Green Up Your Next Shopping Trip

If there is one thing I've learned in my many many years as a conservationist, it's that it's all about the baby steps.  The human impact on the environment is overwhelming. So overwhelming in fact that some people might be tempted to throw their hands up in the air and think that there really isn't anything they can do to fix it.  I have to disagree, every little contribution you make equals a big difference when it is combined with the little changes that your neighbors make.  Here are some simple tips that you can incorporate into a typical shopping trip that will help reduce your impact on the environment:

T-shirt Shopping Bag

*  So this first tip isn't at all revolutionary, quite the contrary it's "all the rage" to use your own reusable shopping bags nowadays.  Some folks even make their own out of items headed to the landfill, like the colorful bag pictured to the left.  I actually made this one from a t-shirt and duct tape!  Besides the bags that your groceries are carried home in, you should also consider those extra produce bags.  Do we really need to put our one lemon in a plastic produce bag and then put that into another plastic grocery bag?  Instead, skip the bag for that bunch of bananas and loose produce that really doesn't need it.  Just let the cashier drop it all in one plastic shopping bag...better yet, your own reusable shopping bag.

*  When you're walking down the isles you can make a difference every time you put something in your shopping cart.  It might take some getting used to but once you figure it out, your shopping trips will be a breeze!  Some things to be aware of when you're shopping are packaging, post consumer content, perfumes and dyes. 

In addition to adding more garbage to the landfill, too much packaging adds weight to cargo.  Therefore, using more fuel and costing the end user extra money to ship the product.  So look for products with minimal packaging and skip the individual serving packs.  Instead opt for the regular or bulk size snacks and make your own individual servings at home with reusable containers. The same goes for hand soaps and cleaners, refill your containers instead of buying all new dispensers. Making these little changes can make a big difference without sacrificing your own product preferences and it'll save you money too.


Be on the lookout for products that contain a large portion of post consumer content (it contains some amount of recycled materials).  Whether it is in the packaging or the actual product itself every little bit helps.  Things like recycled paper, paper towels and toilet paper really help to save those old growth forests.  Did you know that the planet looses 27,000 tree EVERY DAY just in the making of toilet paper? 


Unnatural perfumes and dyes harm the environment both in their manufacture and later as they bioaccumulate in our soil and water.  Stick with clear, non-stinky (this IS the technical term for it) products.  If you bore easily and simply must add a little color or aroma stick to natural fragrances and dyes, it's better for your health too.

Most of these issues come up when we shop for cleaning and other household products, I found my green answer in the Method line of products. Why?  As a whole, the company does not test on animals, their packaging (which is minimal) is made from 100% recycled material and is also recyclable, their cleaning agents are non-toxic and biodegradable, and the list goes on.  While this is not meant to be a product endorsement I do encourage you to visit their website for a more in depth look at what types of things you should be looking for when you select your green purchases.

Made from a French Toast Box

*  Now that you know what to look for whilst loading up that shopping cart, consider what you'll do once you get home.  What can you possibly upcycle?  For starters, those pesky plastic bags make great trash can liners for bathroom and other smaller wastebaskets.  And all that packaging?  Resuse what you can, see my blog post on plastics for oodles of tips on what you can do with all those plastic containers. If you're crafty, there's lots you can do with cardboard before you decide to toss it in the recycling bin.  A quick search on youtube and you can even learn how to make cardboard furniture.  But seriously, I use old cereal boxes and the like to make patterns that I can later trace over and over again.  I even started making jewelry from cardboard.

Post below and tell me how you reduce, reuse, recycle or upcycle items from your shopping trips.