Becoming more eco-friendly is often viewed as a big adjustment, because ultimately, it’s seen as inconvenient. And ain’t nobody got time for inconvenience, amiright?
Did you leave your reusable shopping bags at home? Just grab a plastic one. Forgot your glass water bottle? Thank god for single use bottles! Right? WRONG. What if you just decided that if you forgot your bags, you’d carry your shopping home? Or you’d go without coffee if you forgot your reusable cup?
Committing to less waste is a lifestyle choice, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.
A tiny bit of thought, a few purchases and a slither of organisation can mean you never get caught short again. You’ll be saving money, saving your bod from the endocrine-disrupting use of plastic and saving the planet all in one. You go Glen Coco.
Here are 5 staples that will make living an eco-friendly lifestyle a helluva lot easier:
Stainless steel straw
We use over 5 million straws per day. Five million. And because they’re too small to be easily recycled, they quickly find their way into our oceans and can be extremely harmful to animals. Keeping a little pouch in your handbag or at home that has a stainless steel straw in it will mean that you can opt out of plastic straws, the use of which has devastating consequences for our planet. Happy slurpin’!
Reusable water bottle
Nothing revolutionary here, but a reusable water bottle should be in everyone’s life. Annual consumption of plastic bottles is set to top half a trillion by 2021, far outstripping recycling efforts and jeopardising oceans, coastlines and other environments. Carrying a good quality, stainless steel water bottle will ensure you’re always hydrated, save you a tonne of money in single use bottles and seriously minimise the stress that you place on the environment. Plus, it’s 2018 so they’re cute AF. When we live in a world where you can get your mitts on a marble or palm print water bottle, how can anyone excuse the use of plastic?
Reusable bags
If you haven’t yet started taking reusable bags with you to do the grocery shopping, the environment officially hates you. Ok maybe hate is too strong, but it’s looking at you with really narrow eyes and wondering why such an intelligent creature can’t work out how to remember a simple shopping bag. Hessian, canvas, string or a good ol’ fashioned Woolies bag for life, just make sure your handbag is home to at least one.
Reusable coffee cup
Because who DOESN’T feel all Devil Wears Prada with a takeaway coffee clutched in hand? No one, that’s who. Which is why billions of disposable coffee cups end up in the bin every year, which KeepCup equates to roughly 2,700,000 paper coffee cups being thrown out every day. Every day! For those who buy coffee on the daily, a reusable cup is are an essential if you’re looking to minimise the impact your actions have on the environment. And ICYMI, you can buy reusable coffee cups with inbuilt PayWave. Like your bank card. In your coffee cup. We’re done.
Bamboo cutlery
Negate the need for disposable plastic cutlery with your takeaway salad by taking a pouch of reusable bamboo cutlery with you wherever you go. It’s small, it’s easily transportable, and it’s bamboo, so it’s cute. Bamboo anything is cute. Case in point:
Feeling inspired to overhaul your lifestyle habits to become more environmentally conscious? Check out 6 ways to make your beauty routine more eco-friendly and which eco-friendly Aussie activewear brands you should be keeping an eye out for.
