Earth Day is Friday, April 22 – we’re offering a green tip of the day from April 1-22.

Tip # 11:  Zero waste is the new mantra. Whether it’s plastic, glass or paper – use a reusable version instead of a single use, disposable item. Some examples:

• ditch the plastic or paper bag, use your reusable bag
• rather than grab a small bottle of water, use your reusable filtered tap water bottle
• rather than a Styrofoam cup, use a thermal to-go mug (ie: Eco-Flask or ceramic mugs)
• use cloth napkins instead of paper
• use real cutlery instead of plastic
• use real china instead of paper or plastic plates
• Entertaining? opt for biodegradable disposable options, ie: compostable ware from Branch; or VerTerra Dinnerware.
• bake your own chicken instead of getting one that’s already prepared and wrapped in a big old ugly plastic container.

You get the idea…don’t keep adding to our ever-mounting landfills. Try to avoid those “single use” disposable items as much as possible. You’ll undoubtedly save money in the long run, too.

Related: previously on altCon – more good green tips

Over a lifetime, each of us will toss out 28,700 pounds of plastic packaging – food wrap, grocery bags, trash bags, etc. It’s estimated that each day 178 million cans of soda are popped across the country – more than 2000 cans per second. (source: NatGeo)