Have you thought much about how you’ve been living your life in terms of your impact to the environment? When so many people have started living a more eco-friendly lifestyle, perhaps you should do so too. It’s more than just joining a trend; it’s about becoming a more responsible citizen to the planet you live in. More so, it’s not just for your sake, but also that of future generations as well.
Contributing to the climate change movement doesn’t have to mean going to extreme measures towards environmentalism. It can be as simple as using eco-friendly alternatives to some of the most common gadgets that you use every day.
Here are seven eco-friendly gadgets you should have in your bag:
1. Collapsible Silicone Straws
Many restaurants, particularly fast-food establishments, already started to ditch the plastic or paper straws. But, in the instances that you need to use one, go ahead and open up your collapsible silicone straws.
As its name suggests, these are reusable straws made out of silicone material. It usually comes with a carrying case, so it’s easy to fold to a smaller size in your bag and keep it clean.
2. Bamboo Paper Towels
As much as you may want to avoid using paper towels or tissue papers, this is often quite an impossible task to do, especially when you’ve got children to keep clean. There’s just so much mess to clean up and wipe when you’re on the go.
Rather than using ordinary tissue paper or paper towels, try using bamboo towels instead as an eco-friendly alternative. These are more sustainable as it’s made from recycled bamboo material. It’s also biodegradable.
3. Solar Power Banks
Power banks are now like a staple in every person’s bag. As people use their mobile phones and other gadgets more frequently in a day, they’re also draining the battery quite a lot. Hence the need to bring a power bank.
Today, there are power banks that are also more eco-friendly alternatives. For instance, solar power banks from Enviroinc.com. These power banks are charged and powered by the sun. When you use this as you’re out and about, you can charge your phone and other gadgets more through the sun’s power. This means lesser use of electricity at home from non-renewable sources to charge your devices.
4. Reusable Silicone Bag
If you’ve gone accustomed to using plastic bags to sort things out in your everyday bag, a better alternative is silicone bags. These can enable you to lessen the plastic build-up in oceans and landfills. The great thing about these silicone bags is that they’re also very versatile for use. When you use these to store your food, you can easily pop them in the microwave for heating up. They’re even dishwasher-friendly.
5. Reusable Water Bottle
This fifth eco-friendly item might seem like an obvious one to have around in your bag, but unfortunately, there are still so many people who fail to bring their bottles.
Especially when you love to make a coffee run to your favorite coffee joint, you can save so many plastic or paper cups by asking the baristas to put the coffee on your reusable water bottle instead. The same holds with buying mineral water. Stop the accumulating of so many plastic bottles by not purchasing small bottles of water.
With this eco-friendly tool and habit, you can save both the environment and even a few bucks. Remember, the cost of your coffee and water does add up.
6. Rechargeable Batteries
This item applies to those of you who find themselves needing a constant change of batteries every day. For example, perhaps you may be working as a photographer wherein your camera needs batteries to function. Rather than buy new batteries all the time, choose a one-time purchase of rechargeable batteries with the quantity you need.
Remember that batteries are made of so many toxic materials. Many of these are so harmful to the environment that they lead to soil and water pollution. With rechargeable batteries, you’re also saving money by no longer having to buy new ones from time-to-time.
7. Electronic Readers
For those who love to bring around a book to read, why not go for an e-reader instead? Yes, the smell and feel of paperback may be pleasant, but what happens to the book after you read it? That’s a waste of paper that could’ve been avoided.
With an e-reader, you’re not wasting any single-use paper. Plus, it’s less bulky to put in your bag too. With just one gadget, you can store so many different e-books, newspapers, and magazines rather than bring one big, bulky one around.
Takeaway
Every single thing that made it on this list of eco-friendly gadgets that you should always have in your bag should be more than enough to show you that becoming conscious about the environment is a surprisingly simple fix.
Thankfully, many of these green gadgets also come cheap. For the pricier ones, think of it as an investment in the long run. These items can now help you start replacing your everyday essentials with more eco-friendly alternatives.
Salman is a prolific environmental writer, and has authored more than 500 articles in reputed journals, magazines and websites. He is proactively engaged in creating mass awareness on renewable energy, waste management, sustainability and conservation all over the world.
Salman can be reached on salman@cleantechloops.com
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