We all hear over and over again how our planet is in trouble. Concerns of global warming. Concerns of resources running out. Concerns about our landfills. Concerns of excessive pollution.
What can you do to make a difference? Have you heard the phrase, ‘reduce your carbon footprint?’ Basically what that means is reduce the amount of energy needed to complete daily tasks. Energy is used in ways most people don't realize or think about. This is not just referring to the energy it takes to run an appliance. Think more globally - production, transportation, use, disposal, etc. There are so many things you can do in your everyday life to make a difference. There are tons of blogs, websites, magazines and books out there sharing tips and tricks. A book I read a few years back that I found very helpful, The Green Book, is a great guide to small steps you can take in every area of your life.
Today I am going to focus on changes you can make in your kitchen.
I found a website that shared some pretty startling facts about waste and recycling, sourced from various places, one of them being the Environmental Protection Agency. Below are some of the ones that really stuck out to me.
- The average American office worker uses about 500 disposable cups every year.
- Every year, Americans throw away enough paper and plastic cups, forks, and spoons to circle the equator 300 times.
- Every year, Americans use approximately 1 billion shopping bags, creating 300,000 tons of landfill waste.
- Plastic bags do not biodegrade.
- Less than 1 percent of plastic bags are recycled each year.
- Recycling 1 ton of mixed paper saves the energy equivalent of 185 gallons of gasoline.
- Recycling 1 ton of aluminum cans conserves more than 207 million Btus, which is equal to 36 barrels of oil, or 1,665 gallons of gasoline.
- Aluminum can be recycled forever with no loss of quality.
- Every ton of glass containers recycled saves over a ton of natural resources.
- The energy saved by recycling one glass bottle can light a 100-watt light bulb for four hours or run a computer for 30 minutes.
- If we recycled all of our aluminum cans for one year, we could save enough energy to light Washington, D.C. for 3.7 years.
- At least 90 percent of the price of a bottle of water is for things other than the water itself, like bottling, packaging, shipping and marketing.
- 827,000 to 1.3 million tons of plastic PET water bottles were produced in the U.S. in 2006, requiring the energy equivalent of 50 million barrels of oil. 76.5 percent of these bottles ended up in landfills.
- 26 to 41 percent of the 2.4 million tons of PET plastic discarded every year is bottled water bottles.
- Because plastic water bottles are shielded from sunlight in landfills, they will not decompose for thousands of years.
- It takes about 1,100 to 2,000 times as much energy to produce and transport the average bottle of water to Los Angeles as to produce the same amount of tap water.
I am quite sure this is just a snapshot of statistics, with many more similar to this out there. So what better choices can you make to make a difference?
Have an Eco Friendly Lunch and Party.
Make a change to reusable lunch and party supplies - cups, plates, napkins, silverware, bags. There are even companies that offer reusable sandwich and snack bags. I personally like to use bamboo. It is lightweight and perfect for my lunch, but most importantly is a natural resource that is renewable, biodegradable and self sustaining.
Crate and Barrel: Lunch Plate
Eco-Gecko: Utensils, Plates, Bowls
Party City: Utensils, Plates, Bowls, Cups
Reuseit: Lunch bags, Boxes, Containers, Utensils, Napkins, Bottles
Ecobags: Lunch bags, Utensils, Bottles
Lunchskins: Sandwich and Snack Bags
Thirtyone: Bags
Bottles and Cups Oh My!
I bet most of us have a cabinet full of reusable water bottles and coffee mugs - use them! Keep one in your car, one in your office and anywhere else you frequently drink something. I know some people can’t stand the thought of getting rid of their disposable water bottles - I can only ask why? There are many sources out there that say tap water is more regulated than bottled. If you are still nervous, get a filter on your faucet and make sure you frequently change your fridge filter. Sure, occasionally a disposable water bottle makes the most since, but using a couple a month compared to daily will make a drastic difference.
Paper vs. Plastic - how about neither!?!
If you are out just picking up one or two things, don’t use a bag at all. Carry it out, or stick it in your purse. If you are buying quite a bit, use a reusable bag. Also, don’t use the individual plastic bags for produce, just put the produce directly in your cart or in your reusable bag. Reusable bags are becoming easier and easier to find. I would say just about every retailer has a type of reusable bag they sell. There are even a lot of stores that pay you for using them. If your family has multiple cars, keep bags in each car to increase likelihood of remembering to use them. Check out the below website for a lot of different styles of bags, including one of my favorites - the expandable string bags, which are great for produce.
