There’s been a lot of talk about plastic pollution recently. Rising awareness is great, but as someone who keeps up with the latest environmental news (no matter how dispiriting it is), I’ve heard most of the suggestions before. I want everyone to bring their own bags to the grocery store, I really do, but can we talk about something we don’t already know?

For example, in America alone, we go through an estimated 500 million straws per day, which of course are not biodegradable. I’ve been advocating for people to bring their own metal straws for a long time though, and I’ve done everything I can to reduce my impact already. The straws, the grocery bags, the produce bags, taking my own container for the salad bar, recycling, composting…everything.

I want everyone to bring their own bags to the grocery store, I really do, but can we talk about something we don’t already know?

So what I want to talk about is the next level eco-warrior, who has figured out how to live a zero waste lifestyle.

I admire these superheroes because I know how much time that commitment can take. I get as close as I can, but I simply don’t have enough time to make everything from scratch. I recently started making my own oat milk to avoid buying the containers (and chemicals), but I haven’t ventured into making my own bread yet. Entrepreneurs love sandwiches. And anything else that saves time.

So what does someone do who loves sandwiches but hates the plastic that the bread comes in? Reuses it!

Entrepreneurs love sandwiches. And anything else that saves time.

I do still produce a small amount of waste. Between my partner and I, we have reduced our trash to about two bread bag’s worth of trash a week. This waste goes in the extra plastic that I just can’t seem to avoid. This comes in the form of bread bags, cereal bags, the plastic that the toilet paper comes in, etc. These alone are more than enough to hold all the rubbish we contribute to this beautiful planet, and I can’t possibly justify buying additional plastic that comes in the form of scented trash bags.

I do what I do in order to save the planet. But I also benefit myself in many ways.

Photo by Jordan Beltran on Unsplash

I save money. I don’t know how much trashbags are going for these days, but it’s a price I don’t want to pay.

The average person produces 4.4 lbs of trash per day, which is 1606 lbs of trash per year. A family of only two people would fill 214 trashbags that are rated to hold up to 15 lbs of waste.

With all that money saved, I could take a trip to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and witness first hand how we’ve trashed our oceans.

2. I save space. My small apartment doesn’t have any extra room for unsightly things like trash cans anyway. Shout out to the high cost of living in California for forcing me to care about the planet.

With all this extra space I have more room for things that are actually cool. Like plants and salt lamps.

3. I save time. One less thing to buy means one less trip to the grocery store, one less thing to carry from the car, and one less trip to the dumpster. It adds up, people.