We are seeing and hearing more and more the words Climate Change and Global Warming. It’s everywhere - on the news, in the newspapers, in magazines, companies are taking these issues into account in their policies, etc. The urgency to change our ways to slow these natural processes down - in order to minimise their impact in the world and in people’s lives - is palpable.

If you are in the beginning of your journey to a more eco-friendly lifestyle, here are three easy ideas for change that you can adopt today.

1. Reusable water bottle

This is an incredibly easy swap that you can do.

There are two points to address here: water usage and water safety. When it comes to water usage the process of producing bottled water requires around 6 times as much water per bottle as there is in the bottle itself. This alone is a no brainer, right? We are living in a critical time with long periods of draught.

Regarding water safety, it is understandable if you are worried that our waters are contaminated with pollutants. On one hand, plastic fibres were found in more than 83% of tap water samples from more than a dozen nations, meaning billions of people are drinking water contaminated with plastic particles from the tap. On the other hand, a few years ago, a study shown that 93% of bottled waters analysed around the world had microplastics - an average of 325 per litre, but some having as many as 10k! This is a big problem and is transversal to water, soil and air.

So, by swapping to a reusable bottle there will be less used water, and less used and ingested plastic by you - in the long run, you’ll be contributing less and less to the amount of plastic contaminating our waters, soil and air. Woohoo!

If you are still on the fence about it, remember that this is a cheaper option! You end up paying more for water that is already bottled, instead of using the one you get from the tap in your home.

2. Compostable Toothbrush

This one depends on your economic situation. Let’s be honest, you can get a few plastic toothbrushes for less than 2€, and that’s the price of one bamboo toothbrush. We should change our toothbrush every 3 months and for some families that is just not doable, since they already have to decide between paying utility bills or putting food on their tables.

I take this opportunity to remind people that they can donate toiletries whenever there are donation campaigns. Usually people donate just food, but these items will be welcomed as well.

Anyways, this swap is for those who can do it.

The conventional toothbrushes are made of plastic and plastic is not biodegradable, it is only recyclable, but it can only be recycled a few times. So choose a toothbrush made of compostable materials, like bamboo.

There are some made of recycled plastic. Personally, I have a love-hate opinion about recycled stuff. Yes, it is a good thing that is taking care of tons of plastic that otherwise wouldn’t be dealt with and would just be around polluting our water, soil and air more and more, but that is for now. It kind of feeds the system of plastic usage, because people will think that it is OK to still use plastic - well, it’s being recycled, isn’t it? Again, its recyclability is not eternal, so at one point it will have to go either to a landfill or to be incinerated - neither of these options is good.

Oh, by the way, there are already bamboo toothbrush heads for some electric toothbrushes, so if you have one, that is a good option too!

Another point to make is to choose a toothbrush that doesn’t come in plastic packaging. It’s about time brands stop that nonsense of using plastic packaging for eco-friendly products. It’s past the time to call it a noobie mistake. It’s not even just greenwashing, it’s plain stupid and ridiculous.

3. Reusable Shopping Bags

Three quick and scary facts:

• annually approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide;
• more than 1 million bags are used every minute;
• about 97% of whole the plastic ever made still exists.

Try to always have one or two big reusable bags in your car, and a small one with you.

If you’re shopping and notice that you forgot to take a bag with you or you’re buying more than what your bag can take, just take an empty box from the supermarket - one of those that have the products. Most supermarkets have them. Those boxes are already going to the bin after they are empty and removed from the shelves, so instead of buying a new reusable bag, take one and repurpose it.