Top Ways to Reduce Waste at Home
Sustainability is not a trend. It’s a lifestyle that we must define and redefine for ourselves as we navigate the way we approach our environment every day – as imperfect as that process may be.
What does “sustainability” actually mean?
Taking care of our planet matters. To be sustainable is to avoid depleting natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance (Oxford Dictionary). Essentially, we need Mother Earth in good condition for our human bodies to stay alive, healthy, and well. From the moment we were taught to recycle, we’ve seldom related back to sustainability since. Believe it or not, it goes hand-in-hand with what we must do to ensure our earth is protected. In order to sustain our environment, we need to give back just as much as it gives us. It’s a two-way street. Recycling is an action of assistance when we reduce, reuse and recycle foreign products that the earth did not give us.
How can we reduce waste at home?
The fun part about recycling is that we can all take part in it – no matter who or where you are. The first place we can start is right at home by reducing waste. Here are some easy ideas:
- Reuse your glass condiment containers once they are empty
- Reuse a canvas tote bag for groceries/shopping
- Store dry items in refillable glassware
- Eliminate plastic bags and use washable, reusable bags (link to a suggested brand, like Stasher?)
- Invest in reusable kitchen rags
- Repurpose product containers like Eva NYC’s Therapy Session Hair Mask as a planter or store your pens/pencils!
- Leverage resources like TerraCycle that exist to help recycle things you can’t throw into your curbside bin
- Buy from brands or small businesses with recyclable packaging. I am so thrilled that my favorite hair care products from Eva NYC come in sustainable, recyclable aluminum packaging. Aluminum is 100% recyclable, forever – which means it can be recycled over and over. LOVE THAT!
I immigrated to the U.S. at 3 years old and do not know much of how sustainability was carried out in my home country of Venezuela. But as an immigrant, reducing, reusing and recycling came second-nature in my household. Finding ways to get the most use out of a product before discarding it was how my family lived. Now I use my platform to elevate the BIPOC immigrant voice and remove any stigmas and stereotypes.
Sustainability is important to me because action must happen before it’s too late. Our generation was taught how to recycle at one point in our lives, and it is our duty to carry it out for future generations.
