5 products you can change to help the environment

Scientists have estimated that there will be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050. Here is what you can do to save our planet.

1.Reusable Water Bottle

Many of us are guilty of constantly buying plastic bottles from the shop because of how convenient it is. However, this is not convenient for Mother Nature and the planet we live on. Using bottles made from glass, stainless steel or alumiƬnum will help immensely and is very easy to do, rather than throwing away a product once it is empty. This can include coffee cups which many places like Starbucks have endorsed the quest for an environmentally friendly scheme and will take off a certain amount if you bring your own cup with you. Americans alone are said to throw away 35 billion plastic bottles each year, the amount for the world itself must be obscene.

Photo courtesy of Uni World

2. Bamboo toothbrush

Brushing our teeth has been a part of our daily routines for so many years that we hardly seem to give it a thought, but due to the crisis and the rising awareness of plastic pollution, we are all as a whole becoming more critical and aware of our choices. Toothbrushes take a long time to decompose and a lot of them end up in the sea, damaging and posing a risk to the marine habitats and animals. To curb this we can stop buying plastic toothbrushes and buy a bamboo toothbrush, which only cost around Ā£2-3. Some of these use a Moso bamboo which is panda friendly in the sense that they do not eat this kind or live in the areas where it grows.

Photo courtesy of The vegan kind supermarket

3. Bags

Plastic bags have a bad stigma attached to them with all the coverage they have received over the past years associated with the problems they pose on the environment. Ā With supermarkets now charging, it goes further to say that they should be depleted from society altogether due to the other options available to us. There should be no excuse. It makes perfect sense to always carry a reusable bag with you. There are many options in todayā€™s market such as canvas bags made from Cotton. These are not the greatest due to the cost on the farming side but are certainly a better improvement. The Co-Op has introduced composite friendly bags costing 5p, which they have a secondary use as food waste liners. In a statement, the Co-Op said: ā€œThe bags can be turned into compost along with the household food waste, and are approved for home composting.ā€ This is a step in the right direction to stop the single-use plastic abuse.

Photo courtesy of Flickr

4. Shampoo, conditioner, and soap

Quite often we are using shampoo, condition and soap bottles and discarding them in the bin after use. All of the time these contain a cocktail of chemicals that pose a range of risks to both us and the environment. Even the products marketed as organic and natural might only contain a trace of a natural ingredient mixed in with a dangerous synthetic formula. It is most notably easier to reduce our plastic waste by buying a shampoo bar which seems to be the most popular option at the minute. The prices for these can range between Ā£2.60 and beyond. They are very accessible with the store lush having their own range but also through other sites and also a variety of vegan products are available.

Photo courtesy of wikimedia

5. Lighter alternatives

As we are students I am sure there are a fair amount of people who smoke and countless of lighters being thrown away when they are empty and of no use. An alternative to this is to go back to using matches as we have many years ago. Even though we are cutting down trees for matches, they are fully biodegradable, unlike lighters. However, if you cannot seem to throw out the lighters completely, it is suggested to invest in a refillable one. Consuming plastic can kills birds by puncturing their internal organs. Similarly, when a bird consumes several pieces of plastic, there is little room for real food, which can result in starvation. So why not quit smoking altogether and save the planet.

Photo courtesy of Coverage.sg

By Abi TrĆ¼nk

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