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Our culture in the US is fast paced, consumer-driven, and convenience-driven. Most of us interact with countless disposable products throughout the day, probably without thinking too much about them. They make our lives easier and our bags lighter. I’ll be the first to admit that my biggest problem with carrying my own reusable stuff with me is that I don’t want to have to carry a bag big enough to hold my water bottle, coffee mug, stainless steel straws, handkerchief, and utenisls. And then once you do use them, what, are you just going to put dirty stuff back in your purse?

It’s a lot to ask.

But we also create a lot of trash in our everday lives.

One of the easiest things you can do to reduce your waste, is to be more intentional about what you consume and how you consume it.

If you order a takeaway sandwhich for lunch, you won’t need utensils at all.

Do you really need a keurig? Maybe, if you’re the only one drinking coffee in the morning, but if you have a partner or roommates who also drink coffee, why not just make a whole pot?

Is the aluminum foil really that soiled after covering the casserole dish in the oven, or could you rinse it off and use it to bake the cookies for dessert?

Intentional thoughts like these will go a long way to reducing your waste in your everyday lives.

Think about it, you wake up, stick a k-cup into the Keurig for your morning coffee. Maybe you took the time to make your own breakfast sandwiches and freeze them in individual ziploc bags, so you pull one out, toss the bag and heat it up in the microwave for breakfast.

You take your water in a reusable bottle and read the newspaper while you take public transportation into work. Hopefully your city has recycle bins for the newspaper.

At work, you make a second cup of coffee in a reusable mug but you put sugar from a packet in it and toss the paper (is it recycable? Maybe, maybe not).

For lunch you stop by a local fresh foods market and get a sandwich to go in a compostable container, but you don’t have an in-office compost bin so it goes in the trash. You drink a house-made kombucha in a plastic cup with a straw as an afternoon pick-me-up.

After work you go to the gym and use one of their paper towels to wipe down the machine when you’re done (one for each machine you use). Into the trash it goes. You refill your water bottle at the fountain and eat a protein bar. The wrapper goes into the trash as well.

At home you take a shower and finish off your body wash. The plastic container can’t be recycled unless you clean it out first, so you toss it in the trash.

It’s time for dinner. You decide to make a healthy meal, but don’t want it to be too complicated. A potato wrapped in a wet paper towel baked in the microwave while some veggies and fish bake on parchment paper in the oven. You love it because it’s such easy clean up – toss the towel and paper and put the baking sheet away once it’s cooled. You wipe the counters down with a clorox sheet (or maybe a better-for-the-enviornment option like Seventh Generation) and voila! Full belly, clean kitchen. You’re trying to kick the sweet habit so for dessert you allow yourself two individually wrapped pieced of dark chocolate. After enjoying the little inspirational messages on the wrappers you toss them in the trash.

No surpise, the bin is full, for the 2nd time this week. Time to take it out and put in a new platic trash bag liner.

And that’s someone who is already thinking about the enviroment!

Now, this may feel like enough effort for one person. But others of you are at this point and you want to do more. But it feels so hard! We’re surrounded by disposable products that actually do make our lives so much easier! How can we give them up? What will we do instead? What did people do before all the products?

Well, I can’t answer that question, and I don’t know if trying to return to the past is the best idea anyways.

But here are some easy sustainable swaps I’ve tried so far this year and loved.

1. Silpat Silicone Baking Mats This is the original French brand. They are a little pricier than other options but the quality is well worth it! The standard medium size fits most baking sheets and they work in place of aluminum foil and parchment paper. No need to use cooking spray either because they really are nonstick!!

What I love about all of these products are that they provide a reusable alternative to disposable products we’ve come to rely on. Yes, you’re signing up for the work of cleaning these products in between uses, but even after just a month of using these, you’ll be keeping a lot of trash out of the landfill!