Here are some reusable eco friendly gifts for any occasion. Personally, we try to give experiences (Cheap Broadway tickets, treetop walks, or bungee jumping) or consumables. Although I want to stop buying stuff, sometimes we need to anyway.
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Reusable Eco Friendly Gifts
Sadly, plastic is everywhere! It is slowly but consistently poisoning our birds, our oceans and our wellbeing. Anytime we buy plastic, it might end up in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
In this article, I will give you some ideas for awesome reusables. Of course, you could buy any of these gifts on line. Buying on line clearly means that you won’t have to drive around and put more carbon into the air.
On the other hand, there is a carbon cost to shipping these items. If you can find these gifts locally, that is even better. Always good to support your local businesses.
Gift Idea #1. Reusable Shopping Bags
A long time ago, when I grew up in the Netherlands, we always brought our shopping bags to the grocery store. Or we could buy them at the supermarket checkout. Because of the cost, that motivated us to bring our own bags. After all, we all know that Dutch people are cheapskates!
Even now, I feel guilty when we don’t bring shopping bags. Start using and gift giving reusable shopping bags!
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Recently, reusable produce bags have been gaining in popularity. Here are some ideas to potentially have a smaller carbon footprint.
Of course, with the pandemic, first thing our local supermarket did was banning the use of our own produce bags. Just after I had gotten them for my birthday in 2020! Impeccable timing :p
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Reusable Straws
Did you know that Americans use almost 400 million straws daily? Enough straws to fill 100 school buses!
When we stayed in Costa Rica (for free, using points), our Hilton resort, located right at the beach, claimed “We don’t use straws so that they don’t end up in the ocean”. What a great policy! Skip the straw and save a sea turtle.
But then, reality hit. Usually, they gave us a straw anyway. Geez! When I asked the server about it, they claimed “People always want straws, so we just include them.” So much for their eco friendly signs…
Are Paper Straws Worth It?
A while ago, some restaurants start using paper straws in drinks. Far from totally perfect, at least it keeps plastic out of the ocean.
4. Eco Friendly Gift: Reusable Hand Warmers
Instead of single use handwarmers, gives some reusable ones! Or just put some rice in an old sock and microwave it, like we did when there were no reusable ones available yet 🙂
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5. Reusable K-cups: Have your coffee and drink it too!
Although I like Keurig coffee machine, I hate how much garbage they generate. Why not gift some eco-friendly reusable K-cups? Finally you can have your coffee and drink it too!
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As you can see, there are lots of options for everyone. Using this gift giving guide, help our planet, birds, fish, and oceans. While it is impossible to quickly solve the plastics problem, every little bit help.
What do you do to keep some plastic out of our landfills? Please let us know in the comments.
Food for Thoughts on Plastics
- Scientific Study on Plastic Bag Bans. Do they work? Or do they just make people buy different plastic bags? Find out for yourself!
- Are Plastic Bag Bans Garbage? NPR article. How these bans may be hurting the environment more than helping it. So much for doing “the right thing”;
- Here’s how many times you actually need to reuse your shopping bags. A Danish study dives into the whole bagging issues with surprising results. Again, food for thought and how things are not always black and white. Or “right” is not always right and “wrong” is not always wrong;
- National Skip the Straw Day by the National Geographic. If only we could have more than just one day;
- Be Straw Free Campaign at the National Park Service. Yet again, straws are an easy target, but it is hard to get on top of them.
Pin Eco Friendly Gifts: Reusables
Comments
19 responses to “The Ultimate Green Gift Giving Guide: Reusables”
Such a great list! Saving this one for my eco friendly gift giving needs. Thanks!
Thank you, Jennifer. I am always torn between my desire for less things and my desire to not just use and throw out things. That is why the reusable options spoke to me.
Great ideas 🙂
Brianna | http://briannamarielifestyle.com
Thank you, Brianna!
I love my reusable shopping bags, they’re huge too. I’ve swapped the plastic straw for a stainless steel one. I don’t know what I’d do without my reusable K-cup! I’m not laying $14 for 12 K-cups anyway, I’m good. I’m loving your picks! I’d be happy to receive these for Christmas.
Yeah, k-cups seem both expensive and wasteful. Glad you have a reusable one! Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
I love this post! Every little thing matters so we should bring our own bags at the supermarket and have reusable coffee cups, as for the straws..they could dissapear completely, we don’t really need them. Great alternatives, too!
Anda
Wonderful post! i hadn’t visited your site in a while – you’re a great writer 🙂
Thank you, Yaya! Hope you will find some good gifts via this gift guide.
I love all of these eco-friendly gift ideas. I could absolutely use those reusable hand warmers, my hands are always so cold, so being able to warm them up without being wasteful would be wonderful.
We live in New Hampshire, so our winters are cold and miserable. I just might try some of these reusable hand warmers myself!
Thanks for visiting and commenting.
What are reusable hand warmers and K-cups?
Hand warmers usually are chemical baggies which you can activate and then they stay warm for hours. They are great in wintery climates, to put them in your mittens and be warm, even with freezing temps. What always has bothered me is that it is a one-time use and then you throw it out. Very eco unfriendly. So the fact that you can actually get re-usable ones is a happy discovery.
The K-cups are those little plastic thingies filled with coffee (or tea or cocoa) which you put in a so-called Keurig machine and it makes one cup of coffee. It always feels like such a waste, so it is great to have re-fillable ones available now.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
This is a great post which has made me consider just how much more eco friendly I could be. I love the idea of a metal straw. I’m going to get myself one of these – plastic and paper straws have always bothered me but this seems like the way forward! xxxx
Go for it! These metal straws would be great stocking stuffers too 😀 Glad you are helping to preserve our planet by minimizing one-time-use straws!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
I love these suggestions! I’ve recommended quite a few on my blog as well! I really need to get some new shopping bags; mine are the recycled cheapos they have by the aldi checkout and they are literally ripping at the seams. Good list!
Thanks! I will check out your blog and see what you recommend. Yes, go get new shopping bags, and don’t forget to leave some in the car! (Personally, I don’t always remember to bring my reusable bags, and I hate using the store plastic bags)
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