There is a challenge going on in the blogosphere right now about Ditching our Disposables. I’m in!
We’ve been on a years-long journey about our economic and environmental impact. We’ve slowly weaned ourselves away from certain behaviours, occasionally flirted with others and reckoned that sometimes, you just need a paper towels so would someone please get off my back about it.
Anyway, I’m in….I think.
You can make the switch from:
- Paper napkins to cloth napkins
- Paper towels to cloth towels or something like Skoy cloths
- Tissues to handkerchiefs
- Paper, plastic or Styrofoam plates to your kitchen plates
- Disposable utensils to regular silverware
- If you order food “to go” or have food to take home from a restaurant, bring your own container rather than accepting Styrofoam or plastic
- Inexpensive plastic “Take & Toss” sippy cups to Thermos or Camelbakbottles or the Klean Kanteen
- Disposable water bottles to (again) reusable bottles like Thermos,Klean Kanteen or Camelbak
- Plastic sandwich bags or paper lunch bags to reusable containers/bags
- Plastic straws to glass or stainless steel straws
- Swiffers (or similar products) to a broom and dustpan or mop (or use reusable cloths like cloth diapers/terry inserts in your Swiffer)
- Disposable dust rags to cloth rags
- Disposable diapers to cloth diapers
- Disposable wipes to cloth wipes (inexpensive plain washcloths work really well)
- Disposable feminine products (tampons, pads) to reusables likeDivaCup, MoonCup, Glad Rags, Luna Pads, Pretty Pads, or New Moon Pads, among others. You can even make your own pads.
- Grocery store bags to reusable bags
- Disposable wrapping paper or gift bags to reusable cloth gift bags
- Single-use batteries to rechargeable batteries
Or, for the really crazy dedicated:
- Toilet paper to cloth wipes/washcloths (for #1 or #2 too if you are really, really adventurous)
Suffice to say, I’m not the crazy-dedicated.
I’ve made a few of the switches above like grocery store bags to reusable bags. But I”m going to tackle my paper towel consumption. I have tried to avoid them but since our house went up for sale, my consumption has gone through the roof.
I also love the ideas about gifts – moving from paper to reusable cloth bags or wrappings. Lovely, right?
If you’d like to join in, visit Crunchy Domestic Goddess.
I might have to visit the Salvation Army tomorrow to find some hankies to launder.
