Earth Day: A waste minimization Guide

It is Earth Day! But it is also just another day to think about making better choices to preserve our environment and minimize our carbon footprints. It is also many days late for us to be environmentally conscious. So, let’s start today. Let’s learn how we can minimize our carbon footprint by waste reduction and get on board with being mindful towards the environment.  

Here’s a short guide –  

1. Reduce your food waste  

This is one of the easiest ways you can minimize your waste. All you need to do is some altercations to your food habits.  To start off with, only buy food that you need. It’s so easy! You will even save some money. We often have the tendency to buy more than we need, which leads to food going to waste. But you can prevent it by planning your meals and only buying what you need. Next thing you can do is, using what you have. Before deciding to buy more food, look around in your pantry – do you have food that you can use for the day? If yes, use it! That will save you from a lot of waste.  

Easier steps coming through now! The third thing you can do is, avoid serving too much. You can identify how much you need to eat and serve accordingly. Don’t overserve, and be mindful of the food you’re eating. In case you make extra food, share that extra food with others. That way, you are minimizing your waste and spreading happiness. Last but not the least, you can always repurpose your waste whenever possible. For example, you can use pasta water to water your plants or use banana peels as fertilizer. Easy and convenient, right? 

2. Carry reusable cloth bags for grocery shopping.

Here’s the golden rule for waste minimization – avoid using plastic and paper bags as much as you can. And one way to do that is always carrying a cloth bag with you, especially for grocery shopping! Most stores provide plastic or paper bags for you to carry your groceries. If you carry your own cloth bag, you will not only be helping the environment by minimizing the use of plastic or paper – but you will also be helping the grocery stores. So, what are we waiting for? Find a cloth bag right now, and keep it in your bag at all times. It will be your new best friend.  

3. Go straw-less  

Single-use straws might seem like a small waste but it actually contributes greatly to environmental pollution. To add to that, plastic straws are not even widely recyclable. Refusing to use a plastic straw is a simple way to make a measurable impact. This can include, asking restaurants and cafes to not add plastic straws to your drink. And if you’re feeling brave enough, educate these places to avoid the use of straws completely. Go straw-less and help others go straw-less as well. But if you like to enjoy your drinks with a straw, we have a solution for that as well! Purchase a reusable straw! This seems like a small change to your life, which it is – but the ripple of changes it will create is immeasurable.  

4. Avoid the use of plastic or paper as much as possible 

Paper? Plastic? None of them!  

The answer is to avoid plastic and paper as much as possible. This is a very smart choice to make because both plastic and paper greatly contribute to environmental pollution. This won’t be as easy as some of the aforementioned points, but this can make a drastic difference. If you look around, there is plastic and paper everywhere! So, how do you avoid it? This is going to be challenging. Using cloth bag is one solution. Other than that, use your electronic devices to take notes. Start using reusable items like reusable toothbrush, buy soaps (that is not packaged with plastic) instead of shampoo bottles. Find places that offer a refill options for your products so that you can use the same jar and minimize your waste.  

This one is a bit tough and requires some major changes, but you can do it if you truly want to.  

5. Recycle – the right way 

You hear this word a lot. But what does it really mean? It is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. Recycling keeps materials out of the landfill by repurposing used materials into new products that can be used again. By recycling right, you are keeping material out of the landfill, and also reducing contamination in the recycling stream. Recycling the right way can be a changing point in the environment saving game. So, google right away! Recycle clean bottles, cans and papers. Keep food and liquid out of your recycling process, and yet again, avoid plastic! Educate yourself about recycling! You can do it!  

We only have one Earth and as cliché as it might sound – this is our home and there is no Planet B. So, let’s educate ourselves and learn about conserving environment. Let’s take mindful steps and become environmentally conscious. Happy Earth Day!