The industry has made great strides,” says Jennie Nigrosh, founder and CEO of The Green Garmento, which sells reusable dry-cleaning garment bags, shirt box bags and other sustainable products."A good way to begin is with a waste audit, taking notes on what you throw away, whether it’s a dryer sheet or an old toothbrush. You’d be surprised by how much trash you’re generating, and it’ll give you clues about what you can do differently,” says Anna Maltby, deputy editor of Real Simple.Reuse reusables, a lot"It’s important to remember that some reusable items may be harder on the environment than the plastics you’re trying to avoid unless you use them a lot,” points out Maltby, of Real Simple.

Dry cleaning fixesMany dry cleaners now offer reusable bags for garments, including folded shirts. But many more small steps like those can be taken.Urge friends and family to join you in your efforts, post something on social media and write companies to request that they make environmentally friendly changes, says Ozawa. Just make avoiding plastic a part of your mindset,” says Ozawa. Contact your representative and ask them to make changes,” Ozawa says. 

So I switched to using containers we already had and invested in a set of silicon lids that fit onto bowls in an array of sizes,” Maltby says. Switching to reusables is a good goal, but you have to be willing to commit long-term to ensure that shift is doing more good than harm. "Switching to reusables is a good goal, but you have to be willing to commit long-term to ensure that shift is doing more good than harm."My husband and I started the company after we started freaking out because we couldn’t find anything in our closet; it was so full of plastic-wrapped clothes. And like a growing number of companies, The Green Garmento has a take-back program to recycle or up-cycle the worn-out bags. At the grocery store or mall, people are often on autopilot.”For example, it could take as many as 1,000 uses of a travel mug to make it a total win for the environment, she says, citing an estimate by the International Reference Centre for the Life Cycle of Products, Processes and Services (CIRAIG), in Quebec.”

Speak outAbove and beyond small changes on the home front, "political action is the most important thing you can do for the environment. "You don’t need to buy a new set of Mason jars, because chances are your sister or a thrift shop may have perfectly good Mason jars you can use. (Photo:Representational/Pexels) Washington: To help the environment by cutting down on non-compostable plastics, many people have begun saying no to plastic straws and are bringing reusable bags to the grocery store instead of accepting new plastic ones.The idea seems to be catching on. Just as the milkman used to bring milk in returnable bottles, dry cleaning can be delivered and dropped off in reusable bags. Farmer’s markets are another great source of Air compressor Factory package-free foods, she adds.Beyond paper straws: More hacks for reducing plastic at home. Carry purchases home in glass jars, paper bags or other containers you already have.Other substitutes for cling wrap include cloth coverings, like Bee’s Wrap and Abeego, that seal tight.Better yet, opt for used"Using reusable products you already own or that are handed down, that’s a real win for the ecology,” says Maltby.A handful of easy, no-plastic hacks for a greener home:Lids, not cling wraps"When I did a waste audit, I realised we were using a lot of plastic wrap.

There are so many simple changes you can make at home,” says Melissa Ozawa, features and gardening editor at Martha Stewart Living magazine. "Make your voice heard,” she says.”Shop mindfully"Think carefully about what you’re buying.” And that’s just a start.Buy in bulkPlenty of things like laundry detergent can be found in refillable containers, and beans and nuts can be found in bulk, so you can sidestep plastic or clamshell containers, Ozawa says. Paper sandwich bags and reusable zip-shut silicon baggies are also popular choices to replace traditional single-use plastic baggies.. We were drowning in plastic,” she says."The message really is that when you buy a reusable product, use the heck out of it and don’t keep buying new ones,” says Maltby."As a consumer, you have a lot of power, and you can use it to reward the companies that are doing a good job with their packaginglems for years, clogging waterways in cities, increasing the risk of floods, and injuring or killing marine animals who ingest or become trapped by plastic packaging. 

 Kuta: Bali’s palm-fringed Kuta beach has long been a favourite with tourists seeking sun and surf, but nowadays its golden shoreline is disappearing under a mountain of garbage.Plastic straws and food packaging are strewn between sunbathers, while surfers bobbing behind the waves dodge waste flushed out from rivers or brought in by swirling currents."When I want to swim, it is not really nice. I see a lot of garbage here every day, every time,” Austrian traveller Vanessa Moonshine explains."It’s always coming from the ocean. It’s really horrible,” she adds.Often dubbed a paradise on earth, the Indonesian holiday island has become an embarrassing poster child for the country’s trash problem.The archipelago of more than 17,000 islands is the world’s second biggest contributor to marine debris after China, and a colossal 1.29 million metric tons is estimated to be produced annually by Indonesia.

The waves of plastic flooding into rivers and oceans have been causing problems for years, clogging waterways in cities, increasing the risk of floods, and injuring or killing marine animals who ingest or become trapped by plastic packaging.The problem has grown so bad that officials in Bali in November declared a "garbage emergency” across a six-kilometre stretch of coast that included popular beaches Jimbaran, Kuta and Seminyak.Officials deployed 700 cleaners and 35 trucks to remove roughly 100 tons of debris each day to a nearby landfill."People with green uniform were collecting the garbage to move it away but the next day I saw the same situation,” said German Claus Dignas, who claimed he saw more garbage with each visit to the island."No one wants to sit on nice beach chairs and facing all this rubbish,” he added.Bali’s rubbish problem is at its worst during the annual monsoon season, when strong winds push marine flotsam onto the beach and swollen rivers wash rubbish from riverbanks to the coast, according to Putu Eka Merthawan from the local environment agency.

This garbage does not come from people living in Kuta and nearby areas,” he said."It would be suicidal if Kuta people were doing it.”Some 72 km from Kuta, Mount Agung has been threatening to erupt for two months, prompting tourists to cancel visits and displacing tens of thousands of villagers living within a 10 km-radius of the volcano’s crater.But the island’s waste problem is no less of a threat, said I Gede Hendrawan, an environmental oceanography researcher from Bali’s Udayana University."Garbage is aesthetically disturbing to tourists, but plastic waste issue is way more serious,” he said."Microplastics can contaminate fish which, if eaten by humans, could cause health problems including cancer.”Indonesia is one of nearly 40 countries that are part of UN Environment’s Clean Seas campaign, which aims to halt the tide of plastic trash polluting the oceans.As part of its commitment, the government has pledged to reduce marine plastic waste by 70 per cent by 2025.It plans to boost recycling services, curb the use of plastic bags, launch cleanup campaigns and raise public awareness.

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