Ecobags
Successful recycling.
Some cities now require recycling, but that doesn’t mean you are going to do it. It's a hard habit to form, but there are things you can to do make it easier. I have found if you have two containers in the kitchen, one for trash and one for recycling, it improves likelihood of doing it. Unfortunately, most recycling companies won’t take glass and from what I have read it is for safety reasons. Doesn’t really make sense to me, because glass can break just as easily in the trash as it can in the recycle bin, but who knows! Still important to try to recycle those items as well! We have a third container we use for glass and run it up to a local glass recycle bin once it is full. You will find glass recycle stations in a lot of grocery store and school parking lots. In the Kansas City area, you can find the closest glass recycling station here.
Greener Cleaning.
Successful recycling.
Some cities now require recycling, but that doesn’t mean you are going to do it. It's a hard habit to form, but there are things you can to do make it easier. I have found if you have two containers in the kitchen, one for trash and one for recycling, it improves likelihood of doing it. Unfortunately, most recycling companies won’t take glass and from what I have read it is for safety reasons. Doesn’t really make sense to me, because glass can break just as easily in the trash as it can in the recycle bin, but who knows! Still important to try to recycle those items as well! We have a third container we use for glass and run it up to a local glass recycle bin once it is full. You will find glass recycle stations in a lot of grocery store and school parking lots. In the Kansas City area, you can find the closest glass recycling station here.
Greener Cleaning.
As the ‘green’ movement is becoming more and more popular, more companies are starting to get on the bandwagon. There are a lot of different natural, non toxic, biodegradable cleaning products out there such as Seventh Generation, Method, Simply Green and probably the most accessible and reasonably priced Green Works. I have used all of these products. You could also try making your own cleaning products.There are lots of ‘recipes’ out there that include everyday ingredients like vinegar, baking soda, lemon. My most recent green clean discovery is the Scotch Brite greener clean non scratch scrub sponge. The package reads: the scrubbing fibers are made from 50% agave plant; the sponge outlasts 30 rolls of paper towels; sponges are made from 23% recycled materials; sponges made from 100% plant based fibers.
You may be thinking this isn’t really an eco-friendly kitchen change, but it absolutely is. The food in your garden, ends up in your kitchen. Planting your own or eating locally grown and produced food is a very eco-friendly choice. Think of the amount of gas and energy it takes to deliver food to grocery stores across the nation. With that said, I tend to think this is easier said than done. I planted my first food garden last year. It didn’t go so well. People kept telling me - ‘It was a really hot summer.’ I am not sure if that was the reason or just that I don’t have a green thumb. Either way I am going to give it another try this year. A friend of mine told me about a website that shares instructions on gardening specific to your zip code. I am going to use this and hopefully be more successful this year. Start simple. Plant a few things in pots. If you don’t want to have your own garden, at least buy from farmers markets or local foods from the grocery store. That provides the same benefits and someone else is doing all the work :)
Unplug them when they aren’t in use. If you are running an appliance with batteries - use rechargeable. Purchase energy efficient appliances. Keep your fridge and freezer full - it uses less energy than an empty fridge/freezer. Use compact fluorescent light bulbs - they use 75% less energy and last 8-10 times longer (not only is that good for the environment, but you save money because you don’t have to change them as often). Use your dishwasher instead of hand washing. I found this interesting, but I read you use significantly more water (up to 37% per the California Energy Commission) if you are hand-washing. Lastly, only run the dishwasher when it’s full and don't pre-rinse your dishes - let the dishwasher do the work!
Other changes in the kitchen
- Buy food from bulk bins when possible so you are only paying for the cost of the food (and what you need at the time), not the package.
- Plan your meals to help prevent food waste.
- Use less plastic - most plastics take years to decompose.
- Use wood cutting boards instead of plastic (I still keep one plastic cutting board for my proteins)
- Reuse glass containers (mason jars, pasta sauce, pickle jar) for other purposes - leftover sauces or salad dressings, to hold water and your fresh herbs, as storage for coffee/sugar/flour, etc.
There is always room for improvement. I know eventually I would like to start composting. This is not something I will probably get to this year, but will continue to keep as a goal. I know one smaller change I would like to make is to start using recycled paper products such as paper towels, napkins, kleenex, toilet paper. Seventh Generation does sell some, but I am trying to find somewhere I can buy them in bulk. Anyone know of a place or a different brand that sells in bulk?
What eco-friendly green choices do you currently make in your kitchen? Or home?
Make a difference, one small change at a time!
~Ashley
thanks for your information
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