Reducing the use of single-use plastics

Education education education

Educate people on what is and it's not recyclable, how to sort it and how that can change depending on where you are in the city (Queens is different from Starbucks witch is different from the city) I work as a custodian and it's nuts now much recycling I have to pitch because it's contaminated.

Supermarket check-outs have a policy of offering/ pushing plastic bags. Chide or rebuke them when they do so.

cut down on as much use of plastic as possible, single use and otherwise

-use own bags to carry shopping home -take small textile bags to carry home loose vegetables, fruit -don't buy plastic straws; turn down use in restaurants, encourage restaurants to use paper straws or none -encourage complete ban on plastic shopping bags in Kingston -encourage substituting purchase of plastic garbage bags with paper or compostable -encourage stores to sell produce packaged only in non-plastic packaging, as a grocery franchise in Great Britain recently did successfully -signed petitions to stores to discontinue plastic packaging -store food/beverages in glass or tin containers -purchase beverages in glass, none in plastic -use metal water bottle, travel mug, food containers -discontinue use of ziploc bags; substitute with cloth, metal containers, glass, wrap food in cloth covered with beeswax -buy loose vegetables and fruit rather than bagged or packaged in plastic -don't buy plastic plates, cutlery -carry metal travel cutlery and use non-plastic lunch containers -use bar soap, shampoo, conditioner rather than liquid in plastic -use cosmetics in glass containers versus plastic -replace plastic dental floss when have used up the plastic I own -make own toothpaste rather than purchase in tubes -don't buy soaps with beads in -use metal ice cube trays versus plastic -use metal bowls versus plastic when cooking -store home items in baskets, cloth/wire containers versus plastic -use/purchase wood versus plastic utensils -use reusable/washable panty liners versus those with plastic -buy cloth versus plastic shower curtains -buy metal versus plastic shower curtain hangers -purchase metal versus plastic garbage cans, waste paper baskets, home articles -encourage others to read "Life Without Plastics" by Chantal Plamondon & Jay Sinha - has excellent easy to use suggestions -recycle any plastic products that were unavoidable to purchase -encourage donations to organizations helping with discontinuation of plastic use -continue to live without plastic -buy wooden toys versus plastic -don't buy bottled water in plastic -don't buy plastic footwear -don't buy plastic purses, wallets, etc. -buy second hand clothing; it will have already off-gassed, and involves no further use of chemicals, energy, in manufacturing more -encourage return to selling beverages in glass bottles and reusing the bottles as done before - will also create jobs to wash/sterilize bottles prior to re-use -find every way possible to avoid use of plastic and find alternatives at home, in hotels, restaurants, airplanes, trains, buses, stores

Banning single use plastics will put pressure on industry to find sustainable alternatives

If municipalities start implementing bans on single use plastics, than it wouldn’t take long before businesses started to get creative to avoid taking a hit to their profit margins. I think A&W’s compostable paper straws are a perfect example of this. I think this idea could easily be expanded to things like coffee stirrers. As for plastic bags, BYOB or maybe go back to paper bags. While paper bags are not a perfect solution, at least they are compostable and will not end up in our oceans.

Ban all plastics, bring or offer reusables!

Ban all plastics/single use- bags, straws, takeout containers, cutlery. Could start slowly by offering discounts when customers bring own containers for food and beverages. But I think we don't have time really for slow action- drastic change needs drastic measures! Outright ban on no reusable plastics=people forced to bring own bags, own straws, own containers! Or are offered compostable/reusable containers/cutlery etc by business. And if we must use plastic bags to throw out compost/biodegradable waste- use compostotable bags! We can do this!