In the eleventh episode of the Green Podcast, we share tips on how to reduce your consumption of single-use products and find alternatives to plastic and cellulose from the comfort of your home.
Often we do not notice what negative consequences for the environment such seemingly familiar and insignificant things as cotton swabs or wet wipes have. On a global scale, these little things cause the same serious damage to nature as throwing away clothes from mass markets or using plastic bags. We figure out how to make your apartment environmentally friendly, and why it is so important to dispose of even eco-friendly products.
The expert of the issue is the founder of the educational project NOPLASTICITSFANTASTIC and co-founder of the first eco-school in our country, Olesya Besperstova.
Conversation timeline:
0:30 — How to lead an eco-friendly life in a city apartment?
1:50 – What can replace disposable products?
6:14 — How to deal with recycling?
11:22 — How to replace disposable kitchen utensils?
21:03 – Life together: what if the neighbors do not support my views?
26:54 — Skeptics and criticism: is it necessary to deal with sidelong glances in the store?
31:42 — Radical actions in favor of the environment
Several conversation highlights
It is enough to look around to understand how many disposable things we use for the sake of extra comfort. At the same time, in order to live eco-friendly, it is not necessary to run to the eco-goods store and buy half the store. It is enough to use everything that is already available in your apartment.
- To begin with, it’s worth doing a little analysis of your apartment and see what things can be replaced with longer-term ones: for example, solid analogues that can be bought without additional packaging can become an alternative to shampoos, balms and soaps in plastic packaging, and a disposable razor can be replaced with a reusable one. which will serve you for a very long time.
- The basic principle of sustainable living is to find an additional use for any thing. A plastic toothbrush can be used to clean sinks or sneakers. Bamboo brushes or sticks can be composted or used in gardening. Wet wipes – replace with cotton ones soaked in essential oils. This principle will help you reduce your ecological footprint.
- If it is impossible to find an additional use for a thing, it should be substitute. Instead of packaging film, use containers or glassware. Replace paper towels and rags with cotton ones, and if there are none, make them from old T-shirts. Dish sponges create a huge amount of microplastics, so if possible, buy jute sponges – they decompose and will last much longer than ordinary ones.
- To reduce your plastic consumption, you can use reusable trash can, but then you have to sort the garbage. If you’re not ready for that step, it’s best to start small: don’t buy plastic trash bags, but use the plastic bags you have.
- If your loved ones do not support your views, you should not put pressure on them. Sometimes the very realization of how much garbage we produce can be frustrating and discourage us from following green initiatives. As far as possible, try to take criticism with humor – all changes must be gentle and non-violent.
- Each consumer decides who to give their money to. You can make a difference by choosing products and vendors that use sustainable packaging or sell reusable items. This is a good signal for companies: they see that customers, for example, want a product in glass packaging, since it can be recycled many times. These decisions can ultimately lead to positive change.
In order not to miss new releases, subscribe to the podcast and listen to us on Apple Podcasts, CastBox, Yandex.Music, Google Podcasts, Spotify and VK Podcasts, as well as on our Telegram channel.