Living an eco-friendly and sustainable lifestyle isn’t exactly easy. However, if you really want to lessen your impact on the environment, you should make some significant changes. These changes should include the products you buy. Certain products, unfortunately, eliminate natural resources and have production processes that harm the environment. Some are even toxic. Thankfully, there are much more environmentally friendly and sustainable alternatives you can choose instead.
Organic Unpaper Towels
One thing that has a huge negative impact on the environment is the paper product industry. Up to 40 percent of the trees used for commercial purposes are used solely for paper products. If we could simply lessen our dependence on things like paper towels, this could make a huge difference. One alternative you can purchase instead are “organic unpaper towels.” These work exactly like normal paper towels. However, they are instead manufactured from completely sustainable cotton. Better yet, they are washable and reusable, unlike paper towels. You’ll save money in the long run as well as help save trees.
Loofah Dish Sponge
What you may not know is that the dish sponge you use in your kitchen probably isn’t very environmentally friendly. These aren’t creatures from the ocean like Sponge Bob. Instead, they tend to be made out of plastic materials like polyurethane or polyester that do not biodegrade and could stay in landfills or elsewhere for extremely long periods of time. The production processes of these materials can also be quite harmful to living things. Thankfully, you can choose instead to buy a loofah dish sponge made out of plants. You’ll be able to clean your dishes in the same way as before but by using a non-harmful alternative composed of loofah and cellulose.
Wool Dryer Balls
Household appliances are still a must for living in modern society. However, there are ways you can use these appliances in a more responsible manner so their impact on the environment isn’t as extreme. This even includes your dryer. One thing you can purchase for your dryer is wool dryer balls. These balls can help lessen the amount of time your dryer needs to run to dry clothes by up to 40 percent. The wool they are made from is also completely sustainable.
Stainless Steel Divided Lunch Box
Sometimes sustainable home goods are things we are already familiar with. Many of us, for one, used metal lunch boxes as children. Such a practice is actually much more environmentally friendly than what many people do today. Instead, they use disposable plastic, paper, or even Styrofoam containers to store food. Once the food is eaten, those containers are thrown into the trash. However, you don’t have to be so wasteful. Instead, opt for a stainless steel divided lunch box you can use to transport food and snacks to wherever you need them. It can be washed and then reused for many years.
Reusable Coffee Filter
Some of the ways we harm the environment we aren’t even that aware of because it has become part of our routine. If you are a coffee drinker, for example, one thing you must go through constantly is coffee filters. What you may not know, however, is that reusable coffee filters that do the same exact job as disposable ones are commercially available. One reusable cloth filter can last an entire year. It can make a big difference over having to constantly re-buy paper or plastic filters.
Beeswax Food Wrap
One of the most harmful materials you can use in home products is plastic. Unfortunately, plastic is cheap to make despite its harmful impacts on ecosystems and natural habitats. If you want to be greener, you’re going to have to move away from using so many different plastic products. This includes the plastic that is used in things like plastic wrap and Ziploc bags to store food. Thankfully, there are plenty of great alternatives that are much more sustainable. This includes beeswax food wrap. This wrap is made from a combination of beeswax, cotton, tree resin, and jojoba oil. Unlike plastic, all these materials are sustainable and non-toxic.
Overall, it isn’t nearly as difficult to move towards a more sustainable lifestyle. There are, in fact, many different great alternatives for things like home products to choose from. What’s even better is many of these alternatives are actually better constructed and last much longer than the non-sustainable versions you are using right now.
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