SPECIAL FEATURES:
Email
The dirty dozen: 12 products you should avoid
Greener living is all about making changes each day. Sometimes, it's about setting aside unhealthy or resource-hogging products. Here are 12 to avoid.
Sat, Apr 17 2010 at 12:19 PM
Related Topics:
Photo: bitmask/Flickr and MNN
So you've decided to take the plunge — to embrace lighter living, green your life and do something to help the environment. But where to begin?
The best place to start is by moderating your consumption. You can dramatically reduce the size of your footstep on the planet by making smarter choices in the things you buy and the amount your household uses. It's not something you have to do all at once: just commit to steady, incremental change. Small steps become big journeys over time.
Our article, 10 first steps toward lighter living, is a good place to get grounded. If you're ready to take on taming your shopping cart, we've put together a list we call the Dirty Dozen. These are 12 unhealthy or resource-intensive products you should consider reducing or eliminating from your life entirely. Once you've tackled these, you'll probably think of others — and you'll be well on your way to a lighter, more sustainable lifestyle.
1. Styrofoam
Polystyrene foam is actually recyclable, but most of it ends up in landfills or scattered around the environment. Being made of petroleum, Styrofoam is a non-renewable resource — and it's not biodegradable. Carry your own reusable coffee mugs, skip the fast food, and use glass and metal storage containers whenever possible.
2. Plastic food containers with bisphenol-A (BPA)
You'll recognize these polycarbonate bottles and containers by their #7 recycling codes. Health concerns have dogged BPA for years. If you really must use plastic, choose BPA-free varieties (such as those marked with #2, #4 and #5 codes). And be sure to recycle them when you're done.
3. Tropical hardwoods
Teak and mahogany are beautiful, long-lasting woods. But worldwide demand has driven their irresponsible harvesting from old-growth forests, destroying wildlife and biodiversity in some of the world's most critical natural habitats. Don't know where the wood in that magnificent dining table was sourced? Leave it at the store, and look for goods manufactured through certified forestry programs.
4. Aluminum in cosmetics
Almost all commercial antiperspirants contain aluminum chlorohydrate or aluminum zirconium. Both are easily absorbed through the skin. While no definitive studies link them to cancer, some researchers remain concerned about their long-term use — particularly by women. We already get plenty of aluminum in our diet, thanks to anti-caking agents in processed foods. Fortunately, there are a wide variety of alternatives to conventional antiperspirants.
5. Incandescent bulbs
With relatively inexpensive CFL light bulbs available everywhere, it makes no sense to buy old-style bulbs for most applications. CFLs don’t radiate light quite the same way as conventional bulbs, so take some time to find out how to live with them. And since CFLs contain a small amount of mercury, be sure to dispose of them properly.
6. Petroleum-based fabric sheets and laundry detergent
Sure, fabric sheets smell great. They're engineered that way — with powerful chemicals. Like most laundry detergents, they're derived from non-renewable petroleum products. Switch to vegetable-based laundry soaps and seek out less potent alternatives.
7. Overpackaged goods
Ask any marketer: the store shelf is a retail battleground. Often, the first casualty is common sense when it comes to packaging. Unusual plastic bubble wraps; huge boxes for small products — competition for your attention sometimes results in a wasteful mess. Rather than contributing to our already overcrowded landfills, vote for more responsible packaging with your feet. Buy something else, and let companies that overpackage their wares know why you're not a customer.
8. Paper towels and napkins
No, you needn't give up your toilet paper, as our friend Colin Beavan — No-Impact Man — and his family chose to do. Paper is a renewable resource, if properly managed. But let's face it: we squander more paper than we should. That means wasted trees and all the resources that went into farming them. And that, in turn, means more monoculture pulpwood forests, soil erosion and chemicals used to keep tree-damaging pests away. There are some messes best cleaned up with paper, but couldn't you use more kitchen cloths and napkins? It takes a little planning, but makes a big difference. If you're interested in more environmentally friendly paper products, check out Colin's list at the No Impact Man site.
9. Plastic utensils
Like paper products, plastic utensils rate high on the waste scale. While some are marked for recycling, most convenient disposable cutlery gets used once and thrown away. Plastic is forever once it's in the environment, and the petroleum used to make it is increasingly precious. Consider some alternative strategies: portable metal mess kits for picnics, or simply washing plastic goods and using them again.
10. Disposable batteries
There are about 15 billion batteries manufactured each year. Most are alkaline batteries, discarded after a single duty cycle. Once sent to a landfill, they break down and begin leeching chemicals into the groundwater. Convenient, yes — but so are rechargables. With all the electronic devices in our lives these days, it makes environmental (and financial) sense to switch to rechargeable nickel metal hydride (NiMH) and lithium ion (Li-Ion) batteries. They're less toxic and save you money. But do your homework: not all batteries and chargers are appropriate for a given job. Check out GreenBatteries.com for helpful background information.
11. Commercial insecticides
If it's not good for bugs, it's probably not good for your family or your pets. In-home pesticide use has been linked to everything from lung disorders to Parkinson's disease. Household insects are a destructive nuisance, and outdoor pests can become a public health issue. But there are less toxic and nontoxic ways of controlling bugs, from borax (a poison) to essential oils, select plants, and ways to make common insects feel less welcome in your cupboard. Get some tips from Organic Garden Pests, or this article on taking the sting out of mosquitoes without pesticides.
