8 Easy Tips for Reducing Plastic Pollution at Home

Billions of plastics are sent to the landfills each year, where they can sit for hundreds of years without degrading. Reducing the amount of plastics used in our homes can significantly improve environmental health – both locally and globally.

Ready to make a change and help the environment? Start by implementing these eight easy tips to reduce plastic pollution at home.

  1. Stop purchasing disposable water bottles. Instead, invest in a faucet filter and reusable bottles. This can stop as many as 1,460 plastic bottles a year going to landfills – that’s per person. An average family of four could reduce plastic pollution by 5,840 bottles a year.
  2. Reuse plastic containers that food items come in instead of purchasing new Tupperware. You will reduce plastic waste by 20+ containers per year and save around $25 per year.
  3. Make your own baby food at home instead of purchasing those that come in little plastic tubs. Families with babies could prevent over 1,000 plastic tubs from being thrown away.
  4. Purchase in bulk to cut back on plastic wrappers – and save money in the process! Just be sure to avoid bulk items that simply repackage single use items, as this creates even more waste.
  5. Avoid single use drink containers like juice boxes. Purchase large glass bottles of juice instead, or frozen concentrates. Both produce less waste than single use bottles.
  6. Skip the disposable diapers and use cloth ones instead. A single baby can produce an incredible 3,000 or more diapers in a single year, which could be replaced by less than 100 cloth diapers (which are also more biodegradable). Bonus is all the money saved. Cloth diapers could save an average family over $500 in a single year.
  7. Choose reusable shopping bags over plastic or paper. Ready for some more big numbers? The average family of four could potentially prevent more than 500 plastic bags from ever reaching the landfills each year.
  8. If you do use any plastics, always make sure you recycle them. Do not just throw them away.