10 Tips To Get Started

Most of us are experts at living a disposable lifestyle - after all, we’ve been practicing our whole lives! So there's no need to dive in too fast when adopting a low waste lifestyle.

Try ticking off these 10 Tips To Get Started. Once you see how easy and satisfying it is to incorporate these habits improve your lifestyle, you’ll be motivated to do more!

1. Kick the cup habit

Disposable coffee cups look like they're made of paper, but they actually have a thin plastic lining. They're a nightmare to recycle, creating 25,000 tonnes of landfill waste each year in the UK. With so many reusable cups on the market, you can do takeaway coffee in your own style, and get a discount!

ABOVE: ADD SOME STYLE TO YOUR CAFFEINE HIT WITH A REUSABLE COFFEE CUP 

   

2. H2-Oh! Use refillable bottles

Single-use plastic bottles have created a waste problem and recycling is not solving it. The majority of bottled water is actually tap water anyway! It’s time to bust this elaborate hoax. Download the free Refill app to find over 1,600 refill stations across the UK, and get yourself a refillable water bottle.

Above: Keep your drink cool for 24 hours with a refillable bottle 

3. Ban the bag

Plastic bags are bad news - harming wildlife, clogging drains thereby causing flooding and polluting our oceans. It's no surprise that governments around the world are banning them! Take your own shopping bag - basket, tote or fold-up pocket bag - whatever works best for you. 

 

Above: String shopping bags like this one can expand and fit loads of groceries!

Above: Take your reusable produce bags to the market and spread the word on waste!

4. Brush with bamboo

You probably never realised that your plastic toothbrush is not recyclable. Hundreds of years after you're gone, your toothbrushes will still be here - buried in a landfill or washed up on a beach somewhere.  Switch to bamboo.

ABOVE: A BAMBOO TOOTHBRUSH WILL DECOMPOSE NATURALLY, UNLIKE PLASTIC

 

5. Switch to solid

Did you know that bottled shampoo is actually 70-80% water? So, when you buy shampoo and conditioner, you're paying for plastic packaging, water and freight costs. Why not cut the waste and go for solid shampoo bars? 

 

6. Stayin’ alive! Go reusable batteries

Batteries that are sent to landfill or incineration can pollute our environment with some pretty nasty substances such as mercury, cadmium and lead. Reusable batteries can be recharged thousands of times.  You don't need a mathematics degree to figure out that saves thousands of pounds!  

7. Don’t suck

Plastic straws are a straight-up nightmare for wildlife. Being so small, they are often not captured for recycling and end up in our waterways and oceans. Pubs across the UK are starting to ban plastic straws. If you really can't do without them, use a reusable straw.

ABOVE: Reusable straws like these metal ones can prevent plastic straws entering our oceans

8. Flick the Bic

Ever since BIC designed their disposable pen we've been throwing away millions of plastic pens and markers. Most of them end up in landfill. Switch to refillable pens and markers. 

Above: go for a classic Fountain Pen like this Lamy one

 

9. Sharpen Up!

Disposable razors cannot be recycled - they end up as plastic waste in landfill. The alternative? Use a safety razor. You'll also save money and make your shaving routine more stylish in the process. 

 

10. Sod the Coffee Pod

Our obsession with coffee at the press of a button has become a disaster for the environment. In the US alone, enough coffee pods are produced each year to circle the Equator 10.5 times. There are so many waste-free alternatives for making great coffee at home.

Above: These stainless steel reusable pods are compatible with your Nespresso® machine