up for it with extra posts?) but welcome to my Earth Day series for this year! Over the next few weeks, I will be posting one ‘green’ blog a week to help encourage some greener vibes this year and to help us all become a little more sustainable along the way.

I encourage you to take these steps in your own way. You don’t have to do them all at once. In fact, I don’t encourage it! I would love for you to tackle them individually until they each become a habit over time. The process of transitioning to a low waste lifestyle is a lengthy one and it will take time. It can also be a pricey one depending on what plastic swaps you need to make, so wait until your budge is ready for it. You can also check out other options like your local thrift stores (be sure to hop around and check out some more local thrift stores too, other than good-will or salvation army) or check to see if you have a local buy-nothing group or garage sale group on Facebook.

I also encourage you to not feel like you have to do it all. My favorite quote for this year is “I can do it all, but not all at once.” You do not have to do all of these steps perfectly. You forgot your reusable bags? That’s okay, but don’t make it a habit. Have grace for yourself and those around you, but I encourage you to find friends and family who are working on these steps as well so you can build each other up and give gentle reminders when needed! It’s always better to have a friend (and I hope I can also count as your friend!).

I asked you all what you wanted to learn, over on my Instagram (@searraliggett), and some of you asked how to use less plastic at home. Plastic pollution is one of the most widespread problems affecting our environment and our health. How often are you out walking in one of your favorite parks, neighborhoods, or travel destinations and have found litter? Well think about the plastic that you can’t see in our tap water, salt, fish, and other samples of food or beverages (it has even been identified in beer). It is known that several chemicals used in the production of plastic materials are known to be carcinogenic and to interfere with the body (both human and wildlife).

Plastic is TOXIC, it’s a toxic relationship and let’s throw it out the window (not literally - please).

Is the thought of living in a zero waste world ridiculous? Yeah, probably. It’s hard. I know it is. It has taken us 5 years to get to the point that we are at, and we still aren’t at zero. I can’t help but dream, and I hope you can’t help it either.

But when your budge it ready, consider making some of these easy plastic swaps for your home & life! Thankfully, some are very affordable. If you choose to buy online, be sure to message your retailer and ask them not to use any plastic packaging when they are shipping something to an address associated with your account/email! It won’t always work, but it’s worth a shot! Alternatively, shop from sources you know are using sustainable packaging.

Plastic Swaps for Your Kitchen:

Plastic Storage Bags/Baggies - You probably use plastic baggies for snack, sandwiches, freezing left overs, or even storing odds and ends. I sometimes use my baggies for quick access when traveling, I just reach in my bag and pull out the baggie full of everything that needs to be pulled out for TSA. We recently switched over to silicone baggies and I love them! So easy to clean and store. We have all sizes from snack size to gallon sizes and even use them to freeze our meal preps or left overs. Note: many say they are dishwasher safe but I recommend hand washing because I’ve notice the seal wears out quicker from the heat of the dishwasher.

These Stasher Bags are really popular right now because they can either lie flat or stand up.
These silicone bags are similar to the ones we have.

Plastic Wrap - Beeswax wrap is the best swap for plastic cling wrap. It will form around bowls, plates, containers, or right around your food! All you have to do is wipe it clean with cold water, and they now come in super cute patterns.

We have both the classic beeswax wrap and some super cute Japanese Kimono style ones that are sold out unfortunately. But these ones are cute and come with a few eco-friendly freebies!

Garbage Bags - Our recycler actually requires that our recycling all be lose and not in a bag, which is awesome! We use cheap laundry bags to transport them from our kitchen to the bin (and it’s washable). As for actual trash, you have plenty of options! You can use a washable trash bag, or compostable bags

Kitchen compostable trash bags are what we use currently (though landfills actually pack thrash too tightly so nothing will ever actually compost - so it’s best to recycle as much as you can and compost the rest in something like a Bokashi Bin).
Small compostable trash bags are what we use for picking up our animal waste and for our bathrooms.
Washable trash bags or laundry bags would clearly be the less waste option, but isn’t always the best option for some.

Hand Soap - A quick and easy swap would be to ditch the single-use plastic bottles and either buy soap in bulk refill bottles or hand soap bars.

