Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that many single use items aren't nearly as
Speaker 1: disposable as you think. By thinking about how you use things,
Speaker 1: you might be able to extend the life of objects
Speaker 1: that would otherwise quickly wind up in the trash. So
Speaker 1: when I am out and about in the world, I
Speaker 1: tend to take a disposable plastic water bottle with me. Now,
Speaker 1: perhaps that seems wasteful, but here's the deal. I don't
Speaker 1: really care at all about what kind of water is
Speaker 1: in the bottle. I am one hundred percent okay with
Speaker 1: tap water. So after I finish whatever water was a
Speaker 1: richly in my plastic water bottle, I refill it with
Speaker 1: tap water. I might do this a dozen times or more,
Speaker 1: just making sure to rinse the bottle in between uses. Theoretically,
Speaker 1: it might be more sustainable to use a refillable water bottle,
Speaker 1: but I've noticed that lots of people seem to buy
Speaker 1: whatever water bottle is hip in the moment. I am
Speaker 1: pretty sure that a new Stanley every month does not
Speaker 1: come out ahead of what I've been doing. It turns
Speaker 1: out that plastic water bottles don't actually need to be
Speaker 1: as disposable as you think. Same with many items. Perhaps
Speaker 1: it is a cliche that someone is so cheap that
Speaker 1: they reuse their aluminum foil, But if you only wrap
Speaker 1: something dry and not all that messy, why not same
Speaker 1: with ziplock bags. It's one thing if you put a
Speaker 1: messy peanut butter sandwich in there, but if you had
Speaker 1: pretzels at lunch today, you could use the same baggie
Speaker 1: for your pretzels for lunch tomorrow and the next day too.
Speaker 1: In our house, if we only use a corner of
Speaker 1: a paper towel, we will rip off the rest and
Speaker 1: leave it by the paper towel roll. If some one
Speaker 1: only needs a small bit for the next job, they
Speaker 1: can grab that. We wound up buying lots of canvas
Speaker 1: grocery bags because our county has a law against free
Speaker 1: plastic bags. But whether yours does or not, it turns
Speaker 1: out that plastic grocery bags can be used a lot
Speaker 1: of times too. If you happen to get some with
Speaker 1: your next grocery order, just unload your groceries and stick
Speaker 1: the plastic bags back in the trunk. You can use
Speaker 1: them for your next visit. And if you print things, well,
Speaker 1: I am guessing you sometimes need scratch paper for grocery
Speaker 1: lists or on the fly to do lists or notes
Speaker 1: to tape to your door for delivery. People keep a
Speaker 1: pile of pages with print on one side and use
Speaker 1: the other side for whatever you need. In any case,
Speaker 1: if you're about to throw something out, or even just
Speaker 1: chuck it in the recycling bin, you might pause and
Speaker 1: think if it can get a second tour of duty.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the answer is no. I have cleaned up some
Speaker 1: fairly gross messes with paper towels, But if you have
Speaker 1: just used a paper towel to cover something in the microwave,
Speaker 1: it might not be all that dirty. It's perfectly fine
Speaker 1: to use to mop up some spilled water on the counter,
Speaker 1: and you will have been just a little bit less
Speaker 1: wasteful in the process. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's making the most of our time.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia
Speaker 1: for more podcasts from iHeartMedia, Please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.