Casen:
I have grown up in the great state of Texas my entire life. Down here we love football and country music, but not typically the environment. Texas traditionally hasn’t done a great job adhering to environmental regulations. Like the majority of Texans, I grew up in a household that didn’t really do much to minimize our carbon footprint.
I started a take a more open perspective on protecting our Earth when I met my girlfriend at 15. She loves animals and the Earth, she is a vegan, and best of all her name is also Kasen. Yes, we have the same first name except for the first letter. For the blog today, here is a piece from Kasen talking about a few ways you can take part in reducing the amount of plastic you use in your day-to-day. This will help you get ready for our Plastic Cap Challenge as well!
Kasen:
Plastic never decomposes on the earth. Almost every piece of plastic that has been produced is still on the earth in one shape or form. Think about it… every plastic water bottle you’ve ever drank from, along with every toothbrush, ziplock bag, and juice container you’ve used in your entire life is still in existence- even if it’s been recycled. Plastic is overflowing our landfills and polluting our oceans, damaging our planet and the animals that call it their home.
Unfortunately, with consumerism becoming more and more a part of our everyday lives, the use of plastic is on a rise. Here are just a few crazy facts:
- In the past 10 years, we’ve produced more plastic then we have in the last century.
- 50% of the plastic is only used once before it is thrown to the landfill
- In the Los Angeles area alone, 10 tons of plastic fragments— such as grocery bags, straws, and bottles, are carried into the Pacific Ocean every day.
- Annually, over 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. More than one million bags are used every minute.
So, why don’t we just recycle? That’s what I used to think as well. Recycling only works a small fraction of the time. If the things we’re throwing into the recycling are contaminated, or if something unrecyclable gets thrown in, it can compromise the entire bin. 75% of the world’s trash is recyclable, but we’re only recycling about 30% of that… and that percentage is continuing to go down as we speak. As a nation, we collect so much waste that we were having to ship our recyclables off to China, but the country has recently declared that they won’t take it any longer. This is how much waste we’re creating. Recycle facilities are majorly overloaded, and they’re having to send tons and tons of recyclable material off to the landfill to be able to be at all efficient.
Besides destroying our ecosystems, plastic is harmful to the body. You constantly see labels on plastic products claiming to be “BPA free,” which means we’re already cautious about using the substance in our everyday lives. Plastic chemicals are absorbed through your skin; statistics show that 93% of all Americans over the age of six will test positive for BPA- a hormone disrupter.
More than ever, it’s important to be mindful of the things you’re consuming, how they’re produced, and how you can treat the earth properly in the way you go about your everyday life. While it may seem like making a few adjustments won’t make a big difference, if every person were to make a positive change in just one small area, it would drastically reduce the amount of waste being produced.
When trying to live more low impact, it’s important to be familiar with the six ‘R’s’ of sustainability, stated in order of importance:
Refuse- bring less waste into your life, and don’t consume what’s not necessary
Reduce- understand what you actually need and consider more sustainable options
Reuse- replace single-use items with reusable options (think cups, straws)
Repurpose- how can you repurpose things like jars & cans in your life?
Rot- compost food scraps
Recycle- recycle (properly) waste that can’t be avoided or reused
Now that we have an understanding of why reducing waste is important, here are some easy tips on how to do it:
- Use bamboo toothbrushes, bar soap, safety razors & toiletries without plastic. These are all easy swaps. My friends & I all love our safety razors- they save you tons of money too.
- Invest in reusable straws & coffee cups. I like to keep a straw in my bag so I always have it with me whenever I’m out. In the future, I want to be better about bringing my own cup into coffee shops.
- Bring your own grocery bags & produce bags to the store. Plastic bags are no longer being recycled, so this is especially important! If your store has a bulk bin section, you can buy goods in reusable cloth bags and jars.
- Buy clothes second-hand. Thrifting is a great way to reduce your waste simply by not supporting clothing stores constantly pushing new trends. Besides, online shopping equals lots of unnecessary packaging. It also helps you avoid supporting fast fashion, but that’s a different topic…
- Lastly, compost! If you’re unfamiliar with composting, it’s all about turning organic materials, like food scraps, into soil. This prevents food scraps from going to waste in our landfills. Even if you don’t have your own backyard, you can still compost in some shape or form. I urge you to do your research & figure out a way, it’s truly much easier than you think!
thedihedral.com 
Composting is definitely the next step for my family…but it’s honestly a little intimidating to do in a neighborhood for a big family. This was a good reminder of why it’s important!
