Have you been wanting to declutter plastic from your life? People have a lot of different reasons for wanting to use less plastic, but it's daunting to consider a life without any plastic products. If you're working on decluttering plastic from your life, you might be wondering about how to go about it without being wasteful.
Lately, I've been reading about ways to reduce waste in our home, save money, and of course, declutter and organize. One topic I came upon again and again was plastic.
Plastic as waste, plastic as a health hazard, plastic as something that's difficult to recycle.
After a while, I decided it was time for our family to start reducing the amount of plastic we purchase and use.
We are in no way going to be a plastic-free family, but we have been taking some steps to reduce the amount of plastic we use, dispose of plastic as responsibly as possible, and look for healthier alternatives.
If you're in the same boat, and you'd like to cut down on the amount of plastic coming into and out of your house, there are some simple things you can do to get started.
Decluttering Plastic From Your Life
Here are some things you can do to reduce the amount of plastic in your home:
- Start using reusable shopping bags instead of disposable plastic bags.
- Learn about how to dispose of plastics in your area. This will drive a lot of your decisions. Call your waste management company and ask about recycling for plastics as well as alternatives to plastic you might consider purchasing instead. Earth911 is also a good resource.
- Start noticing packaging when making purchasing decisions. My last trip to a warehouse store was a real eye-opener. Everything is wrapped in plastic! Look for items that are packaged in materials that are recyclable in your area.
- Set aside a separate bag to collect plastic waste in for one week. Even if you can't recycle the plastic, it's a good way to see what kinds of plastic you are using and disposing of in your own home.
- Swap out the things that bother you the most. I decided our sippy cups had to go, and I swapped them out for Klean Kanteens and stainless steel cups for our kids.
- Repurpose plastic items you no longer feel comfortable using. We switched to almost all glass food storage containers, but we still had a lot of plastic storage containers left over. I'm using them to store smaller items like hair elastics and bobby pins.
- Use up the things you have while you look for alternatives.
- Remember that not everything needs to be replaced with a plastic-free version. For right now, unless something is directly impacting our health, I'm going to keep using it until it's no longer useful. To me, there's no sense in wasting perfectly good things if we actually use them or need them.
- It's okay to donate plastic things you're not using. Even if you're completely dedicated to going totally plastic-free, donating plastics can lower the demand for new plastics to be produced.
- Check out these 40 Easy Ways to Avoid Plastic Waste from Green Oklahoma. There are so many smart ideas on this list!
- Get inspired but not overwhelmed. Reading about how others have ditched plastics can give you ideas on how to reduce plastic in your own home. Use these resources for inspiration, but keep in mind that taking things slowly and not getting overwhelmed is best. Recommended Reading: Plastic Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and You Can Too – and – Zero Waste Home.
Decluttering plastic doesn't have to be all or nothing. For us, changing our food serving and storage containers to non-plastic versions was a big first step.
Even though it wasn't a huge change, I'm noticing that it's much easier to keep our kitchen organized. Our plastic cups, containers, and bowls were difficult to stack and keep tidy. With our more sturdy glass and stainless steel items, keeping things organized more manageable. We're also saving money by not having to replace damaged plastic items as often.
I've been noticing that most of our plastic waste comes in the form of plastic baggies. I love my plastic baggies, so getting rid of them is going to be tough. I've figured out alternatives for snack bags, but I'm still struggling with what to do with meat that needs to be frozen.
New to this community? Start here, friend!