BYO-cutlery. These next ones are Pawprint suggestions! If you're packing for a picnic, getting takeaway from a cafe or spontaneously happen upon some outdoor food stalls, having your own reusable cutlery on hand means you can opt out of their single use offerings. Always prepared!
Fill up your reusable keepcup / bottle. You usually get a few pence shaved off the price of your flat white as well. Ka-ching.
Get your essentials at a zero waste store. Filling your glass or plastic containers with pulses/grains/rice/soap at your local zero waste shop is a great way to feed two birds with one scone — cutting back on single-use products, and reusing what you've already got to reduce their carbon impact.
Sometimes plastic items are necessary—and that's alright! If you really need one, try to reuse it as many times as possible. The same goes for reusable products: they usually have a higher carbon footprint than single-use plastics initially, but their environmental impact goes down every time you use it. Ultimately, our goal should be to use what we've already got as many times as possible.
Whether it’s eliminating single-use plastics over time, or making an effort to reuse our products more, everyone doing their bit will have a big impact on the pollution problem.