Trying to be environmentally conscious while also focusing on school and staying financially conscious can be difficult. As students, choosing paper over plastic, or remembering to bring our own water bottles or straws to restaurants or fast food places just isn’t our top priority. Trying to not drown from all of the assignments and exams is a heavy enough task as is, but there are still a few little things that we can adopt in our daily routines that can make a difference.
1. Avoid eating outside food or taking things to go.
This might seem counterintuitive at first but trust me. Besides the fact that eating outside food rather than home-cooked food is not the best for your body, the amount of waste that restaurants produce from handing out one-use items like napkins, disposable utensils, and placemats eventually adds up. I know even the dining hall on my campus uses Styrofoam packaging for the to-go boxes and hands out plastic utensils with a single napkin all wrapped together in more plastic packaging. Most restaurants will also only have plastic or Styrofoam to-go containers to give to customers. I understand the convenience of these single-use items, but these items just end up in landfills and take forever to degrade naturally.
You might also argue that you could just recycle these containers after you are done with them. Recycling food containers like these can be very difficult and recycling industries are very particular about containers that once had food in them. These containers cannot have any grease stains and need to be completely clean of food waste and dry. If these requirements are not met and the item is still thrown in the recycling bin, then the whole recycling bin is considered contaminated and none of it can be recycled.
I’m not saying to never eat outside food or to throw your food out rather than save it for later. Sometimes you’re just really in the mood to eat at a certain restaurant and that’s completely fine, we all get like that. However, instead of just ordering it to go, consider sitting down and trying to finish the meal at the time rather than immediately going for take-out. Obviously life happens and we are not always able to do this, but if we have the time and are able to, I think it would not only benefit the environment, but it would also put us in a better head space. Life goes by so fast nowadays that we can’t even give ourselves the time to sit down and eat. Giving ourselves that mental break and taking the time to nourish our body might put us in a better mood and in a better headspace.
Sometimes we know when we go into a restaurant or any dining space that we are not going to be able to finish everything we order. I know that whenever I go to most restaurants, I might only order one item but I can still never finish it in one go and I always have to pack the other half to go. If you know this is going to be the case, then it might be worth bringing your own Tupperware to package the food to go. This sounds extreme and extra, but it really can make a difference. Those Styrofoam and plastic containers are ordered based on demand, if more people bring their own reusable Tupperware rather than taking those single use to go boxes, then those types of materials will be produced less and there could be a dramatic decrease of them being in landfills.
2. Bring a reusable water bottle
This I have seen become more popular over the years. It really only makes sense to bring a reusable water bottle over buying a plastic water bottle daily or even those big cases of them. I see a lot of kids on campus with these cases and it hurts to see them lug them through the dorm halls every year on move in day. Rather than spend all that money on a bunch of water bottles you will run out of in a month’s time, just buy one or two reusable water bottles which will last you for at least a few years, and simply refill them for FREE. Most campuses have multiple water bottle refilling locations and I have even seen high schools installing them now as well. Some people might be picky about the water they drink and that they only want the purest of water, but even if you do not trust the fountain water then there are still plenty of fountain machines that have the same quality of water you would find in your Poland Springs. Save your money and the planet at the same time!
I like to keep at least two reusable water bottles with me at school. One I fill with water and leave in my fridge as a backup, the other I use daily until it needs to be washed, then I switch to the backup one until I can wash the other one.
I think this tip is one that can be easily integrated into our daily lives, even as students. Financially it makes more sense to just buy one or two bottles and refill them than to keep buying a new bottled water every few days. With our long school days, it has become a necessity to bring some kind of drink with us to classes anyway, might as well make it a reusable bottle rather than a single use one.
3. Bring a reusable bag for ALL of your shopping needs
I see a lot more people bringing reusable bags to the grocery store nowadays which is great! What I see less of, is people bringing these reusable bags to other shopping centers like Walmart or Target. Rather than collect all of these plastic bags from these stores that you say you will “one day recycle”, simply bring those same reusable bags that your bring to the grocery store to these stores too. It is impractical to put all of your newly bought items into a plastic bag just to bring the bag home and throw it out a day later anyway.
Some people will reuse these bags as trash bags, which I think is great! It is always great to repurpose and reuse single-use items like these. However, if you know that you have enough of these plastic bags that you will use as trash bags, then maybe give yourself a break and use some of those reusable bags for a while.
Many of us do not really find ourselves shopping outside of campus daily anyway, but when we do it might be beneficial to keep this in mind. This is probably the most difficult to remember, I know I used to forget to bring my shopping bags whenever I go out (if I’m honest, sometimes I still do), but after making it a priority to remember to bring them a few times, it has become an easy habit. When I first started out I used to leave the bags by my front door so that I would remember on my way out or I would even make it a point to leave them in my trunk. These might be good beginner tips for anyone who wants to start doing this.
These three tips might seem intimidating and impossible at first, but once you start integrating these little details into your life, it just becomes a habit. That does not mean we are not allowed to have off days where we forget our water bottle, Tupperware, bag, or whatever eco-friendly item. Even if we forget most days, that is better than never making it a point to be more environmentally conscious. Remember that it is ok to not be perfect at being environmentally friendly/conscious, every little bit counts and can make a difference.