How are you reducing your use of plastics?

GQ. This is something I’ve been serious about for years. I also try to buy things in plastic as little as possible.

I also use laundry detergent sheets. I haven’t bought a plastic jug of laundry detergent in many long years. For many years, I bought powder in a box. The detergent sheets are wonderful.

I’m very curious about your mouthwash. Please share.

In a pint bottle, I mix 2 teaspoons tea tree oil, 2 oz comfrey tea, 1 tsp peppermint oil, 2 oz vodka (or whatever bacterial killer you prefer) and water. Needs to be shaken every time, and definitely not swallowed. It’s not harmful, but the jury is still out on the safety of ingesting any comfrey.

Regular mouthwash now seems way too strong for me.

I try to reuse what I can. Plastic bags is a big thing that I try to always reuse. I fold them up, store them, keep a few in the car (especially because stores no longer give them away around here). Little plastic containers, I try to reuse for paint and craft projects. Hand soap, I buy big bottles and pour it into little bottles that I use over and over. Same with dish detergent. I get a huge one from Costco which lasts years and I pour it into a smaller bottle which is on the kitchen sink.

For food storage, I now try to buy glass containers instead of plastic, when possible.

I use a metal bottle a lot and reuse plastic bottles.

I’ve switched to glass storage as much as possible and no plastics allowed in the microwave.
I have run into a wall with computer and gaming devices. What could I use instead of a plastic toothbrush or plastic mouth guard?

I don’t buy Tupperware. I use left over food tubs instead.

Over 20 years ago I switched most of my food storage containers to glass, but that probably didn’t make a big dent since both the plastic and glass are used over and over again in my house.

When take-out food or grocery deli comes in a well sealed plastic container I usually reuse the container at least once.

I bring my own reusable bags to the grocery and drug store 90% of the time. The plastic bags I do get from stores I reuse as trash bags or for something else. About half of the plastic bags I get from stores do wind up directly in the trash, but as I said, I don’t get many plastic bags. One of my grocery stores I can still get paper bags if I forget my own bags. Plus, it it’s just a few items I might not bother with a bag at all.

The laundry bags from hotels I use more than once usually.

I use a reusable bottle most of the time to bring water to my zumba class.

I never use things like Swiffer. I have friends who swear by the Swiffer. They use it to mop for five minutes, throw out the pad, more plastic for the landfill and they don’t even think about it.

@jca2 The swiffer dry sheets have plastic in them? I LOVE my swiffer.

@JLeslie The swiffer pads are not made of cotton, have velcro on them, are not recyclable. They’re some type of polypropoline.

Velcro woven in the fabric? That part I’m confused about. Do you mean attaches with velcro? Mine doesn’t. The sheets just tuck into little slots on the mop thingy.

So, I guess they are like polyester. I hadn’t realized that. I only use about two a month, but it adds up of course. I’ll consider switching to a microfiber mop of some sort that I can wash. I use that sort of thing for baseboards.

I bought some glass Tupperware, and use a refillable water bottle.

But this isn’t my problem. It’s the problem of yet again…..people that make much more than me.

Stop letting rich people guilt trip you.

My wife sells replacement water filters as well as under sink RO and UF systems. These replace about a year’s worth of bottled water.

I use a brand called Dropps for my laundry that comes in a cardboard box and I mainly don’t put produce in plastic bags at the grocers. Also we have a no plastic shopping bags law in NJ so I bring reusable bags to stores.

@gorillapaws Ooh, that’s helpful that your wife sells them. Is hers different than Brita or refrigerator filters?

I wash and reuse restaurant clam-shell type takeout boxes. I bring a box to the restaurant so I can take home leftovers without using another plastic box.
I put cheese, and bacon in plastic bags when I open the package. I reuse the bags the next time I need them for the same use.

I reuse ziip lock bags too.

I don’t use zip lock bags because they’re more plastic than regular plastic sandwich bags.

But reusing regular sandwich bags is difficult.
I wish they outlaw plastics period. We survived for 100,000 years without it, we can do it again.

I reusezip locks over and over and over. The only way I throw them out us if they’ve come in contact with thawed meat.

I don’t reuse plastic bags that had food in them, but I rarely use plastic bags for food, I usually use glass storage containers. Mostly, I use twist tie plastic bags when I use bags, they are much much cheaper than ziploc, and I’m terrible at closing ziploc. I don’t keep any leftovers long enough that being perfectly airtight matters, and I think the twist tie with the open part also tucked under the bag when storing probably is air tight.

I do reuse plastic bags for packing shoes in luggage and bringing toiletries in my luggage.

@JLeslie Those are the bags I use – the twist tie ones. Usually I will tie them in a knot, instead of putting the twist tie on them. I also try to reuse them.

I will reuse plastic bags from a deli or the supermarket, either by using them again for food shopping, or if I travel, putting shoes, makeup, or anything like that in them.

@jca2 I reuse plastic and paper shopping bags.

The ziploc are also more rigid than the twist tie. I don’t understand why people like them so much. So much easier to put half a package of hotdogs or a sandwich into a twist tie bag than hoping to have the right size ziploc.

@JLeslie agreed, and the plastic itself is thicker with the ziploc than the twist tie bags. I think the plastic is thicker so it can hold the zipper.

My main point is the twist tie are easier to use, but if one ziploc equals two twist ties in terms of how much plastic, that helps reduce plastic too.

I still use plastic water bottles on occasion, but have switched to reusable cups for the most part.
Unfortunately, my area doesn’t recycle, but hopefully this is something that’s in the works.

I mostly use a reusable glass water bottle when I bring water from the “tap” with me, but sometimes use plastic ones still. I changed from plastic to glass containers for health reasons.

@JLeslie _“Is hers different than Brita or refrigerator filters?”

Yes. My wife’s under-sink water filter system has 4 stages, Sediment, Pre Carbon, Ultrafiltration and Post Carbon. A Brita or refrigerator filter would be the equivalent of a smaller-scale Pre Carbon filter alone. The workhorse is the Ultrafilter as it filters down to 0.001 microns and that means it’s filtering microplactics, “forever chemicals” (PFAS), microorganisms, etc. but it leaves in the “good minerals” and Fluoride that Reverse Osmosis removes. They’re also way cheaper over time than Brita and refrigerator filters. A set lasts 6–12 months.

We switched from bottled water to RO water years ago. At the time I calculated that my kids were going thru 200 plastic bottles a year. The inconvenience to recycling a bunch of bottles every week drove me to get a system from Costco.