April 22nd this year was Earth Day. That was the anniversary of being home from my mission for 5 years, so I wrote a post on that instead of anything related to loving the earth. I’ve wanted to write about this for awhile, though, and I’m finally getting around to it!

Ever since elementary school, I’ve been concerned about the planet. We had a presentation in 3rd or 4th grade about the importance of recycling and making sure we use reusable containers. When I went to Idaho for college, there wasn’t a local recycling plant and it stressed me out. I made sure to take all of my recyclables to the campus recycling bins when possible.

Lately, like a lot of people, I’ve become concerned about the amount of plastic that’s thrown away. I’ve slowly been making strides to make sure I reduce my plastic use as much as possible. I’m so pleased to say that, for the last month, I’ve been able to shop at grocery stores plastic free!

Let me clarify two things: First, this is not an ad! I am not affiliated with any of these companies. I’m simply sharing these products and companies because I love them and appreciate them. Secondly, when I say “plastic-free grocery shopping” I’m talking about the bags I used to carry my groceries and produce. A lot of packaging is still plastic and is hard to get away from, but I’m working on making smarter choices.

I do the vast majority of my grocery shopping at Sprouts. The fact that they have healthier options and products than at other big chain grocery stores helps motivate me to eat healthier. They also support local, which is great. One of the local companies they support is Danzeisen Dairy. Danzeisen puts their products in glass bottles. There’s a $2 bottle deposit fee when buying the product, but that $2 is returned to you when you bring the empty bottle back to the store. Those bottles are then returned to Danzeisen where they’re washed, sanitized, and used again. I like saving up the bottles and taking a few back to the store at one time because I can add the $2 return to my grocery total, knocking down the price. Also with Sprouts, you get $0.05 off your total for every reusable bag you bring in. I have 4 canvas bags that I bought from Sprouts, so I save as much as $0.20 every time I bring all 4 in.

The plastic produce bags have always annoyed me because, in all honesty, I have a really hard time opening them! The plastic is so thin and fine and it would sometimes take me up to two minutes to open one dumb bag. I ordered these reusable produce bags from Earthwise and I love them so much! I love how they come in different sizes. And they’re so easy to open!

Every time I walk out of Sprouts I feel good knowing that I’m cutting down on my plastic use. I have just a small stash of those plastic grocery bags now under my bathroom sink that I use for my bathroom trash. If I were more green, I probably wouldn’t use those at all. But baby steps, right?

Some of my next goals for cutting down on plastic use are:

• buying reusable straws
• buying portable utensils to take when I go out to eat
• keeping a canvas bag in my car that I can use when I run non-food related errands (which, come to think of it, I’m pretty sure I have one I can use!)

I am a believer that this planet is a gift to us and that we need to treat it with respect. I don’t think plastic in and of itself is evil. It has its place in the world, but I do think we’ve come to rely on it too much. Here’s to making the world a more beautiful and cleaner place!