If you care for the environment you must reduce your trash. Period. We are creating way more trash than the earlier generation and its affecting the earth. You know it too. The only way to deal with it is to start at your home – REDUCE WASTE. Create a Zero Waste system in your own house and maintain a sustainable living. Start with the zero waste kitchen essentials that will ensure you are generating much lesser trash. One trip to your grocery store can make a big addition to the plastic waste being dumped in landfills and oceans. Here are some zero waste kitchen essentials which are one time investments and you can use them again and again – REDUCING YOUR TRASH.
6 Zero Waste Kitchen Essentials
All the products I am mentioning are easily available at local markets or on e-commerce sites like Amazon. You can visit my Storefront to see more sustainable products that will help in reducing trash. I follow zero waste in my kitchen religiously. There’s a very less amount of trash that goes out from my house (mostly dry waste). I will update you about composting techniques that will not require any effort or investment.
#1 Switch to Cloth Shopping Bag
Try buying your vegetables and fruits from a farmer’s market than a supermarket. Even if you are shopping from a super market, carry your own shopping bag. Bangalore, as a city has banned plastic bags (thankfully). At first we thought it was insane paying a hefty price for buying cloth bags every time we shop. But then I found, that is the best thing to happen – carry a bag to the market and you can use that cloth bag over and over again. Imagine the kind of plastic waste you are reducing. One of the best zero waste kitchen essentials is to get one of these cloth shopping bag with compartments. They are easy to sort and organize the vegetables.
#2 Get a compost starter kit
We often complain our house plants dying easily. We don’t realise they need food and nutrition to grow and thrive. And we are throwing away easy plant food EVERY SINGLE DAY. Get a compost starter kit and start composting the raw uncooked vegetables and fruits peel instead of throwing them out. Don’t add cooked food or things like meat bones. Once compost is ready mix it with the soil in your planters and you will see your garden blooming in abundance.
#3 Stainless Steel or Glass Food Storage Solutions
Storing food items in plastic containers isn’t the healthiest practice. Switch to stainless steel or glass jars for storing grains and spices. Use glass containers to store food in the refrigerator. Some Indian families store their grains and spices in stainless steel containers and that is totally great because you can use these containers for years – they are sturdy and easy to clean. Imagine the amount of plastic you can reduce from the face of earth.
#4 Carry a Pocket Shopping Bag in your handbag
One of the popular complaints about not carrying your shopping bag is – this was an unplanned visit to the store. Keep the foldable pocket shopping bags in your handbag for such emergencies and unplanned shopping sprees. In Bangalore, we don’t get shopping bags for buying clothes too. We pay Rs. 15 – Rs 20 for the paper bags at the store. Save those money (and some trees) every time you shop. Stash one or two pocket shopping bags in your handbag!
#5 Stainless Steel water bottle and lunch box
Some other good zero waste kitchen essentials include reusable and sustainable food and drink containers. Instead of buying the single use plastic water bottles or Styrofoam coffee cups make a switch to a more sustainable and long use one like this stainless steel insulated bottle. It can keep your beverage warm or cold as you prefer.
Instead of getting yet another single use cup at the coffee shop carry a coffee mug and ask the server to fill that instead. These kind of insulated coffee travel mugs are leak proof, heat proof and can keep your beverage hot for 4-5 hours.
If you pack lunch from home – invest in a good stainless steel lunch box. They are durable, long lasting and keeps your food warm. These days you get stainless steel and glass tiffin boxes that go in microwave for heating too! So if you like heating food at work no need to worry.
#6 Stainless Steel Straw
Single use straws are an environmental hazard and its widely known now. There are a gazillion videos of marine life being affected with these straws when dumped in the ocean. The best way to completely eradicate these plastic straws is to get yourself accustomed to drinking without a straw. In case you can’t live without straw – invest in a stainless steel straw.
I found some real fancy metal straws that come in these cute rainbow shades. Carry them along with you, in a café, to your work and everywhere you think you might use a straw. This is one of the most absolute zero waste kitchen essentials you need to generate less trash and for a sustainable living.
I try to minimize my wastes as much as possible. Getting bio degradable trash bags to making my own compost, I am trying to reduce my carbon foot print. I have curated a bigger list on my Amazon Storefront of zero waste kitchen essentials that you can check out and get more ideas.
The lesser you depend on plastic, the better your contribution is towards the environment. If you like this post, let me know what are you doing to reduce your carbon foot print, how are you progressing towards a sustainable living?
