When you’re in college, single-use plastic products and convenience products are often common in a student’s life. Even though we know they’re bad for the environment, a lot of us can’t afford a more environmentally friendly or reusable product. The extra dollar here and there adds up really quickly and can hurt your budget when you’re living paycheck to paycheck. Here are some things you can do without spending a ton of extra money that will really reduce your impact on the environment.
1. Stop using makeup wipes.
This one was a really hard one for me. I wear makeup almost every day, and heavy eye makeup and lash glue residue is often hard to remove without a wipe. However, makeup wipes don’t break down in water, which means they’ll stick around for a long, long time. I bought a pack of reusable cloth pads from Amazon for about $7.99, and use a product called Albolene. It’s a moisturizing cleanser that really takes makeup off super easily. The pads also come in a mesh bag that can be thrown in the washer.
2. Recycle your contact lens cases.
I really felt guilty that my contact lenses were single use, because that meant 730 contact cases a year were going into landfills or the ocean just from me alone. That’s when I found out that Acuvue, the brand that makes my lenses, will give you a free shipping label to mail back used plastic cases. So, I keep a Ziploc bag by the sink and save all the lens packaging and mail it back for free, for recycling. And it costs me no more time in the morning than it would to throw them in the trash.
3. Take the time to recycle cans and plastics.
Most apartments have a recycling dumpster, but not many people use it. If it’s too much time and effort to recycle everything, at least make a bag or cardboard box of cans and glass bottles to recycle. Even if you can’t do everything, at least do a little bit to help.
4. Cut open the plastic can-connectors.
Unfortunately, we know a lot of our plastic trash ends up in the ocean. A lot of wildlife, especially sea turtles, will get their heads and limbs caught in the plastic soda can and bottle connectors that end up there. Even if you can’t recycle them, cut open each hole where a drink was so that there aren’t any closed loops left. That way, even if it does end up somewhere it shouldn’t be, it won’t trap any animals.
5. Stop supporting SeaWorld and other marine amusement parks.
It’s been proven over and over that whales and other captive wildlife live a fraction as long in captivity as they do in the wild. In addition to being kept in the equivalent of bathtub for their whole lives, they’re also breathing in chlorine and other chemicals used to keep the water clear in the tanks. Many trainers have been killed or injured by whales that become frustrated, agitated or bored. Orca whales in particular have a part of the brain that humans don’t have, that focuses on emotional connection. So, we can only imagine the kind of psychological damage that being separated from your family and put in a single room for the rest of your life does to an animal like that. If you’re going on vacation or going on a trip, consider going on a dolphin tour, which takes boats out to see wild dolphins, or visit a marine sanctuary, which houses animals that cannot be released to the wild for their own safety.
6. Recycle gift packaging.
With Christmas coming up, there’s going to be lots of gift-giving involved. However, it’s a waste of time, money, and paper to be buying new wrapping materials every single year. While paper can’t really be reused, it’s also paper, so it will break down faster. Gift bags, however, aren’t destroyed in unwrapping gifts, and neither are bows. My family has a whole box of gift-wrapping materials that we save to use every year. We pull the bows off Christmas morning when unwrapping gifts and put them in a bag to go back in the box. We’ve had some bows for 5+ years, and haven’t had to buy more. It’s a way to save money as well as not contribute to pollution.
7. Stop smoking.
I know, this is a weird one. Smoking cigarettes is a known detriment to your health, and surely a concern for the environment won’t stop someone from smoking. However, cigarette butts are the single greatest source of ocean trash and the most littered item in the entire world. That’s more than plastic wrappers, containers, bottle caps, eating utensils and bottles combined. 60 million cigarette butts have washed up on beaches in the last 30 years alone. 5.6 trillion cigarettes are manufactured every year, and two-thirds of them will be disposed of irresponsibly. Cigarettes can take anywhere from 18 months to 10 years to decompose, and when they do so in the ocean, it can contaminate approximately 8 liters of water with toxic chemicals within an hour. In college, you may be tempted to try cigarettes, or use them to deal with stress. However, for the environment and your own health, it’s better if you don’t.
8. Make the switch to cloth grocery bags.
It may seem like an unnecessary expense at first, but you’ll save money in the long run because you’ll be able to use these bags for more than groceries. Cloth tote bags can help with moving day, with packing to go home for the holidays, with event planning, or even organizing your room a bit. Even if you can get only one or two bags, that’s still less plastic bags than you were using before.
9. Keep the plastic bag full of more plastic bags.
I reuse all of my grocery plastic bags. I keep them hanging on my closet door, and I repurpose them for everything, but especially emptying my cat’s litter box. They can be used for lots of things besides groceries, and it’s helpful to have especially around moving day, since you can bag things and keep them organized within boxes that way.
10. Support companies like 4Ocean.
4Ocean is a company that employs teams of people native to coastal and island areas to go out in boats to haul plastic out of the ocean for recycling. They make bracelets out of the plastic that they bring back to shore, and purchasing one sponsors 1 pound of trash getting cleaned up. I recently bought one for each of my cousins, and you can choose an animal to sponsor as well. They also have reusable bottles and bags to replace single use plastics.