Earth Day Is Never Out of Season
On April 22, 1970, the world’s first Earth Day was celebrated in the US, thanks to Senator Gaylord Nelson. Growing up in the 90s, my elementary school went all out for Earth Day and turned it into a week of environmental education. My school would turn one entire wing of the school into a jungle decorated with drawings that teachers would create with students. Over 50 years later, the annual celebration has spread across the globe and grows more popular each year. If you’ve been trying to lower your carbon footprint, one of the challenges you may be facing is the cost. My best advice is to invest in what you do most and create easy routines to reduce your routine’s carbon footprint. To help get you started, I’ve compiled a list of 38 of my favorite eco-friendly products on Amazon for you to check out!
Eco-Friendly Products for Hydration
- IRON °FLASK’s Sports Water Bottle has three different styles of lids and can keep drinks chilled for up to 24 hours and hot for up to 12 hours. It’s made out of 18/8 stainless steel for a durable design, and I’ve never had water leak out. To stay hydrated on the go, I don’t leave the house without my IRON °FLASK.
- Infusion Pro’s 32 oz Fruit Infuser Water Bottle is a perfect choice if you prefer flavored waters. It includes a bottom-fed design to unlock more flavor and even a built-in pulp screen so you can say goodbye to sipping fruit chunks.
- I use Brita’s Large Water Filter Pitcher to stay hydrated at home. The Elite Water Replacement Filters can remove up to 99% of lead, last up to 6 months, and replace up to 1,800 single-use plastic bottles! In addition, it doesn’t take up much fridge space and will save you money not buying bottled water.
- I recommend PUR PLUS Faucet Mount Water Filtration if you don’t have the fridge space for an extra pitcher. Installation on standard faucets is quick, and you can easily change between tap and filtered water. PUR also built a light into the design so you can easily see when it’s time to replace the filter.
- PUR Filter replacements are available in a two-pack and should be replaced every 100 gallons or roughly three months.
Getting Your Morning Caffeine Fix Guilt-Free
If you enjoy relaxing before the workday with a hot coffee or tea, it’s an excellent opportunity to lower your carbon footprint. Unfortunately, a caffeine fix can result in disposable cups, coffee pods, tea bags with staples, and disposable filters ending up in landfills. But don’t stress; you don’t have to ditch your morning coffee to help the environment! If you’re looking for ways to lower the carbon footprint of your morning caffeine mix, there are various eco-friendly products for tea and coffee! Check out some of my favorites below:
- Coffee pods revolutionized morning caffeine fixes, but their convenience results in 10 to 12 billion K-cups entering landfills yearly! Keurig’s My K-Cup Universal Reusable pod works with any ground coffee without plastic waste. Buying ground coffee is cheaper than pods, so Keurig’s reusable pod will pay for itself in no time.
- BAYKA’s French Press Coffee Maker eliminates replacing parts of electric brewers or disposable filters. They also weigh less than electric brewers to save fuel during the shipping stage. I cover French press brewing in French Press Coffee Brewed Simple if you haven’t used one before.
- Instead of getting a coffee on the go, brew at home! Not only will you save money, but you will reduce single-use plastics. IRON °FLASK’s Sports Water Bottle keeps your coffee hot or iced throughout the workday without leaking.
Tea Must-Haves
- Loose-leaf tea eliminates extra packaging and bags with staples that do not biodegrade. You can check out The Cozy Tea Cart in Southern New Hampshire. Their prices are phenomenal, and you can smell samples of their teas. They also ship their tea if you’re interested in shopping online.
- To brew loose-leaf tea, OXO’s Brew Tea Infuser Basket is a favorite product of mine. The mesh allows water to flow through, but the holes are smaller than other brands to help prevent pieces of tea leaves from slipping through. The lid also functions as a drip tray after your tea has steeped!
- I use Pure Zen’s Tea Insulated Glass Infuser Bottle when I want my tea to go. It comes with a removable stainless steel steeper and an insulated sleeve for traveling. And if you’re like me and accident-prone, a stainless steel version is also available. Both can hold up to 15 oz. of liquid. For iced tea, you don’t even need to boil water! Instead, refrigerate loose-leaf tea in the strainer for 24 hours. Once steeped, discard the leaves, and you’ll have the easiest homemade iced tea ever!
