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The mission of Rodale Sustainability is to help people live in
harmony with the environment in order to support present and
future generations. The premier destination for the best in
content, Rodale Books has been publishing award-winning,
bestselling books for more than seventy-five years.
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FOOD AND DRINK
#1 Buy fresh over frozen
Frozen is obviously great when it comes to prolonging the
shelf-life of food that would otherwise go bad quickly and have
to be thrown out—waste in itself. But the majority of frozen
veggies and fruit come in plastic packaging. However, you can
still freeze your food—instead just buy fresh and freeze in
reusable containers when you get home. Problem Solved!
#2 Beeswax food wrap
Who wants plastic wrap anyway? We’ve all been there trying to
unstick it when it’s rolled in on itself. So here is an
alternative for you—beeswax food wrap. It might sound a bit
hippie, but not only are these wraps biodegradable, they’re also
reusable for up to a year.
#3 Source your own sauce
Who here likes sushi? Who here likes soy sauce? *Me me me.* But
if you’re getting it in a take-out place, chances are the soy
sauce will come in a teenie little plastic packet. Avoid that
packet! Buy your own bottle of soy sauce for your kitchen
cupboard/to keep on your desk at work/to put in your bag if
you’re a real addict. The bigger bottle you buy, the less
packaging you use.
#4 Invest in lunchtime
The nicer your lunchbox, the more likely you’ll want to use
it/remember to pick it up after you left it to dry on the rack at
work. FACT. So treat yourself to a nice steel tin with your
initials engraved on it (also makes a good plastic-free gift for
fellow like-minded individuals).
#5 Bring your own bottle
You know this one already—but it’s amazing how many plastic
bottles of water and other drinks are still made and bought each
year; it’s currently estimated that a million plastic bottles are
bought around the world every minute.8 It’s not that plastic
bottles aren’t recyclable—the majority are—but with staggering
numbers like that, recycling efforts just can’t keep up. The
answer is simple: buy yourself a nice, snazzy reusable bottle,
keep it in your bag at all times, and fill it up at water
fountains on the go.
#6 Opt for the ice cream cone
Everyone knows one. That person who instead of getting their ice
cream in a cone asks for the scoops to go in the little tub with
the little plastic spoon. We know, we know, some people don’t
like the wafer. (If you’re one of them then you’re a little
weird, but we’re not here to judge.) But even if you DON’T like
the cone and you’ve somehow ended up surrounded by other people
who won’t finish it off for you either, as much as food waste is
a plague in itself, we know which container is biodegradable.
(Ice cream for president.)
#7 Be choosy about cheese
For a lot of us, cheese can be a big deal. But how to escape the
fact it often comes wrapped in plastic? Here are our top tips:
First, see if you have a local cheesemaker nearby you can try—the
likelihood will be you’ll not only be avoiding plastic packaging
by buying from them, you could also be reducing the mileage
between you and the source of the product (and bonus points for
supporting local businesses). Second, if you don’t have a local
cheesemaker/you don’t love cheese that much to warrant the price,
take a container to the cheese counter in the supermarket and ask
them to pop your chosen cheese in it. Third, some cheeses do
actually come in plastic-free packaging: wheels of cheese are a
good example (minus any plastic stickers), and some brands go for
cardboard boxes (just beware of plastic wrapping inside them).
#8 You deserve your own goblet
Take-out coffee cups are for the average (cup o’) Joe—you want
one that shows your personality and doesn’t give away that you
support huge conglomerates. PLUS a lot of coffee shops will
actually give you money off your hot drink if you bring your own
reusable cup.
P.S. Some coffee shops (and countries) are already wise to the
plastic pandemic and are using biodegradable cups made out of
recycled materials. But it’s still obviously better to avoid
one-off cups wherever you can.
P.P.S. If you do find yourself in desperate need of a hot
beverage and you’ve accidentally left your reusable cup on the
draining board, forgo the plastic lid and walk more carefully.
Every little bit helps.
#9 Shop at the bakery/greengrocer/fishmonger/butcher
Chefs love telling us to do this but is it really practical? It
might not be as convenient as getting all your food from one
place, but on the major plus side it can often be cheaper and the
food can be better, AND you get to feel warm inside for
supporting small businesses. Obviously these shops still do use
plastic—so make sure to take along bags and containers and ask
the person serving you to refrain from using plastic packaging.
Alternatively, you can ask the counters in supermarkets if they’d
be happy to do that for you too.
#10 Pack a bag
Lots of countries already tax plastic bags, and boy has it made a
difference to how many are produced each year. But we can all cut
back more. Plastic bags are still available, and it’s all too
easy to pop to the shops after work for a couple of necessities
and find yourself empty-handed. The solution is those very sexy
fold-up shopping bags that come in a pouch—they fold up small so
you can keep them in your handbag/rucksack/shoulder bag/donkey
saddle and whip them out whenever you need them. Lots of
department stores sell them, but you can also track them down
ever-so-easily online by searching “fold-up shopping bag.”
#11 Shop at zero-waste supermarkets
Zero-waste supermarkets are stores where you can collect your
dried goods in your own containers, thereby forgoing the plastic
packaging (or any other packaging, for that matter) that rice,
pasta, and the like are usually to be found in. Not everyone has
a zero-waste grocery store near them, but more and more are
popping up so keep your eyes peeled!
#12 Look for plastic-free aisles
Coming to a supermarket near you! Some supermarkets around the
world are planning an aisle of their own products that will be
entirely plastic-free. EkoPlaza in Amsterdam was the first in the
world to get one up and running, while the big chain Iceland in
the UK was the first to pledge to go completely plastic-free on
its own brands by 2023.
#13 Grow your own s
For s such as basil, mint, coriander, and parsley, growing
your own is SO easy, we promise. And it saves you having to buy
either plastic-packaged fresh s or those little plastic
containers of dried s, and that will also be cheaper for you
in the long run. So long as you have a part-sunny
garden/balcony/windowsill, a pot, some compost, and a good enough
memory to water the thing, you can do it. You don’t even need to
head to a garden center anymore to buy the seedlings (baby
s)—most supermarkets sell them nowadays, and if you look
after them, they’ll give you a return for months and months.
#14 Grow your own salad
While you’ve got your trowel in your hand for the s (kidding,
you don’t need one), spare a thought for the next absolutely
super-duper-easy-peasy foodstuff to grow: salad leaves. A tray,
some compost, some , some water. Place the tray somewhere
sunny, inside or out. You should see some little shoots appearing
within two weeks, and once the leaves are roughly three inches,
you can cut them with scissors whenever you’d like some. Like a
Christmas miracle, the leaves will grow back and you can keep
cutting to your heart’s content. (This does stop eventually—it’s
not really a magic trick. Then all you need to do is replace the
compost and re-sow the .) The upside to only “harvesting”
when you want to eat the salad is no soggy black lettuce at the
bottom of your crisper, and ultimately more money in your pocket
as a result.
#15 Swap potato chips for doughnuts
Yes, we’re serious! Sure we all know avoiding both the doughnut
and the chips would be better for our (pft), but if you’re
going to reach for a treat anyway, make it a loose baked product
like a doughnut or cookie over a bag of chips or cookies. Many of
the latter are packaged using layered plastic material, which
theoretically could be recycled but a lot of the time isn’t due
to the cost. Loose baked products on the other hand are totally
fair game.
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