10 Less Wasteful Options for Common Plastics
It can take some serious effort to be 100% plastic-free. Our current systems is built upon lots and lots of single-use plastics. The single-use system was made even worse with COVID. But luckily, there are options that have less plastic. And in the absence of a plastic-free solution, the next best thing is a less wasteful option. Here are 10 options.
Go “Topless”
If your local coffee shop is still not letting you use your own reusable cup, ask for no lid. This is called “going topless” in the zero waste community. Clearly, I didn’t name it. 😛 Take a few sips of your drink or maybe dump it in your own travel mug before going on your way.
This saves a plastic lid which is the majority of the plastic in to-go cups. I say majority and not all because paper cups are lined with a thin layer of plastic to make them leakproof.
Skip Utensils and Condiments
When ordering food to-go, ask the person taking your order to skip the utensils, condiments, and all the extras. If you’re eating on the go, keep an extra set of reusable utensils in the car. Most of the time your food will still come in some sort of plastic, but by skipping all the extra stuff they throw in the bag, you’ll create less waste and save the restaurant a little extra money.
Dine In
Dining in is obviously less waste if the restaurant uses reusable plates and utensils. But even if they use disposables, it is less waste then if they package takeout in plastic. Think about the surface area of a clamshell box compared to a plate. There’s more plastic because you have to cover the top, as well as hold the bottom. So, if you can, choose to dine-in and eat.
Bring Your Own Utensils
While you’re at it, might as well bring your own utensils. That way if the restaurant is using plastic forks and spoons, the only thing they’ll throw away during your meal is the plate. I have a set of these Swiss army knife type utensils that I like to throw in my bag.
Or when I’m with my family, I have a few sets of these utensil rolls that I keep in our “adventure bag”. It’s simply some mismatched utensils leftover from our college days rolled into a cloth napkin and tied with a hair tie.
Bring a Reusable Water Bottle or Coffee Cup
It’s generally a good idea to keep a reusable water bottle with you, but the bottle can double as a to-go cup. If you’ve sat down for a meal but can’t finish your delicious beverage, instead of using a disposable to-go cup from the restaurant, you can dump it in your cup.
Keep a To-Go Container in the Car
Or say you can’t finish your meal, instead of asking for a to-go container, keep an extra reusable one in your car to take leftovers home. Even if your local restaurant is using disposables for dining in, there are still ways to make your dining experience less wasteful by being prepared with your own reusables.
If I know I’m going out, I’ll throw a stainless steel container in the car:
Buy Meat in Bulk & Freeze It
Like I mentioned in my last trash audit, before COVID I was able to bring my container to get meat at the butcher. Now, I buy a month’s worth of meat and freeze what I’m not using that week. In general, I only use about a pound of chicken and a half pound of beef to cook dinners for my family. By buying in bulk, I save the extra plastic bags and butcher paper. (Oftentimes butcher paper is lined with plastic.)
I freeze chicken in 3/4L Weck Jars:
And for ground beef, I make little half pound patties and put them on a silicone mat on a baking tray to freeze.
When they’re frozen, I store the frozen patties in a large half-gallon Stashers bag.
Buy Blocks of Cheese
You can apply the same concept with cheese. Instead of buying bags of shredded cheese, you can buy a block of cheese and shred what you need. It’s also cheaper by weight if you buy it in a block. If you’ve ever shredded a lot of cheese, you’ll know the shreds tend to stick together. In order to prevent shreds from sticking together in a bag, companies add cellulose or plant fibers to the cheese. I understand the plant fiber is safe and edible but to me, I don’t want extra additives in my cheese…I just want the cheese. So, for me, that means shredding it myself.
I have an old handheld grater that I use but when that breaks, I’d go for a stainless steel box grater given all the cheese I shred.
Buy Prepared Greens in Bulk
I’m lucky that my local farmer’s market has a vendor that sells baby greens. I can get all my salad greens without plastic each week and I love it. If you’re not as lucky, where you can, buy your prewashed greens in bulk. Skip the tiny bags that make one or two salads and find the big boxes of spinach at Costco. That is if you can finish it. Don’t buy lots of food you can’t finish.
To prevent my leafy greens from getting soggy, I store them in organic cotton produce bags to help absorb the moisture. The ones I use came in this set. The fibers are thicker which I find are more absorbent than some of the other produce bags I have.
Swap Individually Wrapped Snacks
Instead of buying a bag of individually wrapped snacks, choose a bag of unpackaged snacks. This applies to many different kinds of snacks. Instead of the snack packs of chips that have ten individual-size bags of chips, buy a big bag of chips and portion them out yourself.
Instead of individually wrapped candy bars, opt for the bigger bag of unwrapped mini-sized candy bars. Skip the individually wrapped cookies and get a box of unpackaged cookies. The list goes on. The more single-serving the packaging, the more wasteful it will be.
What do you think? Can you do one or all of these things to help throw away less plastic?
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