Living a Greener Life

Ever since the pandemic started I have become startled at the ‘waste’ being generated. I am also shocked at how much we ‘need’ to survive. Every time I shop whether in person or online I am appalled at the quantity of plastic, metal and paper that makes its way into my home and sadly some of this is not even recyclable. To make things more difficult the local grocery store has discontinued its bulk food which just means more plastic packages!

The problem with plastic especially is as I learned that only a small percentage of gets recycled while the rest makes its way into the landfills where, by the way, it can not biodegrade, so it just sits there. Just imagine that!

So here are a few steps I have been taking in order to tackle this problem.

1. Cotton Bags First of all I bought a couple of bags made of 100% pure cotton. I machine wash them after every shopping trip and they are good to go!
2. Substituting Paper Towels for Cotton As much as possible I have replaced the use of kitchen paper towels with cotton towels – ones you can machine wash and reuse.
3. Glass Jars I try to buy food such as pasta sauce and condiments that come in glass jars as they are easier to reuse or recycle. After the contents are emptied, I like to look for creative ways to use the pretty glass jars. For example, I have one for holding all the paintbrushes.
4. Reusable Bottles I have replaced the bottled water with a stainless steel water bottle. Recently I also bought a pack of reusable straws that come in pretty colors!
5. Homemade Skin Care Skin care products in plastic containers are another source of unwanted pollution. I use a homemade facial oil made with essential oils and store it in an amber glass bottle. https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/happytimebreak.wordpress.com/126 However I cannot replace every skin care product. So I do use some of them products but with a mindful approach.
6. Cloth Masks During quarantine I also decided to make the switch to a more sustainable version of protection – cloth masks made of 100% cotton that are totally washable and reusable.

Everyday I am learning about sustainable options and trying to incorporate them into my life. It gives me the deepest satisfaction to know I am making a difference on this planet even if it is miniscule.

If you have more ideas about how to make sustainable choices please leave your comments. I will love to hear from you.

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle as much as possible.