Everyday ways we use reusable products to reduce our waste

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I’ve always been keen to recycle, save energy and now use less plastic. We’ve been using a few products, some for years, others less, but here they are and why they’re helping us produce less waste. Most of these I use every day taking drinks with me or having a take away coffee in my collapsible reusable coffee cup, which also saves money too. H takes reusable snack pouches to playschool and out and about with us. Both girls have yogurt in reusable pouches as I buy large tubs of Greek instead of small yogurts. We often reuse the big tubs for storing food or making crafts with.

1. Reusable water bottle

I’ve had a few of these from Systema bottles to Mountain Warehouse, but my favourite at the moment is the Ion8 leakproof bottle – it’s leakproof, yes, after a few months it’s still true. It also takes both hot and cold drinks and fits in the car cup holder. Yup my life revolves are the car cup holders, sometimes I think it’s the only time I sit down in the day! You can read my full Ion8 review – there are loads more advantages to this bottle.

2. Collapsible coffee cup

Hubby got me a Stojo collapsible coffee cup for my birthday and it’s fab! I keep it in my bag and so always have it to hand. Some days I fill it with water to go out so I have to drink the water before I can have a coffee. Is also great as you often save money on a coffee if you use a reusable cup.

3. Nom Nom baby food/smoothie pouches

We’re huge Nom Nom fans and after almost 3 years still love their products. There are two sizes of reusable pouch for baby food and smoothies, plus snack bags. The entire side opens up so they’re really easy to fill with just a spoon and easy to clean as you can easily reach all corners.

4. Nom Nom snack bags

Also by Nom Nom, the reusable snack bags are also easy to clean and are awesome for kids sliced fruit or veggies, or even a few ritz crackers for playschool. The entire side opens too. Read my Nom Nom pouches review too! Of course, we still have waste and recycling and quite a lot of it as B is in nappies and will be for at least another year. Yes, we could use reusable nappies but I haven’t got organised enough with my washing yet to keep up with washing nappies too! We’re by no means plastic-free, our food does come in plastic and many things we order online, for instance Amazon orders always come in boxes and perhaps with plastic wrapping too. I’m not quite organised enough yet to take my own tubs for the butcher at the supermarket to put out meat in, and do on occasion run out of space in my pushchair basket and need a bag. Yes, with more organisation we’ll get better at these things and perhaps they’ll become the norm. Perhaps. It does annoy me that all the supermarkets sell kids bananas and apples in plastic packaging. We buy 2 packets of these each a week and yes, you might say we could buy loose bananas and apples like we used to but these kids versions are smaller and we’d waste so much more food if I bought big bananas and apples for H and B. Especially with the number that fall on the ground part eaten as it is. Hopefully the supermarkets address this soon! Of course recycling everything we can helps too and that is something I have found easier since buying our new recycling bins from Dunelm. We now sort it as we go: cans and plastic in one, glass and paper in the other. We bought these Addis recycle bins which don’t take up much room in the utility room. It means we just dump each bin in a recycle box when it’s full. Our local council say we should put different items in each recycling box. With these bins you have to buy the bin and the lid separate, and can choose lids in either red, green or blue. Do you know any other products I should try? Share them in the comments!