Giving Up Plastic Bottles

Thanks for visiting Life's a Bear for another installment of Green Means Go(od). This post isn't life altering. But it does consider the small things we can give up fairly easily that can make a big difference.

Think about how many plastic bottles you buy, use, and then throw away or recycle. Plastic water bottles have gotten a pretty bad rap (for good reason). I gave up buying bottled water quite awhile ago. It means that I have to think ahead and fill up a water bottle before leaving for an outing. What about the others? I'm looking at you, plastic bottles that store shampoo, hair products, and hand soap to name a few.

Recently, we gave up liquid hand soap. It was sort of an accident. We brought some handmade soap back from a wedding this summer. I didn't know what to do with it, so we put it on a shelf and forgot about it. We had some friends over for dinner and their daughter found it. She insisted on using it. Light bulb. I pulled out two small ceramic dishes that Nate's mom gave us ages ago and put the bar soap by the sink in the kitchen and bathroom.

I couldn't find stats about how much waste is created by liquid hand soap containers, but it's likely considerable. After thinking about this type of waste, I decided to research eliminating other plastic bottles in the bathroom. I've read several accounts about using vinegar and baking soda instead of shampoo. Many people, including these, swear by it. That's a subject for a future post. I could eliminate plastic AND the chemicals in shampoo. Win/win.

I realize that giving up liquid hand soap doesn't seem like much, but I'm a firm believer that small things can make a big change. Taking small steps to sustainability is sometimes the easiest for people, including me, to handle. So, think about how many plastic bottles you use and what you can do to give some of them up!