Packing Your Lunch with Eco-Friendly Products
For those who don’t know, when I’m not food blogging, I work full-time in the grocery industry. While it’s not the most glamorous job, working at a grocery store certainly has convenience perks. I can buy groceries when I punch out and buy lunch if I don’t have time to pack one. While the convenience is excellent, buying pre-made lunches is expensive and often involves single-use plastics. Instead, try some of my favorite eco-friendly products for your lunch break!
- MIER‘s lunchbox has two large compartments, both of which can keep food hot or cold. There’s also a front zippered pocket and two side pockets to hold utensils, keys, phones, and more!
- To keep your lunch cold, don’t forget to grab some Healthy Packers Ice Packs!
- To avoid using single-use plastic cutlery, consider investing in DEVICO’s Portable Utensils! Then, you’ll have a full cutlery set for every type of meal, including chopsticks for sushi!
Food Storage and Meal Prepping
- OXO Good Grips Prep & Go 20 Piece Set has been one of my favorite food storage sets. The set includes various sizes for salads, sandwiches, snacks, dressings, and even a berry cup. In addition, they’re durable, leak-proof, and dishwasher-safe for easy cleanup.
- If you’re looking for a quality set of low-cost meal prep containers, Bentgo Prep 2-Compartment Meal-Prep Containers are excellent. They’re dishwasher safe, and the lids create a tight seal to prevent leaks.
- If you have soups, chilis, or stews for lunch, THERMOS Stainless King Vacuum-Insulated Food Jar can keep up to 16 ounces of food hot for up to 9 hours or cold for up to 14 hours. It also comes with a foldable metal spoon built into the lid!
- If you’re a yogurt parfait person, it can be tricky to pack one without the granola becoming soggy a few hours later. If that sounds familiar, you’ll love Rubbermaid TakeAlongs! Each cup includes leak-proof lids and an insert tray that you can fill with granola. When you’re ready to enjoy your parfait, pour the granola over the yogurt and fruit, and it won’t be soggy!
Eco-Friendly Products for Grocery Shopping
- Ecowaare’s Set of 15 Reusable Mesh Produce Bags is thin and lightweight without sacrificing durability. When ready to use them again, they can be added to your laundry for easy cleaning.
- BeeGreen Reusable Grocery Bags can hold 50 lbs. and come in a 10-pack to handle a full cart of groceries. A zippered pouch is included to store your bags in one convenient place. They’re also machine washable for easy cleaning!
- BeeGreen also sells Insulated Totes to keep foods hot or cold on your way home. They can hold up to 60 lbs. and keep food cold for up to three hours.
- If you prefer rigid totes, I use Gramercy Reusable Totes. What sets Gramercy’s totes apart from others is that the walls and base are made of plastic inserts, not cardboard! That means you can add them to your washing machine on a delicate cycle or handwash them and lay them flat to dry.
Eco-Friendly Products for Your Kitchen
Energy Savings
Did you know air frying uses less energy than full-sized ovens? The energy savings are thanks to circulating air which cooks food faster, and smaller space that needs to be heated. So you’ll be able to save time and money with one appliance!
- Ninja’s AF101 Air Fryer can air fry, dehydrate, roast, and reheat food, all with one appliance. The cooking chamber is a 4-quart size which can hold up to 2 lbs. of French fries!
- If you think Ninja’s AF101 model will be too small for your household, Ninja’s DZ401 Foodi 10 Quart 6-in-1 DualZone XL 2-Basket Air Fryer is the upgraded version of the AF101. It’s not only a larger basket for cooking more food, but the baskets can be controlled independently for different temperatures and cook times.
Helping to Reduce Single-Use Plastics
Precut fruits and vegetables often cost more and contribute to single-use plastics. You can simultaneously reduce plastic waste and save money by chopping at home! Invest your savings into some of my most-used kitchen gadgets and appliances:
- Fullstar’s All-in-1 Vegetable Chopper, Mandolin Slicer & Cheese Grater makes prepping for dinner a breeze! The attachments can effortlessly cut various shapes and sizes, and there’s even an attachment to spiralize vegetables!
