You’ve been spending more time at home along with working remotely, this is a great opportunity to reduce waste at home too!
Here are some ways:
Choose reusables over disposables
The average consumer typically uses a single use plastic bag for twelve minutes. After those twelve minutes, it can take up to 1,000 years for a plastic bag to decompose (5).
Ditch the disposables by:
carrying your own reusable bag when shopping
using your reusable cup or mug to avoid the single use coffee cup
refilling your own bottle instead of buying bottled water
bringing your own lunch box and/or container to limit takeout waste
refusing single use cutlery, use your own silverware
opting for a reusable straw…
Reduce waste from printing
Be mindful when you print from home:
Think twice before printing, print only if really required
Opt for recycled paper
Opt for recyclable ink cartridge
Don't forget to recycle your paper
Reduce packaging waste
The world produces 400 million tonnes of plastic every year : 36% is single use packaging (2):
Plastic and other packaging waste makes up around 30% of total US waste annually (3).
780 million pieces of plastic packaging have been used for Hong Kong online shopping orders in 2020 (4).
To avoid excessive packaging, prefer
in-store shopping rather than online,
bulk buying,
refill shops…
Reduce food waste
One kilogram of food waste produces the same amount of carbon emissions as 25,000 500ml plastic bottles (6).
What you can do to reduce food waste:
Plan your meals
Make a shopping list
Buy only what you need
Organize your fridge
Order smaller portions
Store, freeze and be creative with leftovers…
And learn more here
Reduce plastic waste and single use plastic
The personal care and beauty industry produces more than 120 billion units of packaging every year globally (1). Only a small proportion get recycled. This plastic pollution should be addressed.
A few ideas:
Switch your bottles of shower gel, shampoo, conditioner… for solid bars!
Try toothpaste tablets!
Opt for refill stations for your cleaning products.
Eliminate cellophane and cling wrap by switching to beeswax wrap…
At home or at work, every little step counts to reduce waste!
References:
(1)https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/blog/2022/1/25/the-ugly-side-of-beauty-the-cosmetics-industrys-plastic-packaging-problem
(2)https://www.unep.org/interactives/beat-plastic-pollution/
(3)https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/the-problem-with-packaging-waste-how-zero-waste-grocers-are-powering-solutions
(4)https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3145538/780-million-pieces-plastic-packaging-used-hong
(5)https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/planet-earth/waste/plastic-bags-used-per-year
(6)https://wasteless.zerowastescotland.org.uk/articles/food-waste-plastic-waste