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It can definitely be a lot of work.
If you don’t want to do the traditional compost, you can always freeze your food scraps & see if there is a community garden that you can drop it off at, or see if there any farmer’s in your area that will take it off your hands. 🙂 Thanks for reading! Glad you enjoyed the blog
– Kasen
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Great list! It takes time to get into new habits but now even the 5 year old knows we need our reusable bags for shopping. Composting is probably the most intimidating of the projects as it does attract animals when not done correctly – we are still working on a good system.
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Thank you! Kudos to you for continuing on and working out the kinks! The best way to change the world is to teach them young so these new ways of living become the norm. Also that’s really cute. Thanks for reading. 🙂
– Kasen
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Reducing plastic and going for zero waste is my latest mission. I switched to bamboo tootbrushes about a month ago and honestly am so happy with them. We all have a duty to protect the planet. Great post Casen and Kasen 🙂
Karen x
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Bamboo toothbrushes were one of the first changes I made too! I’m looking forward to them being more widely available in grocery stores soon. I wish you the best of luck on your mission! So glad you enjoyed.
– Kasen
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We do all of those except for the bamboo toothbrushes and shavers. I’m definitely going to look into them!
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That is so amazing! My favorite safety razor is by the brand Merkur, and I love using the Astra blades (they come 100/$11). Also, don’t forget, you can compost or recycle your bamboo toothbrushes when they’re ready to be replaced! 🙂 thank you for your comment and for reading.
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Thank you for the recommendations! Love having suggestions that are tried and true already 👍🏻
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The sad thing you buy the paper stuff and you think from the other side how many trees are just died because of that box. And then you open the box and see every cookie inside wrapped in plastic. That’s most mysterious thing for me. Why they need to be wrapped even more? The great thing schools start to teach kids respect the Mother Earth. 😊🌟🌟🌟
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It is crazy how much unnecessary packaging tends to make its way into our lives, and a lot of people don’t give it a second thought. Great point- I think including more education about living sustainably would be a great thing to introduce into our kid’s schooling. And it does seem to be taking more of a part in their curriculum! – Kasen
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I agree. good produce makes good living.
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🙂 Thank you so much for reading!
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This is a good way to help people become more aware! I live in Sweden now, and I’m a part of a nature protection organization. It seems they are pretty environmentally friendly. But of course there’s still a problem.
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This is a great post. I also believe in living sustainably. Our mother earth is in dangerous phase of pollution and we need to create a better environment for our future generations!
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This is such a great reminder that taking little steps that can have a huge impact.
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Thanks for sharing!
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Great and current topic! plastic is everywhere and is making it’s permanence more evident now. I just posted about a similar topic.
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2019 and we are still leagues away from truly being capable of helping the planet!!
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….statistics show that 93% of all Americans over the age of six will test positive for BPA- a hormone disrupter…This is scary!!
Thanks Kasen for the tips.I always think about the environment before purchasing anything with plastic wraping but then the thought of “99% are inconsiderate about the same environment” hits me.
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Thanks for sharing
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One overlooked “R” word is “Rethink”.
If you want to make a change, Rethink about the way things are done. Don’t just replace plastic things with non-plastic things. Rethink about why we’re using those things in the first place.
Reusable straws? Why do we need straws at all? Reducing your carbon emissions by buying a smaller car? Why do you need a car at all?
You get close to this idea with “Refuse”, but I really wanted to highlight this one often overlooked concept.
You’re doing great work, Dihedral. Keep it up! I look forward to reading your next post! 🙂
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You write about things that I think about, and also sometimes write about. Good!
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So true…we all should inculcate a sense of responsibility towards our planet, and make this earth a paradise for each creature…
I loved your message
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I love what you wrote! The 6R’s concept is great! I am a zero waste learner, and now I learn about composting. I am Rian, from Indonesia. May I reblog this? I’ll put your name as the writer. Thank you so much for sharing 😊
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Rian, I am happy you enjoyed the article…please feel free to re-post as you wish!
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You sure know your stuff and put in a lot of effort for this! Respect!
As for me, I’ve been minimising resource waste for as long as I can remember, reusing it and getting stuff ONLY when it’s necessary. Less is more.
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