- Instead of stopping at the drive-through, make smoothies at home with NutriBullet Pro! The pro version packs 900 watts of power to easily blend frozen fruit, nuts, ice, veggies, and more into homemade smoothies in less than 60 seconds! In addition, the pro bundle has two smoothie lids that attach directly to the blending cups, making your mornings and dishwashing even easier.
- Did you know that for a salad dressing bottle to be recycled, it needs to be thoroughly washed, and the label should be removed? Instead of going through that hassle, blend your dressings and marinade at home using OXO Good Grips Salad Dressing Shaker! It can hold up to 1.5 cups of liquids, has a leak-proof seal, and can be added to your dishwasher once empty. In addition, OXO’s Little Salad Dressing Shaker can hold up to 1 cup of liquid for smaller amounts of dressing.
Green Cleaning Made Easy with Blueland
- Blueland’s Dishwasher Detergent Tab Starter Set with 60 tablets and a reusable container can keep your dishes sparkling clean without plastic waste. When you start running low or don’t need the container, you can buy the tablet refills in 60-count or 120-count package sizes.
- Blueland also carries a powder dish soap if you handwash dishes, but it’s only available through Blueland directly.
- Blueland’s 3-pack of Cloud Cloths is perfect for wiping down counters, cleaning glass, stainless steel, and tile, and washing away food debris on dishes. They can replace up to 1,500 paper towels and be sanitized in your dishwasher!
Reducing Food Waste in Landfills
One of the misconceptions about food waste is that when thrown away, it will break down in landfills. That’s only true if enough moisture and airflow reach the food to help it break down. If the food waste is buried under layers of material, the gasses become trapped, and the composting process doesn’t happen. I swear by Rubbermaid’s 6-Piece Produce Saver Containers to keep produce fresh. They come with a built-in filter so produce can breathe and slow the decomposition rate. Best of all, the filters last a lifetime! But even if you store food properly, food waste can still happen. Composting is a great way to turn waste into nutrients for the Earth.
Eco-Friendly Products for Composting
- EPICA’s Stainless Steel Compost Bin can hold up to 1.3 gallons of food scraps. Once it’s filled, you can add it to the compost pile in your yard. You’ll be thankful you have it on days when it’s heavily raining!
- To help control odors in your home, the lid has space for a replaceable charcoal filter. And to help keep your bin clean, consider purchasing biodegradable compost bin liners!
- If you’d like to start composting but don’t have a designated area yet, VIVOSUN’s Outdoor 43-Gallon Tumbling Composter makes it easy! The composting chamber is suspended and includes a door to keep rodents out. Two composting areas allow one side to break down and compost as you fill the other side. You only need to rotate the barrel to add air to the compost. No more digging with a shovel!
- For more composting space, Vivosun has a composting bin that rests on the ground and is top-fed. It comes in three sizes, 220 gallons, 300 gallons, and 500 gallons.
- My favorite product for composting space, features, and cost point is this 110 Gallon Garden Composter Bin. The part I like most is the door on the bottom of the composter which helps you quickly access compost ready for use in your garden beds.
Making Earth Greener One Step at a Time
Hopefully, you’ve found a few eco-friendly products in this article that you’re excited to try! Even if you only change one aspect of your daily routine, the long-term effects can make a lasting impact. If you’re looking for additional ways to help the environment and celebrate Earth Day, check out EarthDay.org! Their website contains information about events, conservation efforts, career opportunities, and ways you can help or donate funds. Even though Earth Day is celebrated on April 22, it’s never out of style to live an eco-friendly life and help the planet! What inspires you to lower your carbon footprint? I’d love to hear in the comments below!
This article contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a small commission by purchasing items linked to Amazon. There is no added expense for you, and it will help support Flavors of Paradis LLC. All products recommended are hand selected by Flavors of Paradis unless otherwise stated as a sponsored product.
