March Top Tips // 10 little things you can avoid in daily life

Welcome to the Top Tips this month!

We'll be talking about 10 things you can avoid using in everyday life. We know it's a really simple topic, but it can actually make quite a difference. The avoidable stuff will be things many use because they look nice or taste nice or similar, but aren't actually necessary. We will also write a couple of facts on these things, and give ideas on how you could substitute them if possible. Many might be very obvious, but think about it, do you actually not use them? Have fun!

Chewing Gum

Most people would not be surprised when told that lots of chewing gum have synthetic colouring and flavouring. However, most people would be surprised when told that chewing gum is largely made of plastic. What the companies call the "gum base" is plastic and partly made of the same stuff plastic bags are made of. The gum contains microplastics that, if you spit your gum on the ground often tend to get into the ocean. But, there are plastic-free alternatives! They are not only better for the environment but also for you if you tend towards swallowing your gum. Think of it, you're literally eating plastic! some brands include True Gum (It's good, I've tried it), Simply gum, Glee gum and The Humble Co. Enjoy your plastic-free gum!

Wrapping paper

Many people find pleasure in giving other people presents, which is such a nice trait! To make them look nice too, most use wrapping paper with different patterns or similar.

However, wrapping paper could and is often considered a waste of resources because it only has one appearance and is usually thrown away after that. Several resources say that the United States uses roughly 40 million pounds of wrapping paper annually! The truth is that a lot of wrapping paper cannot actually be recycled and lands in landfills. So do bows and ribbons. Now, I also love giving people presents, and that obviously includes wrapping them.

What you can do:

Use wrapping Paper you've gotten yourself and re-use it. I actually do that and it sounds really stupid, but works surprisingly well.

You can also use other random stuff you have lying around at home. That could be old newspapers, magazines, bags, random bits of colourful (Please Clean!) trash... You can basically use anything as wrapping paper while making your trash someone else's problem. It's a great way to avoid the toxic dyed wrapping paper, feel better, be better and get rid of rubbish in your home!
You can also make bows and all that stuff out of old bags or similar.
Get creative, use what you have at hand to wrap all your lovely gifts and make someone happy along the way! You save the earth, resources, money and your home. It's really worth it! You can find more ideas in our post on how to help the environment at Christmas.

Nail polish/Fake nails

Nail polish and fake nails are always really popular for different looks and styles, but if you are honest with yourself not actually necessary. They need refreshing and treatment every couple of days, have to be replaced and removed with toxic liquids and glues, get lost, splinter and suck a lot of money. If you really love nail polish though, you could do your best to reduce the amount you use and make a special effort for making it long-lasting. Beneath, I linked a website that provides alternatives for nail polish remover. I cannot promise that they work, but it is worth a try to be more sustainable.

Nail polish remover alternatives:

Balloons

Ballons may be fun and remind everyone of good memories at birthday parties, but they are bad for the environment. Ballon releases are probably the worst thing you can do with loads of plastic. Thinking about it logically, it's not a good idea to let plastic fly up into the air if it's going to come down. Ballons are also made of partially strong and elastic plastic. This makes balloons highly dangerous for all sea animals and birds.

Straws

Of course, we had to get to this one. Plastic straws are completely useless. They make drinking 'easier' but did you know that they may be just as bad for you as they are for the environment! Studies have shown that some of the cheap plastic straws are so poorly produced that tiny microplastics can come loose and make their way into your stomach. There are plenty of alternatives for plastic straws. Many people think that paper straws are disgusting because they get damp. However, I personally have never had problems with paper straws and if you really don't like them then you can get some glass straws or simply not use a straw at all.

Magazines

Magazines are fun. They are an interesting reads and often full of fun things to read/do. But have you noticed what comes with most children's magazines? Cheaply produced plastic toys. These bits of plastic are cheap to produce and make children want to buy the magazine. But in truth, most of them get chucked away within the first few days. Then it's the same story as with all plastic waste, it mostly ends up in some poor animal's stomach.

Work Sheets

Worksheets are a daily thing, especially in schools, and are super unnecessary. They are used once, and then either thrown away or put in a folder and kept a couple of years before being thrown away. They are not only a waste of paper but also of energy and ink from the printers, pens and pencils and computers. Often it's a double waste because most students have a notebook anyways, which often isn't filled all the way. After all, all the work happens on the worksheets no one wants later. Please, avoid worksheets. They are a waste in so many ways, starting with energy usage and ending with tree cutting.

Plastic Bottles

We've mentioned plastic bottles before in this post about useful apps and you can probably imagine what the problem is anyway. Basically, single-use plastic bottles, like all single-use plastics, are a nightmare for our oceans. They get used once but then get chucked away. The good news is that there are loads of alternatives, from just taking your own bottle to work to apps like Refill.

Kinder Surprises

Just like children's magazines those little surprise eggs contain a plastic toy that makes them so very amazing for most children, which is totally understandable. However they never really last long and are usually thrown away or lost within a couple of days. That isn't very environmentally friendly, as we know, but you can substitute those kinds of toys with ones of your own making or just get some chocolate by itself, it still is really good!

Plastic Bags

To be real, writing about plastic bags is kind of unnecessary at this point. we all know what the problem is and how we can avoid plastic bags, so please do your best! We do too.

We hope you enjoyed this post and stay tuned for the next one!

Your Green World Team 💚

Sources:
http://tenrandomfacts.com/wrapping-paper/
https://shop.tokki.com/blogs/tokkigifting/is-wrapping-paper-recyclable-the-truth-might-surprise-you
https://lbl.recyclist.co/guide/wrapping-paper/?embeddedguide.
https://nuudgum.com/pages/the-truth-about-chewing-gum
https://plasticchange.org/knowledge-center/would-you-like-a-piece-of-plastic-gum/
https://www.ecowatch.com/plastic-chewing-gum-2653209141.html

Images:
Title image: This image is owned by a blog editor.
Plastic straws: This image, owned by Chemist 4 U (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC by 2.0.