Our tips to reduce plastic waste

© Laetitia Schahl – Thank you Laetitia for your picture. Discover her universe here.

While it used to be associated with technological progress a couple decades ago, plastic is today associated with overuse and environmental damage. Despite multiple actions being created to limit its consumption, plastic remains very present in our everyday lives. However, some simple daily actions can have a real impact!

Plastic use in numbers

Every year, around 450 and 550 kg of plastic are produced per person. Worldwide, about 5.000 billion plastic bags are used every year. The bigger problem: only a small fraction of this amount, less than 10%, is recycled.

The impact of plastic

This impressive amount of non-recycled plastic ends up in landfills, pipes or oceans, where bags need 450 to 500 years to disappear from nature whereas a plastic bottle will last 100 to 1000 years. It has a negative impact on marine life which suffocates and consumes large amounts of plastic every year. Livestock also suffers from this issue and in turns, we end up consuming plastic particles. In other words, excessive plastic use is not only an environmental issue but also a health issue !

How to limit daily plastic use ?

We can all help the situation change by implementing a couple simple actions :

Grocery shopping :

• Avoid over packaging and single-packaged items.
• Prefer items sold in bulk or by the slice, and bring your own container.
• Always carry a reusable bag.
• Prefer reusable or returnable packaging to single use containers.

At the office :

• Replace single-use cups by a mug or a thermos.
• Likewise, stop buying plastic bottles and use reusable water bottles.

In the kitchen :

• Choose silverware or utensils in metal or wood.
• Ban** single-use straws **and instead use metal reusable straws.

In the bathroom :

• Choose solid soaps and shampoos instead of bottles.

• Use a bamboo toothbrush, a natural and biodegradable material, as well as solid toothpaste.

• Choose cleaning products and laundry detergents with a higher concentration.

• You can also make your own products to clean your house with natural ingredients :

• For an anti-scaling disinfectant : add one tablespoon of sodium bicarbonate to 1L of hot water and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar.

Kazidomi tip: add a couple drops of essential oil for a nice smell in your house!

• For your windows : mix distilled vinegar with the same amount of water, then scrub your windows with a soft cloth.

• For laundry : replace your fabric softener with white vinegar! And don’t be scared, your laundry will not smell like vinegar once the cycle is over. Furthermore, vinegar will help remove lime scale buildup from your washing machines which helps the maintenance!