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Minimizing Your Reliance on Plastic

Jan 16, 2022 | Climate Actions Grovers Can Take

On this page you will find:

Practices to Use Less Plastic

Easy

  • Take your own bags when you shop.
  • Decline the plastic utensils in your take-out orders.
  • Stop buying plastic bottles of water; use refillable bottles.
  • Avoid using plastic straws.
  • Take your own containers for leftovers at restaurants.

Change of Habits

  • Rinse, dry, and reuse lightly used plastic bags.
  • Use paper bags or waxed paper instead of plastic, even for small stuff like treats and sandwiches.
  • Buy what you can, such as laundry detergent and kitty litter, in more readily recycled boxes instead of plastic containers (see “Choosing Climate-Friendly Packaging” below)

Did You Know?

  • The liner bags in cereal boxes, baking mixes, and many other boxed items are plastic bags that can be rinsed and reused or recycled in the grocery store bin?  (Nope…they don’t belong in paper recycling.)

What Else?

  • Teach your children good practices to avoid wasting plastic.

Small steps add up!

Choosing Climate-Friendly Packaging

Headlines about floating islands of plastic waste, the explosion of microplastics in our environment, and the true impact of our recycling efforts can make us question if there’s much we can do to change the course of the future. It is indeed hard to change habits, including attachments to products we’ve used for years, but there are product packaging choices coming on the market that will reduce plastic waste, and our individual choices do add up and impact the market. We encourage you to look for options that are better for our environment and try them. A few are suggested below; we welcome others that you may want to share with us.

  • Reach for the detergent that comes in a box instead of in a plastic jug
  • And instead of the big plastic container of mouthwash, try the little concentrated version.
  • For kitty litter, pick boxes instead of plastic jugs.
  • Old-fashioned bar soap can replace plastic bottles of liquid soap.
  • But if you do prefer liquid soap, refill your pumps with soap from a box.
  • Milk costs more in a non-plastic jug but it is available in most stores.

Be aware of your packaging choices and select non-plastic when you can.

We welcome your suggestions for other non-plastic options that work for you.

 

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