Every year, resolutions are made and broken, tossed aside and forgotten like so much single-use plastic.
This year, make a resolution to make a difference by doing something easy. Don’t give up something you love – give up something you hate!
Make a New Year’s resolution to refuse to use Styrofoam, a container that serves a purpose for a few short hours and lasts upwards of 500 years. Here are a few easy ways to avoid the polystyrene trash:
- Bring a container with you – keep it in your car and grab it if you have a tendency to take food home when you go out to eat.
- Eat at Green Dining Alliance certified restaurants – they have made the commitment to refuse to use Styrofoam.
- Order only what you can eat – if you always have leftovers, try sharing meals instead!
Avoiding Styrofoam isn’t the only way you can easily make a difference. There are lots of ways to reduce single-use plastic trash waste:
- Purchase a re-usable water bottle. Plastic single-use bottles, while recyclable, use a lot of resources to manufacture, ship, and recycle. Re-usable bottles won’t just reduce your waste footprint – they’ll save money!
Re-usable water bottles save energy, water, money, and reduce your waste footprint!
- Order drinks without straws. As a GDA member once told me, “you don’t have straws at home, so why do you need one every time you eat out?” Straws are not recyclable, and their lightweight composition and ubiquitous nature guarantees that a significant number of them end up as litter on streets and in waterways.
- Don’t use plastic cutlery. Plastic forks, sporks, spoons, and knives are never recyclable – consider joining the Green Dining Club ! Members receive a set of machine-washable, re-usable, lightweight, sustainably harvested bamboo cutlery, deals and discounts at select GDA restaurants, and email blasts with tips and news from the GDA!
Bamboo cutlery saves plastic waste from the landfill.
The GDA wants to wish you a safe, happy, and sustainable New Year from the bottom of our hearts – thanks for your support and help. We can’t help make St. Louis greener without you!
