Perfecting that dream green kitchen is kind of like tweaking a favorite recipe until you’ve mastered it. Maybe you scaled back on your plastic straw usage, but your energy bill is still higher than you’d like.
Here are four productive ways to make your kitchen (even more) eco-friendly:
Nix the paper towels
It’s estimated that if every household across America reduced their paper towel use by just one roll per year, it would save 544,000 trees. Not to mention, it would significantly reduce some toxic chemicals released into our waterways caused by the manufacturing process.
Use microfiber cloths instead, keeping a big stack handy. Throw them in the wash after every use and run the load with natural laundry detergent. A higher-quality fabric will wear down slower (some last up to 500 washes), so it won’t need to be tossed into landfills so quickly.
Reevaluate your dish soap
Conventional dish soaps are loaded with synthetic foam boosters like SLS, sodium lauryl sulfate. These, and other, toxins pose threats to both the environment and the hands that wash the dishes.
Since what goes into our sink goes back to our drinking water, we’ve made it a point to use natural dish soap that is entirely biodegradable. Also, keep in mind it only takes a teaspoon of liquid detergent to do a sink full of dishes, helping reduce waste.
Load up the dishwasher
If you have a relatively new dishwasher, using it could save more water and energy than hand washing. Make the most of your dishwasher by filling it up entirely before running. You can also go the extra mile by using eco-friendly detergent packs.
Rethink your food habits
As a society, we waste an incredible amount of food. Across America, a whopping 150,000 tons of uneaten food is thrown out every day. That’s about the third of total groceries purchased!
Make sure you make leftovers a priority, label them, and if necessary, freeze them to avoid spoilage. You can freeze almost anything, including cheese. You’ll end up saving money too! Less food waste equals less money spent.
