Although some plastics are recyclable, one time use plastics are an environmental nightmare. Plastic recycling is referred to as “down cycling” because the process is toxic and truly not a solution to plastic pollution. Plastic is broken down into small pieces naturally by light, but never biodegrades or goes “away”. Plastic has been outrageously polluting our oceans, and even found in the bellies of so many animals who have mistaken plastic pieces for food and died from it.
When you begin to notice everything that is packaged in unnecessary plastic, it is a bit overwhelming. Slowly but surely I’ve been replacing my consumable items with plastic free packaging, and making new changes to living a more plastic free life. I am also slowly noticing more and more companies get on board with plastic free and more eco-friendly packaging. Here are a few new plastic free finds for home and personal care.
Cleaning Supplies
Making your own home cleaners are a great way to minimize plastic. You can easily make a very effective DIY Multipurpose Household Cleaner or even try one of my newly revisited favorites Bon Ami. Bon Ami is a fabulous eco-friendly inexpensive polishing cleanser that can be used for cleaning almost anything. Most of all I love that it is inexpensive and plastic free.
More Floss, Less Plastic
Here’s an eco-friendly almost plastic free dental floss that comes in a paper packaging with a tiny plastic bag surrounding the floss inside. The average dental floss contains 40-55 yards of floss. Eco-Dent Gentle Floss contains 100 yards of floss without the unnecessary plastic container. Silk floss is another great compostable option.
Solutions For Food
One of the biggest challenges that I’m finding with going plastic free is how to package and store my organic fruits and vegetables. Currently I have been washing and reusing the plastic produce bags that I already have. I recently discovered a few new items that will make purchasing and storing produce so much easier. Plus these are great options for take out after a dinner out, lunches, and leftovers!
Reusable Produce Bags
I found plastic free reusable produce bags by Mothering Mother. These 100% unbleached cotton bags are very reasonably priced and absolutely perfect! Because plastic is toxic, we really don’t want to have it suffocating or polluting our food. I also LOVE these organic cotton reusable produce bags!
ChicoBag is one of my favorite reusable bags brands. They have a Chico Complete Produce Bag Set which contains three different style produce bags in their line called Produce Stand:
“The Hemp-Cotton blend bag is designed for green beans, nuts, grains and bulk food items. The fabric is a 70 percent hemp, 30 percent cotton blend and is designed to absorb excess moisture and restrict airflow.
The rePETe bag is great for squash, broccoli, carrots and celery because it restricts airflow and locks in moisture.
The Mesh rePETe is ideal for apples, oranges, potatoes, onions and allows ethylene gas, nature’s ripening agent, to escape. Like many of our rePETe products, the rePETe and rePETe Mesh bags are made of 99 percent recycled content.” ~buygreen.com
Lunch, Take Out & Leftovers
These stainless steel food containers by ECOlunchbox are ideal for leftovers and of course lunches. Finally there is something to replace plastic Tupperware. Here is the ECOlunchbox Oval which is a set of three items including a smaller container for sauces, dressings, or other snack items.
Here is a super cute option for carrying your lunch with an ancient Japanese tradition of knotting, folding and twisting with the Furoshiki ECOLunchwrap Kit. This would also make a great gift!
I’m loving these plastic free solutions, and look forward to finding even more eco-friendly options. Any step taken towards consuming less plastic can make a difference! We truly do have to be the change we want to see.
Living plastic-free can seem challenging, but I know there are solutions!
(Images by Dawn Michelle, buygreen.com & ECOlunchbox)
Beth Terry says
November 30, 2012 at 3:53 pmHi there. Thanks so much for linking to my book Plastic-Free! Just want to let you know that currently, the book is on backorder because the first printing sold out! We are expecting the second printing to arrive any day now, and BuyGreen will have copies as soon as we can get them from the warehouse. Several orders came through today, and I’m guessing they came via this site, so thanks! Just wanted to let you know about the delay. The books were held up because of Hurricane Sandy and other storms on the East Coast.
Dawn Michelle says
November 30, 2012 at 4:23 pmHi Beth,
Congratulations on selling out of your amazing book!!! Also thank you so much for your dedication and immense passion for teaching others to become plastic free. Best wishes with everything and happy holidays!
~Dawn Michelle
sandy says
December 1, 2012 at 1:35 pmAfter seeing the above post. Thank you Dawn
It makes me want to share this…
in the 1950’s and before…
People didn’t carry paper bags
Plastic was a rarity
Everyone had a garden
Mason Jars ruled the day
Machine made jewelry was a luxury
Clothes were handmade for the most part
and
Bon Ami was in everyone’s kitchen
Mule Team Borax was a standard
Dry Cleaning was for the wealthy
And so why did things change?
There was money to be made by industrialists…
And then there was TV
Who knew that 4 TV Channels of advertising could do so much damage?
“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”
― George Orwell
Doug says
December 2, 2012 at 12:20 pmHello Dawn,
Thank you for highlighting some of our products on BuyGreen.com and we are big fans of Beth and here efforts to eliminate plastic!
Sincerely,
BuyGreen.com
Dawn Michelle says
December 5, 2012 at 4:18 pmHi Doug, So glad to! Beth is amazing!!
Carolyn says
December 9, 2012 at 5:41 amHI Dawn. I have been trying to minimize my use of plastic as much as possible for a long time now and am now also extending this to minimizing the use of aluminium foil.
One thing that I did was to “invest” in glass Pyrex rectangular dishes with lids in a variety of sizes. They have eliminated ALL the plastic and foil containers I had in my cupboards taking up a lot of space. I have also been able to get rid of several cooking dishes as well as I can marinate, cook, freeze, serve and store in the one dish.
Which brings me to my next project: I think we stock too much food in our cupboards in the first place. I decided to use up everything that was in my cupboards. I went for 2 entire weeks doing this, only needing to buy vegetables. I’m now planning my family meals so that I am only buying the ingredients that I am going to use in a fortnight.
The amazing thing is how much time, energy and money this is saving me. I am spending approx $100 less, have less clutter, less mess, less stress and less plastic, cardboard and foil packaging.
Cheers.