6 Easy Ways to Reduce Plastic Use and Save Money

Easy and affordable ways to reduce plastic use that save you money in the long run.

Why should we reduce plastic use?

After all, plastic is a handy tool that’s an excellent vessel for food distribution, medical supplies, and other societal necessities. So why should we reduce our use of it? Wouldn’t we be doing ourselves a disservice?

Plastic pollution is leaking into our ocean at astounding rates

For starters, The Ocean Conservancy estimates that each year, “8 million metric tons of plastics enter our ocean on top of the estimated 150 million metric tons that currently circulate our marine environments.”

In other words, imagine a dump truck unloading a full bin of plastic directly into the ocean every minute of every day of the year. That’s how much gets dumped into our oceans.

Yikes.

In predictable fashion, this plastic is having detrimental effects to the health of our oceans and beyond. In fact, a horrifying report released in 2015 by the World Wildlife Fund found nearly 50% of all the marine life in the world has vanished in the last 50 years alone.

A big contributor? Plastic pollution. Just see for yourself:

Reducing plastic use can save you money

What better motivation than to save money? It’s hard to argue: if reducing plastic-use was incentivized, everyone would do it. Luckily, innovative companies have come up with solutions so you don’t have to buy single-use plastic ever again – ultimately, saving you money in the long run.

Targeting single-use plastic

Notice the verbiage: single-use plastic. These types of plastics are used once and tossed away without much regard. But do they ever really go away?

Unfortunately not. The following infographic from Statista.com, with data originally from NOAA and Woods Hole Sea Grant, demonstrates the immense amount of time it takes for one of these single-use plastic items to bio-degrade in ocean environments:

Minutes of use leading to a lifetime of ocean destruction. Doesn’t seem very sustainable, does it? The good news is eliminating single-use plastic is super easy, and affordable too.

These easy solutions to reduce plastic-use will save you money

We’ve compiled a handy list of products that serve as great ways to reduce plastic use. The best part? Most of these solutions save you money in hte long run. Good for the oceans and good for your wallet!

1. Save on plastic water bottles by using your own eco-friendly bottle.

2. Get the coffee shop discount for bringing your own mug.

3. Never buy Solo plastic cups again with Silipint.

4. Ditch zip-lock baggies for reusable silicone bags.

5. Still using a plastic straw? Get with the times and get yourself a reusable one.

6. Bring your own bamboo silverware pack.