What would happen if you made just a few sustainability-focused shifts in how you live?

How big of a difference could you make without totally changing your lifestyle?

We’ve been curious about this.

Not the all-or-nothing, never-ever-using-plastic-again kind of thinking, because we know ourselves and let’s be real here…

More like, would be get farther faster if we inched toward living more sustainability every day — In a way that made sense both for the environment and for lifestyles — rather than held out for the bigger/more resource intensive/expensive changes?

Our MLD team took on the Plastic Free July challenge this summer to consider these questions. We learned a lot, and also reached out to two of our favorite sustainability experts to help round out our experience to share with you.

In this post you’ll see our personal recap, plus:

Homeware recommendations from local sustainability expert Gillie Roberts, owner of Asheville’s sustainable lifestyle shop, Ware
Advice on recycling and shrinking out waste footprint from Finn Digman, Waste Reduction Education Coordinator for local environmental nonprofit Asheville Greenworks

Takeaways From Our Plastic Free July:

We seem to collectively have an Amazon Prime… problem. ;(

Solution? Choosing to be in less of a rush, first of all. Maybe we don’t need everything instantly. Or maybe we can find a better quality item with a few minutes extra thought. Second, we found it helpful to start keeping a short list of better ways to get common items — like local specialty shops or libraries.

For example, books can arrive next day from Amazon. Which is fabulous. But they arrive in plastic and require fossil fuels to ship and drive just one item from a warehouse to our home. Plus, everyone makes less money — except Amazon — in that scenario.

On the other hand, ordering books online from our own (amazing) local bookstore Malaprops — check your area for your local version — takes slightly longer but feels worlds better. You get to support a local business, pick up the phone and ask a real human for recommendations if you want, and you can pick up in store. (Or right now Malaprops will actually still deliver it to your doorstep if you choose!) All with zero plastic involved.

Hot tip: even though Malaprops is still closed for public browsing, you can book a private browsing appointment and get the bookstore to yourself. So fun.

All the plastic-wrapped pantry snacks ;(

Turns out, snacks and plastic are a common pair. Such a bummer to look in our pantries and realize just how much of an issue this is.

Solution here? One great option is buying trail mix, granola, and other snacky items in bulk. Our local French Broad Food Coop has an incredible selection.

Our other workaround we’re trying to ingrain into our lives more requires a bit more time in the kitchen. But actually, making your own crackers and other snacks is super fun and rewarding. We love Amy Chaplin’s Whole Foods Cooking Every Day for healthy and easy to make snacks.

Plastic-Free Alternatives for Your Home

We reached out to Gillie Roberts of local Asheville sustainability shop Ware to get some help sorting out a sane approach to finding home and lifestyle sustainable alternatives. We’re pretty sure you’ll agree she’s shared some excellent ideas here — and we know first-hand that making some of these sustainable swaps just makes home feel better. Prettier, cleaner…even more luxurious.

Let’s dive in to Gillie’s recommendations:

Packaging

One of the most impactful places to ditch plastic is before it ever comes into your life. The wrappers, bags, clamshells and other forms of plastic packaging we encounter in stores (particularly in regards to food products) are collectively known as single-use plastic. They serve one purpose, getting the product to you, and then they become trash or occasionally recycling.

We have finally honed in on the perfect product duo for replacing plastic produce bags with superior products: Organic Cotton Produce Bags and Vejibags. Produce bags for wrangling loose veggies and bulk products make for easily-transportable containers. You can then transfer the bulk goodies to jars (or Stashers, more on that soon) and Vejibags for longer-term storage. Go read about Vejibags. They’re so cool.

Baggies

So you’re “going green” and bringing more unpackaged products into your home. Your old plastic storage containers are filling up fast and your Pyrex is all holding leftovers in the fridge. You just want to take a snack to work without having to cart around glass or worry about leaking containers. Is that so much to ask?! No, it’s not.

There’s a reason the world got hooked on plastic baggies. They’re freaking handy. And so are Stasher Bags. For just about all the same applications you once used disposable baggies, we’ve now got reusable, dishwasher-able, medical grade silicone bags.

Cleaning Products

For every liquid product we bring home, we need a container. We’ve come to take it for granted that the product needs its own container, most commonly plastic. We challenge our community to rethink that. What liquids are you using that could be solid bars or powders that you add water to at home?

There’s obviously solid body soaps galore, but Solid Dishwashing Soap is now fairly easy to come by and doubles as a concentrate for cleaning hard surfaces or spot treating laundry stains. If you can’t past the mental block or don’t like the ergonomics of using solid soap in the sink, you can always bring your empty liquid soap containers to refill in our store.