12. Household cleaners
Your cleaning cabinet is filled with some of the most powerful toxins on the consumer market. Check the warning labels and lists of unpronounceable compounds: it's amazing some of these things are sold at all. But old tried-and-true, natural cleaners will often do the trick without exposing your family to exotic chemical fumes and residues. Baking soda, vinegar and salt are the backbone of a cleaner-and-greener home. Take those commercial cleaners to a hazardous disposal facility and start cleaning the natural way. It'll even save you money.
Copyright Lighter Footstep 2008
You might also like:
Sign in with one of these accounts to add your comment.
EDITORS' PICKS
Advertisement
TODAY'S MOST POPULAR ON
- 13 natural remedies for the ant invasion
- Henry Cavill's 'Man of Steel' workout video
- Why I started to eat white rice
- Student science experiment finds plants won't grow near Wi-Fi router
- Food fraud: 10 counterfeit products we commonly consume
- Photos: Hyper-crowded Hong Kong apartments go up, up, up ...
- 7 surprising things Pope Francis has done in his first 100 days
- 10 false facts most people think are true
- 5 mind-bending facts about dreams
- 8 hair care treatments you can make yourself
From our sponsor
NEWSLETTER
Advertisement
CFL light bulbs? Ruined the credibility of this article. CFL contains mercury. If it breaks you need a Haz-Mat team to clean it up. CFL should stand for Crappy Form of Light!!
I feel that many of you are missing the point entirely. You should be using LESS to begin with. Regardless your stance on styrofoam; just stop consuming! Bring your own containers, own utensils, less waste to begin with. It's not just the throwing out issues, its the production issues as well. Look at the whole picture, the whole scope!!! good lord.
all good ideas. overseas where some only know word 'organic' in English the ONLY way to actually tell what is organic is eat what bugs eat....shiny pesticide laden fruits are not good and are not organic typically overseas...we need to start living with nature or we will continue hurting ourselves the most....
Thank you for this beautiful website.I need to know the preservatives and
chemicals found in processed food... thanks
If you whackos want to continue this nonesense, do everyone a favor and move to some mountain in Nepal and let the rest of us live our lives without this ridiculaus whining.
@groucho, youre not going to have a life to live in the future if you keep destroying the world you live in now. No one is forcing you live a greener life, these are only suggestions if you are looking to live that kind of life style. It is not complaining or whining either, these are facts. You do not have to change your life but please do not harass those that do want to live a green life. Also ridiculaus is not a word, may be you should pick up a book.
I love it when you half wits that don't really have a point fall back on pointing out a typo. Read the bulk of the other people's comments. This article is a long way from "facts".
Although incandescent lamps do use 2 to 3 X as much electricity as CFL lamps, the cost benefit ends when the CFL lamps burn out (literally) and smokes within 3 months of install. They don't handle power fluctuations very well. Manufacturers of the CFL lamps need to build in more reliability to these products. A better solution would be LED lamps , but those are not yet widely produced, yet
First off, Styrofoam is a brand name, like Kleenex. Second, just because most people don't recycle their polystyrene foam, it doesn't mean it isn't recyclable. Maybe the author should be encouraging people to recycle. The average business that switches from polystyrene just ends up using those paper cups covered in wax, which cannot be recycled and don't break down in the landfill. If you choose to use polystyrene, look for recycling centers that take it.
Gee, thanks for the list of activities that I want to add to my lifestyle. I will have to add that to my goal of increasing my carbon footprint by 20%/year.
Your attempt at humor has elicited a great big yawn.
I dropped a load on my shoes. Then I drew a picture with it
Mercury is the second most toxic element! Would a little uranium in your house be ok? Just a little lead in your kids toys ok? Don't think so. Any amount of mercury is toxic and has no place in anyone's home, much less a "green" home!
LED lights are the green ones.
Every study to date shows the overwhelming majority of CFL bulb users throw them into the regular trash bag with everything else. The majority being sold are ending up in land fills. They are in fact more toxic than regular light bulbs, and factually don't last as long. They are far from green.
I have switched completely ti CFL bulbs, they are a hoax. They cost more initially, and my experience is that they rarely last as long as the incandescent bulbs. Add mercury and m growing stockpile of dead bulbs in a box awaiting recycling, and it all adds up to more cost' not less. And, i am certain, as already mentioned, that most folks simply throw then the garbage and don't recycle properly.
Where do you get your information - you think mercury is more toxic than, say, uranium and plutonium? Go handle a drop of mercury and then handle an equal amount of polonium; see which one kills you faster.
Actually styrofoam is biodegradable. Like plastic it just requires the right conditions and takes a very long time. I avoid styrofoam primarily because over time using it adds up to a lot of money. Paper that is sent to a land fill does not biodegrade very quickly. It is better to recycle or burn the paper.
Styrofoam is nothing more than polystyrene plastic (the same stuff used to make all those model airplanes and such that you built as a kid) that has been puffed out with air or nitrogen to make it bulky, light and soft.
Pages