In this post, I want to share some single-use swaps that you can make in order to reduce your consumption of plastic and therefore your environmental footprint. Since certain products have become so ingrained in our lives, it can be hard to see how we can make small changes that have a tremendous impact. When it comes to lifestyle changes, it is important to start small and stay true to your goals, so the five swaps I am going to talk about are simple for anyone to accomplish; these swaps will leave you feeling good about reducing your unnecessary and unsustainable consumption.

The first single-use swap to make is from plastic toothbrushes to bamboo toothbrushes. Bamboo toothbrushes are super environmentally friendly because bamboo is an extremely fast-growing tree. Bamboo is an easy resource to replenish, unlike many other types of wood and it requires less water to grow. Additionally, bamboo is biodegradable, while plastic toothbrushes obviously aren’t. Owning one bamboo toothbrush keeps four plastic toothbrushes from ever being purchased; this makes a significant difference over the course of someone’s own life! Every toothbrush that you or I have ever used still exists somewhere on the Earth today. Plastic toothbrushes are often made with toxins and the production of them is responsible for contaminating nearby ecosystems with toxic byproducts. Additionally, don’t fall prey to purchasing an electronic toothbrush. Even though they last a while, they are also made of plastics and the addition of batteries means that they are dangerous to the environment are not disposed of properly. Battery acid is released from the batteries over time (single-use or rechargeable) which harms the environment.

Another easy swap to make in your bathroom is from glass dental-floss containers rather than plastic ones. Purchasing and using one glass floss container prevents seven plastic floss containers from ending up in landfills. It is important to recycle the glass containers rather than throwing them away, or the switch you have made won’t make as much of a difference. Glass can’t be recycled in a landfill!

The next two single-use swaps I am going to discuss require some forethought on your end. It is so beneficial for the environment to use a reusable coffee mug rather than get a plastic, single-use cup. In fact, the average coffee cup lasts so long that it eliminates 500 single-use cups from consumption. It can be hard to keep a coffee mug on hand at all times, but I’ll tell you my trick! If you have two reusable mugs, take one with you in your car every morning; then when that one is used, bring it inside and wash it, and then bring your second mug in the car the next day. This way you always have a mug in your car.

Even more important than bringing a reusable coffee mug, is bringing a reusable straw, or just refusing plastic straws altogether. I personally have reusable straws that I use at home (silicone and metal) but it can be difficult to cart those around with you. Instead, I recently discovered a portable, collapsable straw! It’s called Final Straw because it better be the last straw you ever use! It is easy to take with you on the go and is metal, so it keeps your beverages ice cold. According to Trvst the United States alone uses 500 million plastic straws each day, that’s absurd and so unnecessary! This use produces so much plastic waste which kills millions of animals and can even end up in our food and water.

The fifth single-use swap that greatly reduces your environmental footprint is to switch from paper towels to a washcloth or hand towel. Many people keep paper towels in their kitchen or bathroom and use them to quickly clean up a mess on the countertop. The average use of one hand towel keeps 7,300 paper towel rolls out of landfills. Every year in the United States, 13 billion pounds of paper towels are used, causing enormous stress on the environment. When you break this down, it requires 110 million trees, 130 billion gallons of water, and 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide to be pumped into the atmosphere yearly. Making this switch has a large impact.

These five easy swaps are steps that literally anyone can take to reduce their environmental footprint. If more and more people implemented these sustainable habits, the companies polluting our world with plastics and wasting our the world’s resources will no longer have enough customers to support their environmentally destructive business practices. This is exactly what needs to happen to reduce all the unsustainable consumption of resources and plastics.