Do you have any ‘everyday’ items that you have found a reusable alternative for? We share five easy zero waste swaps:
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We use a few from the Choice list…and some more…
- stainless steel straw (can be bought cheaply). While I don’t use straws, when one has children they often want to use straws from time to time. We were given some stainless straws (a straight one and a slightly bent one) and use this for the little one from time to time. The straws also came with a pipe cleaner which is handy when cleaning the straws as they are not the easily item to clean.
- bamboo chopsticks. We eat Asian food regularly and use them a couple of times a week. The ones we use were bought in Nanjing (China) in 2003 and ae still going strong. I expect that we will get another couple of decades use out of them. We also don’t take disposable chopsticks (or any cutlery) from Asian food outlets when we are out and about…as they are one use which seems a waste. It is worth noting we do have reusable plastic ones…which are never used as they are too hard to eat with (even though we have very advances user skills).
- reusable (modern cloth) nappies. This must have been our biggest waste minimiser. Anyone with children should seriously consider reusable ones as they work well and save about 5000+ single use nappies going to landfill. What does 5000 single use nappies look like, when they would just fit in one of the small Woolworths/Coles delivery trucks. Imagine that each one of these trucks is carrying nappy waste to landfill for every baby that uses disposable, and it gives an idea of the problem. When we were last in Kmart, we saw that they now sell them as well as extra liners (which are needed) in their baby section.
- food packaging/containers - we reuse these instead of buying alternative products. Examples include reusing glass jars bought in the supermarket for preserving fruit, product zip lock packaging as zip lock bags and the list goes on. There are many opportunities to turn single use packaging into a multiple use container.
- more recently, masks. While we have been fortunate not having to use them where we live, we have some on standby. Reusable marks can save many single use masks which would otherwise have gone to landfill.
- portable plates cutlery - we take our own when travelling (we happen to use Ikea plates, some old knives and forks and a Leatherman type multi-tool) when we travel. We also have a kit in the car with these as well just in case we need them when out and about. They come in handy when picking something up on the run and saves using single use disposable plates and cutlery from food outlets. The kit also includes reusable cloths/napkin for cleaning hands. On returning home, the kit is washed and placed back in the car for next time. We also carry reusable plates for picnics, when travelling overseas (in a day pack) and when bushwalking. If one travels with cutlery, make sure it is plastic/bamboo versions as steel/ceramic ones will be confiscated when passes through a security check.
- printer paper - it has two sides. It isn’t rocket science, if one side is used, turn it over and use the second side.
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I purchased 6 pack (X2) of cotton terry wash cloths from Woolworths over 2 years ago. I use a fresh one each day as a washing up cloth and give them a soak each week before laundering with the towels. I chose this after reading about the germs harbouring in reusable sponges and as a preference to the chux viscose cloth that wears out too quickly.
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Food packaging containers like yoghurt pots, spread pots, make perfectly good freezer containers.
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