Little Items that Cause Major Damage to the Environment

All the little things add up. When it comes to environmental safety, there are very few things that are truer than those words. In recent years there has been a massive surge of enlightenment when it comes to environmental issues, such as recycling, reducing carbon emissions, green energy, etc. Still, there is more we can do to improve ourselves, and it may start with how we treat some unexpected items.

This article will list out some common items that you either shouldn’t be using at all, or at least don’t need to be throwing into the trash.

Are Tea Bags Bad for the Environment?

Tea bags, and more importantly, boxes of tea bags, have a lot going against them. A copious amount of paper is being used, but it’s bleached, and has likely been contaminated by the spices and tea leaves inside. Nothing about them is remotely salvageable. It’s true that most tea bags are compostable, but there’s still a notable 30% that are not. That 30% contains a heat-resistant polypropylene plastic which is dangerous when introduced into the soil.

No, tea bags by themselves aren’t going to kill the environment. Most tea bags can be composted, one way or another. The bags are a luxury item though, as there are safer alternatives like using a tea strainer, which only needs to be washed out between uses. Not only would buying loose cut tea allow you to better regulate how strong your tea is, but it may help you to reduce your overall costs by allowing you to use less tea than a bag would.

Can K Cups Hurt the Environment?

Introduced in 2004, k cups have exploded in popularity. One in three Americans were reported as having a single serving, pod-based coffee maker in their home as of 2015. There’s just one issue; those little plastic cups can’t be recycled. Since many people assume it’s like anything other plastic they don’t realize that it isn’t recyclable. The reason lies in the recycling process. A certain set of criteria must be met before the materials can be broken down and recycled. The potential recyclables can’t be mixed when they get broken down, which is why you normally must separate plastic, glass, and paper. A batch of mixed items would leave you with a defective product which isn’t able to be used, and therefore has to be tossed into the landfill.

K cups have a few problems with them, such as them not having enough material to justify recycling, their seals being made of metal or paper while the cups are plastic, and the fact that they typically still have liquid contaminants inside them. This is why almost all pod cups, not just K cups, find themselves tossed into a landfill. Remember reading that one in three American households have a machine that uses these? Consider other factors, such as how many people per household use the machine, how many cups of coffee each person makes a day, etc. The information on how many cups are in landfills can only be so accurate, but if we consider that the company sold 9.8 billion single packs in 2014. When you consider how old these things are you’ll realize that this results in a scarily high number. That’s enough to wrap around the Equator of the Earth almost 12 times.

The company is currently working on a more eco-friendly design, but in the meantime it might be more beneficial (both globally and fiscally) to get a French Press.

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Can you Recycle Microbeads?

Microbeads are the small pellets that you find in some bottles of body wash or lotion. They were used to exfoliate your skin, giving it a more thorough cleaning than regular soap, and could be washed off your skin afterwards. It was a great idea, except for the fact that the beads were made from plastic.

It may surprise you, but those miniscule pellets are harmful to the environment because of how tiny they are. The drains always led the beads back to a water source. Water filtration plants can’t do much to prevent that, because they’re too small to be properly filtered. When the beads are out in the water, fish who mistake these beads for food will end up dying, because the beads will get stuck in their bodies. New York reported that over 19 tons of these beads were washed into their waterways, and Michigan reported about 1.7 million particles of them in Lake Erie.

Of course this may sound like a moot point considering that in 2015 the Obama Administration passed a bill outlawing the use of these beads in products like creams, soaps, and toothpastes. The thing is, with how recently this bill was made and then put into place, it’s almost guaranteed that some homes still have these products, and are using them. It’s really something to reconsider, if you happen to still have these products in your home.

Can You Recycle Disposable Cleaning Cloths?

Anything from disinfecting wipes to electronic cleaning rags can be considered a disposable cleaning cloth. Many people believe that they are similarly made to that of paper towels, but the truth is that they’re made from completely synthetic materials. This means that they are both unrecyclable, and significantly less biodegradable than other cleaning cloths. They sit in landfills for far longer than other non-synthetic rags, which also risks slipping into our waterways.

Thankfully microfiber may be the solution to this problem. Many companies have switched to using this instead of many other synthetic materials so that you can wash and reuse the cloth rather than throwing it out straight away. This can also save you money, as you won’t have to purchase anywhere near as money cloths.