Cleaning Tools

Collect all of your scrubbing tools and take stock. How many of them are plastic? Sponges and scrub brushes haven’t always been plastic, but now are almost always so. Wooden-handled brushes with plant-based bristles, loofah and wool sponges - these are some of the handy cleaning tools that can replace your plastic tools once they stop working. The natural alternatives to these plastic tools will eventually break down in nature, unlike what we find on most grocery store shelves.

Laundry

As with dish soap, we have bulk powdered laundry detergent that can be taken home in any container you have on hand. And it’s made 45 minutes down the road in Brevard! But we also have a VERY cool laundry aid whose importance you may not have considered before. Synthetic fibers in clothing and textiles are as ubiquitous as plastic is in every other corner of our lives. These fibers rub together aggressively in the washing machine. This friction is effective for cleaning clothes, but also releases tinier-than-thread particles of plastic that wash right down the drain and eventually into our waterways. These are called microfibers, and we’re consuming them in all kinds of terrifying ways everyday.

The Guppyfriend bag is the solution we didn’t know we needed. You simply put all synthetic-fiber clothing in the bag like you might a delicates bag (except this one is quite large) and the exceptionally fine mesh catches all of the fibers while lettering water and soap flow freely. You can even see the collected fibers at the end of the cycle and empty them into the trash. Best option for now, but a great one, considering its versatility.

What you already have

No matter what product your favorite sustainability-preaching shop tries to sell you (oh, hey!), the best thing you can ever do for the planet is use what you have until it is totally spent. And then dispose of it responsibly.

That may not always be the most Instagram-able approach, but we’ve found climate change doesn’t care much about our feeds anyway.

3 Steps to Reducing Your Waste Footprint

Last, we reached out to local environmental nonprofit Asheville GreenWorks for help creating less waste in the first place -- and then figuring the best way to recycle the inevitable plastic we do end up using.

“We don’t need a handful of people going plastic-free perfectly, we need millions of people going plastic-free imperfectly.” - Anne-Marie Bonneau

By Finn Digman of Asheville GreenWorks

Plastic is everywhere.

It’s used to package food, bottle beverages, even form clothing. Going plastic-free may be your ultimate goal (at Asheville GreenWorks, it’s ours!), but in order to work toward a plastic-free lifestyle, give yourself grace. Many plastic products are cheaper than their non-plastic alternatives.

Which means that reducing plastic usually costs more up front. But don’t be discouraged; little steps make a big difference.

Ready to start reducing your waste footprint?

Start with these easy steps:

1) Say no to single-use

Saying no to single-use products means saying yes to reusable ones! You can find all sorts of reusable products at Ware. Businesses like Ware create and curate products that last, so spending the extra buck goes a long way — and can even be more sustainable for your wallet in the long-run.

The average American uses 500 plastic bags every year. Most of these bags end up in landfills or as litter. Some end up forming Bag Monsters like the one featured above.

2) Try refill-ables

Many grocery stores offer bulk sections. At Ware, you can find refillable household cleaners. By refilling your own containers, you’ll end up spending less on groceries and cleaning supplies while significantly reducing your waste. Plus, by using your own containers you can create exactly the aesthetic you like. Imagine pouring bath soap from this bottle,or gathering produce into a hand-woven basket from local Cherokee artists. Instead of hiding plastic bottles under the sink, show the world your style through refillables.

3) Recycle Right

We all have waste; properly disposing of it is important. In Asheville, Curbie processes our curbside recyclables. They have one simple rule to help you Recycle Right. Ask yourself: Did it come from the grocery store? Bottles, tubs, jugs, and jars from the grocery store are almost always recyclable. Don’t worry about the # on the bottom, just think about the shape. One more thing: if you have plastic bags, never put them in your curbside recycling bin.

4) Use your resources

Bring plastic bags and food-grade styrofoam to stores like Publix for recycling. Check out Transfer Station events to recycle items like old paint and electronics. Visit Terracycle to search for take-back programs from thousands of private companies like RubberMaid and Britta. Come to Asheville GreenWorks’ quarterly Hard 2 Recycle events for items you can’t recycle elsewhere.

Apply these 4 steps in your life, and you’ll go far to reduce your waste footprint.

As you work toward your goals, celebrate the little things, like bringing your reusable mug to the coffee shop!

Waste reduction is an important part of living a conscious lifestyle. Since 1973, Asheville GreenWorks has been devoted to reducing our community’s dependence on single-use, “throw-away” items that would otherwise fill up our landfills and waste precious resources. Thank you for doing your part to go plastic-free.
Small steps toward more sustainable living

What do you think? Find any tips here that resonate? Hopefully, learning from Gillie and Finn was as helpful for you as it was for us.

We’re a long way from perfect, but we’re working on being more intentional consumers both at home and in our office — including being better re-users and recyclers.

Here’s to that beautiful future we’re working toward, together.

Reducing Plastic Use With Sustainable Alternatives and Learning to Recycle Right