The hardest part of converting our plastic consumption is to break the habit. Especially for fast-moving urban citizens who are constantly on the go and with almost no time (or energy, for that matter) to wash their water bottles or not to forget their canvas shopping bags.
Here are some alternatives for an environment friendly products you can dispose after a single use without harming our earth.
- Biodegradable plastic bags
With about 1 trillion plastic bags used each year across the world, plastic bags become one of the main sources of trash. Unfortunately, plastic bags could decompose after 1000 years. Imagine how many generations would live amongst mountains of trash! If it’s hard to part with practical plastic bags and if you keep forgetting your canvas shopping bag, disposable eco-friendly “plastic” bags may be your solution.
There are two types of biodegradable plastics. Bioplastics, in which the “plastic” is made of renewable raw materials. Then, there’s plastics made from petrochemicals which contain biodegradable additives to enhance biodegradability. As for biodegradable plastic bags, some of the most famous materials used are corn oil, orange peels, starch, and plants. There’s even a rising popularity in plastic bags made of cassava!
2. Edible cups
If you’re planning on throwing a fun yet still eco-friendly party, you may want to switch paper of plastic cups to jello cups. They are firm enough to hold liquid and are edible at the same time!
3. Compostable plastic cups and utensils
Do jello cups still take some effort? Well, try compostable plastic cups made of corn starch. If you can switch those petroleum-based traditional plastic bags to organic ones, why not swap the plastic cups too? Corn starch based plastics can also be made into compostable “plastic” utensils (fork, knife, spoon).
4. Switch to paper
The three alternatives above may still require extra efforts since most restaurants, supermarkets and such are still using traditional plastics. So, the most possible way is to provide these fake plastics ourselves. Yet, most of us are still in doubt to invest an extra few dollars in eco-friendly products and then having to carry them everywhere.
The least amount of effort you can do is by opting for papers wherever you shop. Paper bags for groceries, paper cups for coffee. It only takes two to six weeks for papers to decompose. And no, there is no excuse for this change of habit because paper packaging are everywhere!