Do Disposable Razors Harm the Environment?

Over 2 million disposable razors are thrown away each year, not including the packaging that they come in. You can’t recycle them either, since the materials they’re made from are unsalvageable. The blades themselves are made from a very cheap steel, which is then molded to fit permanently onto a plastic handle. Since it’s too dangerous to extract the blades from the plastic the razors end up in the landfill, where they take a very long time to break down. Depending on the material in the blades, the razors can take anywhere from 50 to 500 years to finally break down.

Thankfully there are reusable razors available, and plenty of them. Electric razors have long lasting and reliable blade heads, and straight razors use a durable material that remains effective around three times longer than a disposable razor. If you’re in a position where you absolutely require a disposable blade, consider Recycline Blades by Preserve, a company that has managed to use completely recyclable materials that won’t end up in the landfills.

Are Menstrual Products Dangerous For the Environment?

One of the most overlooked items with regards to environmental impact would be menstrual products. The products are a necessity for over half the U.S. population. With the U.S. alone containing around 160 million women, the amount of tampons used it near 7 billion and pads is 12 billion. Given that these types of products are meant to be used only once, they all end up in landfills very quickly.

Products that don’t contain dioxin or rayon, for example the Diva cup, are able to be washed and used again. As well, products like Glad Rags can be used externally, then washed for reused. The problem with these products is that they are far more expensive than disposable products, sometimes as much as three times more expensive than a box of tampons, and while they’re reusable, they still need to be replaced over time. Still, they are our currently only other option if we want to avoid disposable products.

Are Produce Bags Compostable?

All grocery stores across the U.S. will have produce bags set out along the produce aisles. While it’s true that many companies have begun to use bags that can be composted, there is still a large prevalence regular ones. Don’t forget, plastic bags can’t be easily recycled. Produce bags also pose such dangers, as they will often litter the ground and get stuck in machinery. Most recycling plants are unequipped to handle this problem, so they send these bags to the landfill.

Currently our best options are either we only shop as stores with compostable bags (as indicated on the side of the bag) or we bring reusable bags that can be washed out afterwards. These aren’t the best options we could hope for though, since quite a few chains do not offer compostable bags, and it may be problematic trying to always have reusable bags at the ready. Even if you were to only bring a couple bags, that still cuts down on the amount of plastic in our landfills each year.

Can You Recycle Disposable Cutlery?

Only about 6% of plastic cutlery can be recycled because it’s often made from polystyrene 1, the same material used to make styrofoam. Plastic cutlery is commonly used because it’s cost effective. A case of 1,000 plastic forks is around $10, whereas a case of compostable forks can range anywhere between $30 and $40 each. This causes great strain on people, especially business owners who run restaurants with extremely thin profit margins. This doesn’t include chopsticks, found in most Asian themed restaurants, which require about 4 million trees each year to be cut down in order to produce 57 billion pairs of chopsticks.

While they would mean a bit of sacrifice, there are other options for you as a consumer if you’re eating at a restaurant that doesn’t offer eco-friendly cutlery. If you’re eating in then you can ask the restaurant owner if they have silverware instead of plastic. This is more likely to be available at sit-down restaurants than other places, but it never hurts to ask. If you’re ordering take-out, request that they don’t place plastic cutlery in your order. You’re more than likely eating at home anyway, so you have silverware available. If you’re eating at work or away from home then you may need to have some silverware you bring with you. Cutting down on plastic cutlery will mean a cut in our landfills.

What do You do with Old Batteries?

Most often batteries, especially smaller ones, are simply thrown into the trash. Even if you try to recycle them, all batteries will find their way to the landfill. The reason is that batters are filled with toxins, like nickel and cadmium, which can harm both the environment and humans. The outside metals and plastics take upwards of 100 years to decompose, but the chemicals inside have an indefinite decay time, meaning that they more than likely never break down completely. The chances of water contamination is extremely high, and can pose a threat to nearby communities.

The best way to avoid these issues is to either dispose of the batters at local utility stores, like Staples or Office Depot, or to by rechargeable batteries. It’s more cost efficient and environmentally friendly to buy rechargeable batteries. Like most great investments you may find yourself paying a little more initially. However, over the course of 5 years, you are likely to save yourself over $308.