Making small changes in your lifestyle can have a big impact on the environment. Choose whether or not you use a reusable shopping bag recycled goodsclean with green products or replace with disposable products reusableBiodegradable or sustainable alternatives, opting for environmentally friendly options helps reduce your productivity carbon footprint and protect the planet and its water.
This shopping list of the best eco-friendly products available online will help you reduce plastic waste in product packaging, reduce your reliance on unsustainable goods, skip the beef and use the sun — anything that benefits the environment.
Read more: The best filtered water bottle to remove Bacteria, Sediment and more
Amazon/Kleen Kanteen
The disposable plastic straw war is heating up. Starbucks finally announced the ban in 2018, and hundreds of stores and retailers followed suit. You can get in on the action by grabbing a reusable straw, like these Klean Kanteen stainless steel straws with silicone tips. The kit includes a brush for cleaning.
Good Pen Company
The Good Pencil Company, a certified B-Corp that supports a number of educational and environmental causes, makes pencils from wood sourced from responsibly managed forests. It also donates a pencil for every pen you buy, and every package includes a spruce tree seed to plant a tree at home.
Sarah Tew/CNET
It is reported that 8 million metric tons of plastic enters the ocean from land every year, and it is estimated that by 2050, plastic in the oceans will outnumber fish. Green Toys makes toys from plastic that will end up in the water collected from shorelines and waterways. It also makes a wide range of other toys from 100% recycled plastic materials — mostly milk cartons. This is a continuous system. They include:
Sarah Tew/CNET
Americans consume about 208 million tons of paper a year, so even if you use recycled paper, it’s still a lot of waste. Cut out the Rocketbook Core reusable spiral notebook. Glossy paper works with special Pilot Frixion erasable gel pens (and they come in a few fun colors).
Writing on the pages is a little wet at first, like using a marker on a smooth greeting card, but after 10 seconds the ink bonds to the paper and doesn’t smudge. Erase as you go with the pencil tip or wipe the entire page quickly with a damp cloth. (Cloth and pen included.) Rocketbook software makes it easy to scan your notes and save them as PDFs to multiple cloud storage services or to email, and it can also convert your handwriting to text.
Rothy’s
Disposable water bottles have become an environmental scourge — Rothy’s is turning them into stylish and eco-friendly products for men, women and children. While plastic water bottles aren’t usually very colorful, Rothy’s offers kids’ shoes in a variety of fun options starting at $55; men’s and women’s styles start at $125. The company says it reuses millions of plastic bottles originally destined for landfills.
Adidas
Adidas takes recycled marine plastic waste found along the coast and uses it (instead of virgin plastic) throughout its Primeblue clothing line. The company currently sells shirts, shorts and shoes made from Parley Ocean Plastic and aims to make its entire product line virgin polyester-free by 2024.
Flexible
Nimble makes these phone cases from 100% recycled plastic bottles and donates 5% of the proceeds to a number of environmental programs including Coral Reef Alliance, Carbonfund.org and SeaSave.org.
Amazon/Stasher
If you’re packing lunches for work or school, you can worry about disposable bags for a lifetime. These reusable silicone Stasher storage bags can withstand the rigors of microwaves and freezers, and are also happy to hang in your lunchbox. Put them in the dishwasher to clean.
Dinner Art/Amazon
Here’s a slightly different approach to the plastic bag problem. These designer bags are made of food-safe polyester-coated cotton. What makes them attractive are the designs: cats, squid, turtles and mermaid scales make being eco-friendly fun. Yes, they are reusable and dishwasher safe.
Amazon/Flip and Tumble
It’s not just sandwich bags that haunt your home with plastic. Produce bags may look filmy and light, but they still contribute to the problem. Flip and Tumble reusable grocery bags are made of polyester and are machine washable. Transparent mesh allows you to see what’s inside.
Amazon/Ethics
As long as we’re thinking about reducing plastic and harsh chemicals used in packaging, check out these solid shampoo bars from Ethique. These natural cleansing products are available in varieties designed to combat oily hair, dry hair and damage. There’s even an eco-friendly cleaning shampoo bar for dogs. The company says the bars are cruelty-free, TSA compliant and compostable. Each bar will help you feel cleaner and should be the equivalent of three bottles of liquid shampoo.
Amazon/Etee
A great idea to consider your own beeswax is to use food packets filled with beeswax instead of plastic containers or bags. These biodegradable Etee wraps are made from organic beeswax and cotton. You warm these biodegradable products with your hands before using them to wrap food or cover a dish or plate.
Amazon/OKO
Go zero waste and turn your kitchen waste into gardening gold with a compost scrap collector that can live on your countertop or under your sink. This special design eliminates the added expense and hassle of compostable bags. Once you’ve emptied your disposables into your main bin, you can give it a quick scrub.
Amazon/Panasonic
Panasonic’s reusable eneloop batteries are renowned for their long life. Charging them may take some time, but it beats throwing a never-ending stream of dead batteries into the trash.
BioLite/Screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET
Going off the grid just got a little easier with the BioLite SolarHome 620 kit. It includes a solar panel, three overhead lights, wall-mounted light switches and a control box that doubles as a radio and gadget charger. The system can be used to bring light to a cabin or campsite, or act as a backup system in the event of a power outage.
Amazon/Anker
Anker’s portable solar panels can clip onto your backpack to keep your gadgets charged on your thrilling adventures in faraway lands. Or you can use them to pack that squeaky-clean, I-use-solar-powered feel-good feeling at home or at work.
Amazon/Silpat
Replace parchment paper sticks with a reusable Silpat baking mat. It is made of fiberglass mesh with a non-stick silicone surface, making it an amazingly beautiful eco-friendly product. It can survive in the oven over and over again and will save you greasing your baking pans.
House of Marley
Audio manufacturer House of Marley makes earth-friendly products. The company’s waterproof Bluetooth speaker is made from sustainably sourced cork, which is both renewable and biodegradable.
Impossible foods
Beef production has a disturbing impact on the environment, as cattle chew through soil and release greenhouse gases. Plant-based meat alternatives like the Impossible Burger want to give people a reason to ditch beef. Even Burger King got on board with the Impossible Whopper, which costs a dollar more than a regular Whopper.
Amazon
If you want to give the world to someone who cares about the Earth, MOVA decorative globes use solar cell technology to spin silently with any indoor light or indirect sunlight. No batteries or wires required.
Senior editor Bridget Carey contributed to this story.
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