10 Ways To Reduce Your Plastic Footprint

Well everyone, the month of October has come to an end, and so has the Surfrider Foundation's Raptoberfest challenge! The challenge was to try and significantly reduce your plastic consumption for the month of October(in the hope of it becoming a permanent habit).

They gave some pretty shocking statistics on their website:

• In some places in the ocean, there is more plastic than plankton
• Around one million birds and one hundred thousand marine mammals die from plastics each year - either by entanglement or by ingestion
• Except for a very small percentage that has been incinerated, all of the plastic ever manufactured still exists in some physical form

These statistics are staggering. One million birds die every year because of plastic waste! It's crazy. What about the fact about there being more plastic than plankton? Plankton are so small and so plenty that creatures as big as whales make regular meals out of them!

To this end, the folks organizing Raptoberfest came up with a really nice list of 10 ways to reduce unnecessary plastic consumption:

1) Don't use use-and-throw plastic bottles - tap water is just as safe, if not safer than bottled water. Even Poland Spring says it's from Maine!

2) When possible, buy food in bulk - buying in bulk effectively reduces the amount of packaging necessary. I remember seeing a blog post somewhere about a grocery store selling peeled, pre-packaged bananas - ridiculous, right?

3) Buy movies/music electronically - now that most of our digital media is in the cloud., this one is a no-brainer

4) Use reusable grocery bags - another no-brainer. Every trip to the grocery store results in bringing at least 10-20 plastic bags home. Use folding shopping bag sets to save space and to help you remember to take bags with you when you shop. How many times have you seen plastic bags being blown around by the wind? They ultimately end up in the ocean!

5) Avoid single-serve packaged food - these products top the list of unnecessary plastic waste generators

6) Reusable containers - when it comes to food storage and lunch, reusable containers are much better options than traditional tupperware or styrofoam

7) Buy a reusable travel mug - reusable travel mugs help save so many styrofoam/wax paper cups and plastic drink lids - even though there are biodegradable options available, reusable options are ultimately more cost-effective. There are even steel bottles available that have filters so you can brew on the go

8) Look for alternative packaging - many goods come in packaging like cardboard and aluminum which are much easier to recycle than plastic

9) Buy and sell secondhand - many consumer goods are available second-hand on sites like eBay, craigslist, and other classifieds - and most are just as good as new in terms of functionality. Second-hand items don't have the plastic packaging on them that a new item would

10) Recycle! - of course, there are certain things that plastic is inevitable for use in. In these cases, recycle as much as possible!

What are some other effective ways of curbing plastic waste?