Waste reduction New Year’s resolutions might just be some of the easiest to keep! You don’t have to give up sugar, enter into a lifelong contract with a gym or contemplate doing Dry January.
The journey can seem overwhelming but you just need to start with one step and my mantra – for all things in life – is ‘progress not perfection’. You don’t need to squeeze your household rubbish for 2020 into a single mason jar.
These are my top-five easy switches to make:
1. Plastic Water Bottles – ditch them and invest in an insulated stainless-steel bottle and fill it up before you head out for the day. In this warm weather it’s also a good idea to fill up an extra container for top ups during the day. It can seem expensive spending $20-$30 on a good water bottle, especially if the whole family needs one, but when you consider that bottled water is 2000 times more expensive than filling it from home, it will pay for itself.
2. No Plastic Bags – not even the ‘reusable’ ones. They aren’t a better bag and depending on the manufacturing process need to be reused between 30 and 100 times to be consider a better alternative.
3. Shampoo and Conditioner Bars – I took a while to get around to trying these in my waste-reduction journey but I absolutely love them now, and love not having my shower littered with empty bottles that somehow never made it to the bin. On a little mini-break these holidays it was so simple to pop them both in a container for packing – no taking massive bottles or trying to decant them into specially bought travel size bottles that get used once a year.
4. Reusable Coffee Cup – I am still loving the KeepCup brand and now have one in every size depending on the level of caffeine needed that day. I also use my KeepCups for juices and smoothies, dry snacks and on one unfortunate occasion it was incredibly handy for a child overcome with motion sickness in the car!
5. Chickens – okay not a switch but an absolutely awesome way to have your food waste dealt with, get fresh eggs and some new feathered friends!
