I Love Reusable Products!

Here's a green challenge for the months of September and October. This is from Crunchy Domestic Goddess and I think this is a great idea!

We are a throw-away society, which is really harming our earth and generating huge landfills as well as floating garbage in the ocean.

But it doesn't need to be like that. There are great alternative products out there which can help us make the switch from disposable products to reusable products. My friend Ellie made a great blog post about this so hop on over there to check out alternatives to disposables.

Here are some ideas to get you started… pick one or two things you can do and go for it!

You can make the switch from:

• Paper napkins to cloth napkins
• Paper towels to cloth towels
• Tissues to handkerchiefs
• Paper, plastic or Styrofoam plates to your kitchen plates
• Inexpensive plastic “Take & Toss” sippy cups to Sigg or Camelbak bottles or the Kleen Kanteen
• Disposable water bottles to (again) reusable bottles like Sigg or Camelbak
• Paper coffee cups to reusable coffee mugs like Sigg
  
• Plastic sandwich bags or paper lunch bags to reusable containers/bags
• Paper lunch bags to cloth or neoprene reusable bags.
  
• Swiffers (or similar products) to a broom and dustpan or mop (or use reusable cloths like cloth diapers/terry inserts in your Swiffer)
• Disposable dust rags to cloth rags
• Disposable diapers to cloth diapers
• Disposable wipes to cloth wipes (inexpensive plain washcloths work really well)
• Disposable feminine products (tampons, pads) to reusables like DivaCup, MoonCup, Glad Rags, Luna Pads, Pretty Pads, or New Moon Pads, among others
• Grocery store bags to reusable bags

Or, for the really adventurous:

• Toilet paper to cloth wipes/washcloths (for #1 or #2 too if you are really, really adventurous)

Zola Goods, for which I am an Independent Coordinator, has quite a few of these alternatives, especially the reusable water bottles and coffee mugs, cloth paper towels, Wrap N Mats for sandwiches, reusable bags for shopping, etc.

Go check it out and start making a difference today. Leave me a comment and let me know what you have chosen for your ditch the disposables challenge!