These glass soap dispensers are fairly inexpensive.
This foaming hand soap refill from Puracy is natural, vegan, and made in the USA.
These are the hand soap bars I LOVE! Soap bars use to dry my skin out or leave a weird feeling, but these soap bars are so buttery smooth and hydrating (and a small shop).

Sponges - I can’t wash without a sponge. I’ve tried washcloths, but they aren’t for me. We have a few washable sponge options that we love and can pick up at our local stores. But you could totally swap the sponge out for dish cloths or bamboo scrub brushes.

We love these sponges by Practical Matter.
Here are some organic cotton dish cloths.
This is the handheld dish scrub that we use!

Dish Soap - We haven’t made this switch yet, but a dish washing soap block is next on my list to attempt! We usually buy our soap in bulk and refill another soap container (so we have one for the dishes and one for your hands).

We love Seventh Generation for dish soap. They source renewable ingredients that are plant-based, free from synthetic dyes or fragrances, and make all of their packaging out of recycled materials.
Or, you could try this dish washing soap block that is vegan and also ethically made in the USA.

Food Storage Containers - Ditch your plastic Tubberware (donate or recycle them please) and switch them out for glass. This is going to be a pretty hefty exchange, so don’t do this all at once unless you can afford it. There are a lot of food storage options out there, and most of them still include plastic lids, even if the bodies are glass. Alternatively, you could also get stainless steel bowls, use glass containers with bamboo lids, or mix and match the other storage options mentioned above.

We do use these Pyrex containers with plastic lids.
These bamboo lid containers are super cute.
We use these containers for meal prepping.
These containers are popular stainless steel options.
We recently received these bowl covers as a gift and I am obsessed!

Cleaners - We talked about ditching the plastic soap containers, but what about cleaners? We haven’t bought a single household cleaner in 5 years. We bought all glass spray bottles (or you can reuse glass vinegar bottles and purchase a few spray nozzles) and make our cleaners out of vinegar or other common household items.

You can find my go-to cleaner recipes in my blog post: How We Practice Zero Waste, Minimalism, and Green Living

Napkins - I know these ones aren’t plastic, but they do come wrapped in plastic! There are so many swaps for single-use napkins, there are even some made out of recycled materials. But my go-to option is always linen napkins.

We get our napkins from Ikea, but here are some cute organic cotton options.

Plastic Swaps for Dining/Eating Out:

To-Go Containers/Bags - A little trick we learned early on was to keep an already packed lunch bag ready by the door. The lunch bag would include a couple of our glass containers, and the items listed below.

Plastic Utensils - When you go out to eat, bring your own utensils to places you know would serve plasticware. Or you can get a little serving roll.

This is the bamboo cutlery set I bought Charlie a few years ago and we took it to Japan! We packed some extra utensils for Evelyn (but every Japanese restaurant had their own special stuff for the kids, it was so sweet!)

Plastic Straws - Say ‘I would like a glass of…. without a straw please!’ If you absolutely need a straw because of sensitivities, comfort, or you just rather have a straw, there are quite a few options out there now!

Here are some stainless steel straws.
I personally love a good bamboo straw.
Here are the rose gold straws we use!

To-Go Cups - Bring your own cup to take things home, or make sure your water bottle is packed for the car. Styrofoam is the worst for the environment because it never fully breaks down!

We love our Hydrapeak stainless water bottles, they come with us everywhere!
If you frequent a coffee shop, you can bring this Hydropeak stainless steel mug or a Keepcup. I have your typical mother problem of never drinking my tea or coffee fast enough so it goes cold. My Hydropeak mug has helped out soooo much with that! It will keep my coffee warm for hours.

Plastic Swaps for Your Bathroom:

Shampoo - This year I am making the swap from shampoo bottles to shampoo bars. It should be cheaper than the bottle because shampoo bars last longer. Plus, the packaging is compostable!

Ethique has very reputable reviews
My cousin recommended the Trader Joe’s shampoo bar!
Love Beauty And Planet also have some cute options

Body Soap/Wash Packaging - If anything bugs me more than plastic, it’s all the plastic wrapped around ‘cleaner’ alternatives. Seriously! Why do I go to a bulk store only to get all of my favorites in individual wrappers? I recently switched to soap bars wrapped in compostable materials (2 years ago now I think?) and I love it so much better!

