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The start of a new year is always a great time to set resolutions, adopt lifestyle changes and prepare for the next stage in your life. Over the last year, The Wellness Feed has published multiple articles about how we can make small lifestyle changes to live more sustainably. This time, we’re rounding it up to offer you a few of the easiest eco swaps to adopt that are guaranteed to make a big impact. Try one or try them all. Either way, each of these eco swaps will bring you one step closer to living with zero waste while also reducing your CO2 emissions.
Accepting Brands →Writing Brands To Change
In April a CEO from one of the world’s largest companies (also one of the biggest polluters) said something that’s been said on the sustainable circuit for a while now- consumers have more power than we think. Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestle told CNBC that when we [consumers] ask brands to be sustainable, that’s when change happens.
Brands like Nestle have already announced their strategy to reduce CO2 emissions by 2050. And, it’s no coincidence that fast fashion retailers like H&M have been dabbling with recycled fabrics while Levi’s have unveiled water-recycling technology to reduce the dye and chemical pollution emitted from their popular jeans. When we as consumers practice sustainable consumption or write to brands about our concerns over their environmental impact, they listen. And, that’s when they review how they source materials, cut down on their energy use and make sustainable changes that can have a major impact on our environment.
*Use this template to ask brands to be more sustainable.
Buying A Plastic Water Bottle → Investing In A Reusable Water Bottle
With 1,000,000 plastic water bottles sold every minute, it’s accurate to say that plastic water bottles have become a part of our everyday lives. But, with the rise in searches for sustainable and eco-friendly, more consumers are questioning the status quo as we learn that single-use plastic isn’t doing our planet any good. “But, it’s really hard to change habits,” admits Benjamin Kander, founder of Welly Bottles. A few years ago, he launched his first reusable water bottle as a way to help people change one habit to solve one big environmental problem- avoid buying plastic water bottles.
Globally we’re buying 1 million plastic bottles every minute and recycling less than 10%. Many of these bottles can take 400 years to decompose in landfills while emitting harmful gases that can lead to global warming and whose chemical composition contaminates the surrounding soil and ground water.
Wearing Polyester → Choosing Organic Cotton
Every product has an environmental impact that begins with the raw materials used. Depending on what those are, that impact can be positive or negative. Most eco friendly products will be sourced from organic, regenerative, recyclable, or recycled resources. These tend to have a positive impact.
Every year 342 million barrels of oil are used for producing plastic-based textiles like polyester
Apply this knowledge when you’re shopping for clothes by checking out a garment’s label. A few eco friendly materials to look for include organic cotton, linen, bamboo, tencel deadstock fabrics and recycled nylon. These tend to make a positive impact on the environment and help to minimize waste. For instance, regenerative or organic cotton are grown without the chemical pesticides used in conventional cotton that are harmful to the soil and biodiversity. Also, regenerative cotton contributes to rich soil and crops that can sequester carbon from the atmosphere. Another example is the controversial polyester. Virgin polyester production uses an estimated 342 million barrels of oil yearly. An eco friendly alternative would be regenerative polyester, a type of polyester made from plastic water bottles and other plastic waste.
Using Conventional Cleaners → Using Natural Cleaning Products
The chemicals and ingredients that we wash down our drain from our cleaning products have an impact on the environment. Common cleaning ingredients like phosphorus, nitrogen and ammonia are labeled by the Environmental Protection Agency as “the worst environmental hazards in household cleaners”. These chemicals can deplete oxygen in freshwater sources and cause plant and animal species that depend on these sources to die off.
Here’s a roundup of brands that don’t contain substances or ingredients that are toxic to marine or plant life. They are fragrance free. They are designed to be used in cold water to conserve energy. And, they focus on refillable or recyclable packaging. You can read more about eco-friendly products for cleaning on the EPA website. And, while these brands aren’t directly affiliated with the EPA, they do meet much of the criteria for brands that reduce plastic pollution and ensure that you can clean your home without harming the environment.
Buying New → Re-selling and Shopping Pre-Loved
To honor their new sustainable initiatives, Ikea launched Green Friday as an alternative to Black Friday. With pop-up stores aimed at educating consumers about how initiatives like purchasing second-hand and reselling can minimize their environmental impact.
Thanks to brands like Ikea that have built a consumerist culture around disposable, inexpensive, short-term furniture, the industry also became an economic disaster. The Environmental Protection Agency shows that Americans lust for cheap-throw-away furniture is on the rise with Americans throwing out 12 million tons of furniture and furnishings in 2018, almost a 30% increase from 2000. This excessive waste contributes to deforestation in some of the planet’s most sensitive habitats while landfill pollution increases. Recently, Ikea has re-evaluated this model to offer customers a way to sustainably ‘dispose’ of furniture by offering products a second life.
Similar to fashion retailers like For Days and Levis that will take back old clothing items and recycle them for you, Ikea is launching their own buy-back-and-resell program. Whether you’re looking to revamp your style or simply need to dispose of an old piece of Ikea furniture, the retailer will buy (through store credits) and either recycle or resell these items for you.