Level 1 (Easy Basics) Recycling Reuse Lifestyle Practices

Five Habits to Start on Earth Day: Pick ONE

  1. Tap into a recycling program if you can

If your city/town offers curbside recycling pickup in your neighborhood, you’re likely already paying for it as part of your monthly water/trash/sewer bill. So take advantage of it, even if you start out by just collecting junk mail and the cardboard boxes from at-home deliveries/online purchases you may have accumulated during the pandemic.  If you don’t have access to curbside recycling, hopefully your community at least offers bins where you can drive your stuff to drop, hopefully not too far away. My city and the surrounding suburbs offer municipal drop-off bins for those not served by the recycling service; many schools have bins in their parking lots just for paper and cardboard drop-off—the schools make a little money from the company that picks up the bins on a regular basis. Check your city’s website for more information.

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2. Replace dryer sheets with dryer “balls”

These wool or plastic balls tumble with your laundry in the dryer and replace the need for dryer sheets. I recommend the wool kind that usually come in packs of two or three. I found mine at Tuesday Morning; they are also available at Target, Walmart, and through Norwex, among other sources. (Some brands of the plastic kind, with little knobs sticking out like a coronavirus, are too tough on certain fabrics, I’ve found.) You can scent the wool kind with a couple drops of essential oil.

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3. Use reusable drinking straws

One of my daughters got me turned on to these after she moved to her own apartment and left some of her glass and metal straws behind. There are also reusable plastic ones out there. The secret to using any of them on a regular basis is also making sure to have a “straw cleaning brush” on hand to clean them after you use them—we keep ours in a glass jar next to the sink along with our dish wand.  I like the glass drinking straws best—you can see “clearly” if they’re clean or not. Carrying a foldable one with you in a pocket or purse is a “beyond basics” reuse step; I’m hoping to get into that habit now that I have a nice one in a little carrying case I recently bought from Target’s Dollar Spot.

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4. Replace disposable food storage bags with reusable food storage bags

When my husband started the habit of rinsing out plastic sandwich bags and placing them on the dishrack to dry, because he thought it was such a waste to throw them away, I knew it was time to try reusable storage bags (regular plastic bags don’t dry well or clean easily; they’re too flimsy). Leave it to my older daughter to encourage us in that area as well; she had started the reusable bag habit in college, too. So, we bought a set of BPA-free, reusable silicone food storage bags; after use, we just rinse them out and dry them by opening them up and placing them over a few prongs on the top rack of our dishwasher, or over glasses that are already drying on our countertop dishrack. They are really handy—we got a set with several sizes, and we use them in both the freezer and fridge. (I need to buy more!)

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5. Take your own reusable produce bags to the grocery store (along with your reusable grocery totes)

Unless you prefer just grabbing produce without bagging it, and putting it in your grocery cart along with all your other items (which is always an option), try bringing your own clear bags to the store or buy some of the many reusable produce bags available now (such as on Amazon and through Norwex) . They are usually made of a lightweight, washable mesh fabric and have a drawstring at the top, so you don’t have to grab one of the bags or twisty ties that the grocery store provides.  I think they are a great idea, as those plastic bags on rolls in produce departments are so dang hard to open, and waste so much time, at least for me (and no, during a pandemic or any other time in the grocery store, I don’t want to lick my fingers to help roll open the top of those bags!).

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Already do some or all five of the above? I’d love your comments/feedback below. And, stay tuned to this blog for more ideas of new reuse habits to try–