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Episode 4: Reducing plastic waste from your kitchen part 2
Intro: Welcome to 1000 Ways Green! The show where we are going to give busy people like you easy ways to help save the planet for our future generations.
This week’s episode is continuing our series into looking at how to remove plastic from our lives and the planet. This week is part two of what you can do in your kitchen. Now onto this week’s three things:
Mint Green level: Swap out your probably very plastic scrub brushes for ones that are fully compostable. Rather than have to buy a new one every few months and add more plastic to the landfills, pick one that can be broken down and comes from a company with ethical creation standards. I have a link to one I like in the show notes. (plastic free, ethically sourced scrubber)
The other option for your Mint Green level this week is to take a look at your cleaning products. If you’re like most Americans (and me if I’m being honest) you have dozens of cleaning products, probably under your sink and most of them haven’t been touched in months if not years. Rather than not being able to find the correct cleaning product under your sink, stop using those containers and get ones that are reusable and won’t create a new plastic bottle each time you go through it. While I haven’t gotten into them much yet (we’re still working through a ton we got when my grandma passed away), I’ve heard raving reviews of the ones I’m recommending in the show notes from Blueland (their Plastic free cleaning solutions) from one of my good friends Dan Laschansky who swears by them for almost all of his eco products.
Shamrock Green level: Okay, on to our Shamrock Green level. Switch to bar soap rather than liquid soap. Every liquid soap container needs to be thrown away or recycled (if you can get it clean enough and your city recycles that type of plastic). When using bar soap from a good source there is nothing that can’t be composted or fully recycled. I like to buy from a local producer in the summer at a farmer’s market but buy online throughout the winter to have around the house or in the shower. So that is why this is your Shamrock Green challenge for the week, ideally you’ll find a local soap maker in your area that will sell it without any plastic waste. If you can't, I have linked to some of the ones I get in the winter. I especially like to buy ones like the Rainbow BTC Donation Bar Soap that donates 20% of their proceeds towards LGBTQ youth who have been kicked out of their home. Your call if you have the time this week to find a local soap maker or want to buy online.
Forest green level: For our forest green level I’m asking you to replace all your plastic wrap or cling wrap with silicone suction lids. All you need to do is put a cover over your cup, pot, bowl or whatever roundish thing you have and push down a little to seal in freshness, avoid splatter, store leftovers in the same container you cooked them in or even work as a sink stopper. Now why is this a Forest Green level challenge you might ask? That is because these aren’t that easy to find from great sources. I found one randomly at the Minnesota Zoo when I was there with my family but there aren’t that many local ones I’ve been able to find so I’m linking you to a set from Amazon in the show notes. So your goal is to find one locally if possible. If you can’t and do end up ordering from Amazon, please use the longest shipping time possible. I’m sure I’ll come back to this in another episode, but free 1-2 day shipping is horrible for our planet.
Thanks for listening, that is it for this episode. Next week we’re going to take a short break from our series on plastic removal to see if your bank is destroying the planet. As always, if you like what you heard I, (and the planet) would be extremely grateful if you would subscribe, recommend it to a friend and share on social media what you’re doing with the hashtag #1000waysgreen. That's it for this week, as always be green and be seen.
Links from the show:
Bar soap - specifically this Rainbow BTC Donation Bar Soap that donates 20% of their proceeds towards LGBTQ youth who have been kicked out of their home
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