Shopping sustainably – wow that’s a broad statement! Certainly not one action can define it and the range it holds for everyone is enormous. So, when we talk about shopping sustainably, try to think of it as lots of little actions you can take that fit your lifestyle. Then move on to some of the more challenging changes you’d face. Shopping sustainably is a journey and not a destination. Nonetheless, let’s get into it!
Shopping sustainable foods
Food shopping is probably where most of your shopping time and money is spent. So, it makes sense to tackle this one first. Food can seriously impact your carbon footprint. A potato grown in a field near your home has a significantly reduced carbon footprint compared to one shipped from overseas.
The first thing to do to shop food sustainably is look at where it is sourced. To help reduce the distance that your food travels, you can shop in butchers, bakers, and farmer’s markets – they typically travel less distance.
The second half of shopping sustainably with foods is knowing how much of a carbon footprint is being made to make the food. In some cases, it can be low as the food naturally grows. Sometimes it can be high because it must go through a lot of manufacturing processes to be packaged and sent to the store. Other times it can be a mixture of both – this is typically your meat.
Meat tends to have a higher footprint because it is attached to a living animal. Humans have one of the highest carbon footprints because we breathe – with every breath we increase our footprint. The same as for most animals.
Shopping sustainable packaging
The other half of shopping (for foods and other items) sustainably can be attributed to the packaging that your foods come in. Now, we cannot stress this enough, plastic is not your enemy. Single-use and unrecycled plastic is the enemy. Replacing all the plastic in your home might seem like a good idea, but take milk for example.
Traditional milk bottle plastic can be easily recycled and the product will go on to be used again and again. Milk in a Tetra Pak carton cannot always be recycled at home because the plastic and cardboard is fused together. So, while intentions to get rid of plastic can be positive, in terms of recycling, they can be more problematic.
If it’s not a war on plastic, how can you shop packaging sustainably? Well, first, think of it as reducing your packaging as much as possible by bringing your own containers to refill shops. Then think about how you can reuse the packaging. Gu dessert pots are a good example of this – the glass jar is great for reusing as sauce pots at the dinner table (and did you know a Pringle pot lid fits them perfectly so you can also take them on the go).
Your last thought about shopping for sustainable packaging should be its recyclability. Check with your local council about what you can recycle at home and we’re talking about the extensive list – they all recycle some form of plastic but not necessarily all of it. Then try to focus on buying packaging items you know you can recycle. Significantly reducing your waste.
Other items that you’re shopping for
After you’ve covered your weekly food shop, you’re looking at the other items in your life. Now, if you’re someone who lives a minimalistic lifestyle this blog may have already covered all areas for you to shop sustainably. But we encourage you to read on because this can be helpful when buying gifts for someone else.
Sustainable clothing for example is very difficult to purchase on the high street. You’re going to be looking for entire companies to be sustainable as opposed to just items. There is a lot of greenwashing out there to look for too. Just because Primark has a ‘sustainable range’ doesn’t mean you’re shopping sustainably, it’s still mass-produced.
As with all sustainable shopping there are varying degrees of greenness. We would encourage you to just listen to your internal eco-compass. If something was handmade and produced locally using organic hand-picked cotton from a Fairtrade farm, then great. If it simply includes no synthetic dyes and processes – this can also be sustainable. Remember, it’s not about who does the most for the environment, but who is doing a little bit often.
Clothing is just the start of this type of shopping. You’ve got shoes, gifts, gadgets, transport, and holidays. The chances are all those areas in your lifestyle could be more sustainable. Sometimes it’s affordable and easy to do, but not quite so much.
But that’s all there is to it!
Keeping these things in mind will help you to shop more sustainably regularly but more importantly, it’s affordable and easy to do. If you have any more tips or you’ve found some great replacements, why not write a guest blog on the community wall, and share with the rest of us! We all need a little help to shop more sustainably.
