. Nine ways to rid your home of plastic .
- judithstred
- Jan 11, 2015
- 4 min read
Most of us know about the increased incidents of illness and are aware of its link with the dangers of chemicals, plastics and the increased processing of food, but it can often be overwhelming to think of all the items we have in the house and daunting to think of the process by which to replace it all. So my partner and I decided to take it step-by-step and include goals for our home along with our individual goal setting. Adding more items as they come to us and slowly checking them off the list has made the process satisfying and stress-free, rather than one big carcinogenic-cull.
So here's how we are reducing plastic & its effects in our home:
1. No plastic ware in dishwasher or microwave (even if BPA free): the toxic chemicals in plastics are released when plastic is heated so this is pretty straight forward. And although we only have ever purchased BPA-free plastic ware, with new research comes the terrors of BPS (another toxin) so I'm done dealing with plastic ware altogether.
Clingwrap is a handy kitchen item that is hard to say goodbye to but there are good glass ware and ceramic storage alternatives you can purchase, or hold onto all those empty coconut oil and pickle jars, remove the labels, and voila, you have plastic-free storage containers! It was incredible how quickly we could replace our Tupperware drawer.
Plastic cookware utensils are another consideration; replace the plastic and silicone with metal and/or wooden utensils...as trendy as those silicone items are, it is still a synthetic product and research on how it breaks down over time isn't encouraging...
2. Replace tea bags with loose-leaf teas: i've dropped the plastic teabags for some metal strainers and have been using dried mint, lemongrass, and stevia from my garden and enjoy an array of loose leaf teas. These are a few of my flavour combinations...
3. Use biodegradable bin liners: I consider the dollar difference between these bags compared to their landfilling counterpart as a tiny $5 annual donation to the earth :)
4. Reusable shopping bags: this was a simple one as lots of stores sell reusable shoppers, but you can take one more waste-reduced (and thrifty) step forward and make some out of old t-shirts! They're washable in case of spills and don't cost you a dime. This site has a 10 minute no-sew tutorial but if you don't trust your knot tying, use a sewing machine to stitch up the bottom (t-shirt inside out!) along the same line where she cuts and ties the ends.
5. Reusable produce bags: after we patted ourselves on the back for becoming regular users of reusable shoppers I started to notice all the plastic produce bags we were throwing out as they are too thin and flimsy to reuse. After some research I found that these bags were the best price and they responded knowledgeably to all my questions regarding the quality and sourcing of their products.
6. Homemade glass spray bottles: I've already done my plastic spiel at the top of the page so i'll just reiterate plastic + chemicals or heat = plastic breaking down and leeching toxins into your home. So for my homemade cleaning & gardening products I use old bottles to make my own spray bottles. Just clean the bottles (soak in water to remove label, use olive oil to rub off label glue) and screw on an old spray bottle pump. It took me a few tries to find the right fit for the spray bottles so just keep trying each bottle before recycling or reusing them as there are all sorts of bottles that would fit spray nozzles. I've found a few different bottles that work: beer bottles are the best size/fit; 250mL vinegar/soy sauce bottles are a little short so you'll need to cut the straw of the pump shorter, likewise with Bundi Gingerbeer stubbies (Australia)! Screw-top wine bottles also work but are a bit too large and heavy for day-to-day use.
7. Replace plastic storage bins, planters, etc, with baskets, wood crates, cardboard boxes, burlap boxes: PVC and styrofoam are some of the worst offenders. We have a 'no plastic into the house' rule, which is one of the hardest to commit to; many products are a fraction of the price when made of plastic, so this commitment pushes you to find creative storage solutions which in turn makes you a more thrifty and hardy re-user of items already in your house!
8. Replace plastic bottles with stainless steel or glass bottles: this should be a no-brainer even just for the environment's sake, but replacing drinking bottles with stainless steel bottles (durable, reusable) and putting cooking oil into glass bottles is an easy step in the right direction.
9. Purchase dry or fresh goods instead of canned items (i.e. beans, lentils, veggies, etc):
preservatives, processing, and plastic. The alternative: soak dry legumes (chickpeas, beans, etc) overnight and then boil for 20 minutes to cook. Instead of doing this for each individual meal, i soak/cook a bunch of each, let them cool then portion into glass jars and freeze, and simply thaw a single portion when needed.
*Update: i've now taken this one more step and sprout all our legumes to make sure we're eating them at their most nutritious stage. Complete sprouting instruction & tips coming to the blog soon!
*Keep an eye on the blog for the Nine Lives of Old Tupperware: how to use them before you throw them out for good!
Do you have some health goals for your home or have any suggestions and/or solutions for mine? I'd love to hear about them!