12 Disposable Items to Dispose of for Good

By Steve Graham, Hometalk

It may seem hard to get through a day without generating trash or even recyclable waste. The easiest ways to buy products, clean surfaces and perform other tasks often involve disposable items. However, you can often reduce your environmental impact and save money by replacing standard disposable items with reusable alternatives.

Even if you buy disposable items made with recycled and recyclable materials, they require energy and materials to create. Moreover, they require more energy to recycle. If disposable items end up in landfills, they might take months or years to decompose.

Here are 12 categories of disposable products that can easily be replaced with reusable products.

1. Beverage bottles: Disposable plastic water bottles are one of the great demons of the environmental movement, sending unnecessary plastic into the landfill. A variety of reusable metal and plastic alternatives are widely available. They are typically more expensive than a bottle of Evian, but they are infinitely refillable, saving plenty of money in the long run. Also consider reusable bottles and cups for soda and other beverages.

Milk containers pose other environmental problems. While plastic jugs are typically recyclable, they often end up in the landfill, where they may take hundreds of years to decompose. However, old-fashioned milk delivery in reusable glass bottles is becoming popular again. Also, more vendors, particularly natural foods grocers, are offering milk in reusable glass or plastic bottles.

To be sure, production and transportation of glass bottles is quite energy-intensive. However, reusing the glass and getting milk from local dairies significantly reduces the environmental impact.

2. Plastic bags: Disposable plastic grocery bags, though convenient, are another environmental scourge. An estimated 60,000 plastic bags are used every five seconds in the U.S. However, it seems that with each passing month, more shoppers at local grocery stores are bringing reusable bags made of cloth, canvas or other materials.

Smaller disposable plastic produce bags can also be replaced with cloth bags. Consider getting some used pillowcases at thrift stores, or sew small cloth sacks, and take them to the store along with your reusable shopping bags. Also look for bulk bins, and bring your own containers for grains, snacks, cereals and other foods. Instead of getting cereal in a disposable waxed paper bag within a disposable cardboard box, just put it in your own container.

You can even pour cereal or other foods into your own glass jars for home storage. Just be sure to measure and mark the tare, or empty, container weight.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Joe R.

11:44AM PDT on Mar 25, 2012

Thanks for the tips.

send a green star

Jeena L.

12:09PM PST on Feb 8, 2012

Thanks for the tips! I am ashamed to admit how many diapers and wipes I used until I got with the program. You can purchase washable diaper covers for $3.49 at http://www.alwaysunderpay.com.

Lynde T.

5:50PM PST on Jan 23, 2012

I use more of these than I would like to admit

12:16PM PST on Jan 23, 2012

Great tips. Thanks.

Sanja T.

3:41AM PDT on Oct 9, 2011

interesting... thanks

Sheri P.

12:18AM PDT on Oct 5, 2011

Regarding #8...is the extra water used for a bidet really better than using TP (recycled TP, of course)?

Margie B.

11:49PM PDT on Oct 4, 2011

Thank You
I recycle as much as I can - Most things.
Every little bit helps.

Iona K.

3:16AM PDT on Oct 2, 2011

Another feminine hygiene option is a sea sponge which can be washed and reused for an entire cycle and then disposed of as a compostable item.

dve d.

1:51AM PDT on Oct 2, 2011

the only way to get rid of them is to reuse them or burn them

Carole K.

12:06PM PDT on Oct 1, 2011

Great article, thanks. I have recycling in my blood & it is second-nature to me; but I & everyone else can still learn new tricks!!! I have just purged my household storage of unneeded/unused items & boxed these items up to be donated to a charity thrift shop. But I found several old pillow cases that were frayed & faded looking (but otherwise intact) & I knew that the thrift shop would be unable to sell these pillowcases & so they would be trashed. I am delighted to find a new use for these pillowcases in this article & they shall be left in my car now ready for reuse!!!