Ocean Protection Through Plastic-Free Living
If you look at your trash can, chance are the bulk of your trash comes from food packaging waste. Food and beverage packaging make up 9 of the top 10 items picked up on our beaches. Tackling the plastic in your diet is a great way to reduce your plastic footprint while also eating better.
If you open up the medicine cabinet or top drawer in your bathroom, chances are you’ll find lots of plastic. Your beauty routine is an easy place to start when finding ways to reduce your plastic footprint. Here are the plastic-free products I use.
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and whether you’re sending a gift to your true love, your BFF, or your favorite niece and nephew, you’ll want to avoid all the extra waste that comes with this holiday.
When giving a Valentine’s day gift or even a birthday present, I try to give something consumable unless I absolutely know they will love a specific durable gift. When I say consumable I mean something that can be used or eaten up. If it disappears then there’s no extra waste!
Some common Valentine’s examples are candy, wine, and flowers. Yes, technically you don’t use or eat flowers (most flowers), but you can compost it. So, technically microbes or worms will eat it.
I like consumable gifts because they don’t clutter people’s houses. Once they use it up…it’s gone! With a durable gift, the person might not love, or even like it, but will feel the need to keep it out of guilt. Don’t do that to your loved ones!
Instead of buying a bouquet of flowers which will most likely come in plastic, choose an arrangement that comes in a glass vase or mason jar. I love flower arrangements in glass mason jars because I can always use another mason jar for storing food or bulk goods.
Another option is to get flowers at your farmer’s market where they’re more likely to be package-free.
If your bulk bins are still closed, choose candy and other sweets in paper boxes or metal tins. Paper and metal are still recyclable and a much better option that plastic. Plus, it looks nicer, right?
If you’re handy in the kitchen, making something with love, is one of the best ways to show your love. They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, but I would argue the same for a woman! Few things are more attractive than your man cooking a nice meal for you.
Even if it’s not an entire meal, instead of buying sweets, you can make some chocolate truffles or decadent cake. Whatever’s your specialty, make it. Because honestly, who says no to any kind of homemade sweets?
Valentine’s day is about showing your love to someone. If you really think about it…time is the most valuable thing we have. We’re never going to get time that’s gone back. So, giving your time to someone is the best way to show your love.
Plan a day with your loved one. Go for a bike ride or a hike and bring a picnic. Agree to binge watch their favorite show with them. Spend the afternoon playing their favorite board games.
No matter what activity you decide, put your phone down! The best way to show your love is to be present and not check your phone every few minutes. Alright, I’m done mom-lecturing now. 😛 But seriously, put down your phone and enjoy the moment. 🙂
What do you think? Can you use some of these tips to choose a less wasteful or zero waste Valentine’s gift?
For related and random posts, check out:
I live a generally plastic-free lifestyle but I’m not 100% plastic-free…yet. So, to see where the last 1% of my trash was coming from, I started keeping track of all of it. At the end of each month, I take a look to see where I could improve.