Second Cup: It's not as disposable as you think

Some single use items can be used more than once

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that many single use items aren't nearly as
disposable as you think. By thinking about how you use things,

(00:28):
you might be able to extend the life of objects
that would otherwise quickly wind up in the trash. So
when I am out and about in the world, I
tend to take a disposable plastic water bottle with me. Now,
perhaps that seems wasteful, but here's the deal. I don't
really care at all about what kind of water is

(00:50):
in the bottle. I am one hundred percent okay with
tap water. So after I finish whatever water was a
rich in my plastic water bottle, I refill it with
tap water. I might do this a dozen times or more,
just making sure to rinse the bottle in between uses. Theoretically,

(01:13):
it might be more sustainable to use a refillable water bottle,
but I've noticed that lots of people seem to buy
whatever water bottle is hip in the moment. I am
pretty sure that a new Stanley every month does not
come out ahead of what I've been doing. It turns
out that plastic water bottles don't actually need to be

(01:34):
as disposable as you think. Same with many items. Perhaps
it is a cliche that someone is so cheap that
they reuse their aluminum foil, But if you only wrap
something dry and not all that messy, why not same
with ziplock bags. It's one thing if you put a

(01:55):
messy peanut butter sandwich in there, but if you had
pretzels at lunch today, you could use the same baggie
for your pretzels for lunch tomorrow and the next day too.
In our house, if we only use a corner of
a paper towel, we will rip off the rest and
leave it by the paper towel roll. If some one

(02:16):
only needs a small bit for the next job, they
can grab that. We wound up buying lots of canvas
grocery bags because our county has a law against free
plastic bags. But whether yours does or not, it turns
out that plastic grocery bags can be used a lot
of times too. If you happen to get some with
your next grocery order, just unload your groceries and stick

(02:40):
the plastic bags back in the trunk. You can use
them for your next visit. And if you print things, well,
I am guessing you sometimes need scratch paper for grocery
lists or on the fly to do lists or notes
to tape to your door for delivery. People keep a

(03:01):
pile of pages with print on one side and use
the other side for whatever you need. In any case,
if you're about to throw something out, or even just
chuck it in the recycling bin, you might pause and
think if it can get a second tour of duty.
Sometimes the answer is no. I have cleaned up some

(03:24):
fairly gross messes with paper towels, But if you have
just used a paper towel to cover something in the microwave,
it might not be all that dirty. It's perfectly fine
to use to mop up some spilled water on the counter,
and you will have been just a little bit less
wasteful in the process. In the meantime, this is Laura.

(03:51):
Thanks for listening, and here's making the most of our time.
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura

(04:11):
vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
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