Haiku 182 Earth Day

Commit today

to one change

to help save Mother Earth,

tomorrow add another.

Happy Earth Day! What are you doing to make a difference?

I'm making a better attempt at reducing my use of plastic. For years I've been using reusable grocery bags and I recycle the single ones I do end up with or reuse them for garbage and dog waste pick up.  But I know it's time to put more effort into the effort, so here's a few next steps.

1. In the grocery store I'm reducing my plastic use in the produce department by just picking up what I want and putting it in my cart and not in a bag first and selecting items that don't come in plastic whenever possible. For cherry tomatoes I've switched to ones that come in a box that I can recycle. I've also tried mushrooms that come in a box but I'm not in love with them. I think I'll have to switch to Price Chopper for mushrooms because last I checked I can buy them without packaging.

2. In the deli department I'm going to see if I can reuse my bag for meats and cheeses that I buy. 

3. At the Oneida County Market I picked up a bar of shampoo! It works well and once my shampoo in a bottle is gone I'll continue to support a local business by buying the bar shampoo. Now...what about conditioner? 

4. I buy soap locally too and splurged on this bar made with beer from a brewery that we visited recently. I also like the packaging of local products like this because they just have a piece of paper around them instead of being completely covered or containing any plastic.

5. For the kitchen another market product was a wool scrubby to replace a plastic one. It works well and when needed I just toss it in the wash. 

6. Not pictured-the last time I bought paper towels at BJ's I bought ones that weren't individually wrapped in plastic.

Now...what else should I do to reduce my use of plastic? I'd love to hear your ideas for that and what else you're doing to make a difference on this Earth Day and every day.

Thanks for stopping by.