It’s almost inevitable that each day you’ll hear words like, global warming, climate change and recycling. If you’re really listening: perhaps zero waste, microplastics and great pacific garbage patch. Stay with me here!
The feeling of ‘what can I do?’, or ‘how do I make a difference?’ can be overwhelming. After all, we can’t all be expected to fit 4 years of trash into one mason jar, although goodness knows I tried. For a week. And failed!
Anne-Marie Bonneau, creator of The Zero Waste Chef said, “We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly”. This quote has been doing the rounds on social media for a while now, and for good reason. We can all do our little bit for Mother Nature because when we set a good example, others are more likely to follow suit.
If you tell someone to recycle that bottle of OJ they just chugged down in 12 minutes (the average time a disposable item/single use plastic is used for) more than likely, they’re going to just throw it in the nearest trash. But if you lead by example — place your OJ bottle in the recycle bin (even if it’s a few steps further!), without saying a word, more than likely ol’ mate will put theirs in the recycle bin as well. Set standards of the right behaviour and watch as the people around you do the same.
I realise the irony in suggesting you recycle something. But it’s all about doing one little thing. Which then becomes a habit. And then someone sees you do that thing, and they decide without any push from you, that they will do that thing too. You get where I’m going with this right?
Some of our favourite habit changes are simple:
- We’ve said it before, but keep the ‘big three’ handy at all times: reusable coffee cup, reusable water bottle and a reusable shopping bag.
- Keep your reusable bags in a place where you’ll remember them, and if you do forget them, consider carrying as much in your hands as you can, it will be like the Olympics of grocery shopping.
- Start your own compost.
- Buy a bamboo toothbrush, but you already knew that 😉
Some extras for experts:
- Keep a metal straw in you bag, or better yet, just go without a straw, live dangerously.
- Take your own crockery or tupperware to your local takeaway restaurant. Refuse their single use plastic containers!
And just like that, eco swaps becomes the norm. The transition to living more sustainably has been incredible over the past few years. The shift in behaviour and habits has been fantastic to see. What the norm used to be, (single use coffee cups!!), is now a thing of that past. Think of where we will continue to go if we change our habits and lead by example.
So now you’re no longer adding as much to landfill, you’ve lowered the amount of greenhouse gasses, you’ve bought a Tesla, gone vegan and now you fit 7 years of trash in a jar. Kidding, just kidding. But every little thing, makes a bigger impact that you may realise.