Household Sustainability

Welcome back to school, Blue Demons! Mixed emotions and experiences can arise with the wintery return to campus, but I am so excited to get back to Sustaining Our City! As a refresher, this blog series prioritizes environmental consciousness and practical ways of upholding such in Chicago as college students. We’ve previously touched on local recycling, waste reduction, and reusing practices, as well as an intro in zero waste lifestyles. This quarter, knowing that most of us will be cooped up in our dorms, apartments, and houses, our first focus this winter is going to turn to household sustainability! Below are several very simple and practical steps we can take to reduce our carbon and waste footprint, without any extra cost or effort (some of these actually SAVE you money!!) Let’s get into it!

Reducing plastic waste in the household is one of the simplest ways to uphold sustainability. One way to do this is to order less takeout. Some studies show that up to 88% of the plastic pollution in our oceans is created from takeout materials. Every straw, piece of silverware, container, and lid required for your meal piles up. Of course, absolutely eliminating plastic usage in a home can be quite difficult. Where plastic does accumulate in the house, make sure to reuse it! The easiest way to apply this is to repurpose your plastic grocery bags as trash can liners. Ideally, the bag would be recycled at the end of its life, but while it’s still in your home, it might as well be utilized!

The next area of your house to apply sustainable practices to is your laundry routine. Dryer machines utilize immense amounts of electricity and gas; where it makes sense to do so, it is recommended to air-dry your laundry. Of course, this is a less practical option, but for larger items that take longer to dry in the machine (such as towels or sheets), a clothesline option may be for you! When the dryer machine makes the most sense, another way to promote sustainability is to use dryer balls rather than dryer sheets. Dryer sheets are disposable after one use and contribute significantly to laundry waste. Dryer balls can be reused almost indefinitely and can be customized with various essential oils and fabric softeners!

One final bonus tip for household sustainability: as you move between dorms and apartments and eventually to post-grad residences, make sure to prioritize used and recycled furniture when house shopping! Facebook Marketplace is an incredible resource for this, as well as local thrift stores.

The information in this blog came from two incredible sites that I encourage everyone to check out: Sustainable Living Association and 33 Ways to Make Your Home More Eco Friendly! Thanks for coming along on this SOC feature – see you soon as we explore Chicago’s Eco-Tourism realm!