An enormous trend that has emerged in our culture within the last fifty years is the "disposability" trend.
Disposable paper products like paper towels and tissues, instead of regular towels and handkerchiefs; disposable shopping bags--thousands of them--instead of one simple canvas sack per person; disposable plates, cups and utensils instead of a single set of dishware; disposable this and disposable that: diapers, razors, Tupperware, cameras, even underwear.
When did we decide that mass-producing flimsy, poor quality products that we continuously have to spend money to replace and which max out landfills in record time was anywhere close to resembling a good idea? This kind of mentality feeds the consumer's drive to always seek more-more-more, and it also desensitizes us to the value of a single, high quality item.
Why do we need fifty disposable pens when can have a single good one that lasts forever? After all, you can only use one pen at a time.
There are literally thousands of disposable goods that people buy every day...
and buy again, a week or two later.
Two of the three main points of the recycling mantra, Reduce and Reuse, can be satisfied by switching to one or two permanent, reusable products instead of disposable ones that number into the thousands over the course of a lifetime.
Here are three big ones that I've identified as being easy in the transition to their eco-friendly counterparts.
Get a Reusable Shopping Bags Yes, this means you.
I'd always heard talk of reusable shopping bags on green living blogs and seen them advertised (usually for dirt cheap) at various supermarkets, but I'd never thought of actually using one myself.
I'd never seen anyone else use them either.
At some point it just kind of dawned on me how easy it'd be actually put into effect, and though the savings don't transfer directly onto you (since you don't pay for plastic bags anyway) you're still doing your part to reduce consumption by reducing demand.
After all, if you're not actively part of the solution...
you know what that means.
Water Bottles Not only is buying bottled water ridiculous, it's also expensive, needlessly extravagant and a total scam.
Water is water, and unless your only other source of the stuff is a toilet or a sewer there's really very little incentive for buying it bottled.
I think it was Aquafina that actually got busted for selling bottled tap water.
Just about everyone has access to the tap, and if that's not good enough install an on-tap or in-home filtration system.
Tupperware Everyone has their preference for food storage, be it aluminum foil or plastic baggies and wrap.
These things are effective-but disposable, thus creating unnecessary waste.
Make the switch to reusable plastic Tupperware, which can be found inexpensively new or dirt cheap used, just about anywhere.
It lasts forever, is easy to clean and in my opinion keeps leftovers fresher for longer.
These are just three small, simple, easy to adopt changes you can implement in your lifestyle in order to do your part in eliminating waste and aiding environmental wellness.
This article is part of an ongoing series of articles titled "Baby Steps to Going Green" which lists a variety of similarly easy and effective ways to make the move towards green living with minimal upset to your current lifestyle.