We use natural sponges instead of the plastic luffas (or you can just use a washcloth)
Again, I love Grace & Miss Mouse for my soap! But Ethique has bodywash bars too.

Makeup Remover - I recently started getting into a skincare routine and I pulled out some old (never used) cotton makeup removers that my mother bought for me YEARS ago! They come in so handy too because there’s less fabric than a washcloth. Toddler running around but needs their face washed? Quick, grab the cotton pad!

Here are some organic bamboo cotton pads by Greenzla

Razors - This is always on the top 5 list of things to swap, so I’m sure you’ve heard of it. Never again will I use disposable travel razors. I love my stainless razor.

You can easily find safety razors anywhere, but I use the Gillette Fusion5 and get these refill packs. Charlie and I use the same razor brand so the refill packs work with both of our razors.

Shower Curtain Liner - When I first met Charlie, he would go through plastic shower curtain liners regularly. The packaging always said they were machine washable, except they weren’t. Thankfully we switched to a fabric one when we moved in together and it’s so much better (and not as wasteful).

We just have this basic one.

Hand Soap Dispenser - Again, get yourself a nice glass soap dispenser like the one mentioned about in the Kitchen section or some quality soap bars.

These glass soap dispensers are fairly inexpensive.

This foaming hand soap refill from Puracy is natural, vegan, and made in the USA.
These are the hand soap bars I use.

Toothbrush - Plastic toothbrushes are the worst, and it bugs me so much that our dentist gives them out! Last time I went in for a checkup I said “oh, no toothbrush please. We don’t use plastic in our home.” Well the hygienist gave it to me anyways and told me to save it for when guests come over, UGH. You can get yourself a bamboo toothbrush and tip: Remove the bristles into the recycling and compost the handle.

Here are bamboo toothbrushes we used to use!
But we recently invested in this electric toothbrush with UV sanitation. An electric toothbrush has been heavily recommended by our dentist, but we wanted to make sure that it would still follow our love for the planet. It is cruelty free, vegan, has multiple brushing modes, timers, and of course the built in sanitation.

Toothpaste - I’ve tried so hard to convince my husband to switch to tablets, and I might just do it anyways myself. But he prefers tubed toothpaste. But, you can also make some yourself! I just recommend to spit it into the trash if you choose to make it out of coconut oil because it can clog your pipes/drains.

Checkout these Toothpaste tablets with fluoride.

Plastic Swaps for Your Laundry Room:

Laundry Detergent - Almost every laundry detergent I see comes in giant plastic containers. Thankfully, there are a few options out there now (other than making your own of course).

Seventh Generation makes a plastic-free laundry detergent.
Dropps makes plastic-free laundry pods.
Meliora makes a laundry stain removal soap stick!

Fabric Softener/Dryer Sheets - Honestly we have never really used these. BUT we do use wool dryer balls, and if we need to soften our laundry we use vinegar.

Here are the Wool Dryer balls we use.

Plastic Swaps for Grocery Shopping:

Produce Bags - I have never liked the individual produce plastic bags. I just don’t use them and wash my fruits or veggies when I get home. But I know that makes a lot of people cringe.

Here are the reusable cotton produce bags I got my husband this past Christmas.

Shopping Bags - If there’s anything I despise the most, it’s plastic grocery bags. They aren’t recyclable, they don’t decompose, and they cause so much litter!! You can always buy branded reusable ones from the stores you shop at, pretty ones online for cheap, or use canvas bags.

Here are some organic canvas shopping bags with pockets.

Plastic Food Packaging - Just say ‘no’! But seriously, the best way to avoid plastic packaging is to find better alternatives, make certain items yourself, shop local produce stands, or find local zero waste stores (I’ll be making a list of Michigan based stores soon!). I’m sure you are already aware that plant-based diets are more environmentally conscious and contain less waste. But if you do eat meat, you can split meat selections with friends at a local farm. My parents use to split a cow with some close friends of ours, this makes it much more affordable.

That’s it for now! I’ll be posting these individual categories on my Instagram for some quick ‘save for later’ pins. Be sure to follow me on Instagram if you don’t already. You can also bookmark this page or pin it for later on Pinterest.

I’ll always update my posts as I find better alternatives or change the products we use.

What is your favorite plastic swap? I’d love to hear all about your journey to green living in the comments below!