As an environmental science major, I care pretty deeply about being environmentally conscious.
I also have a budget.
Combined, this means I can’t afford to completely overhaul everything I own to make it eco-friendly. But I can try.
Most college students have a budget, and many have a pretty strict budget. Here are the ways you can be both budget-friendly and eco-friendly.
Use cloth napkins
Using cloth napkins or rags can help cut down on the amount of paper towels used and save you money. Cloth napkins can be washed and reused for years helping to save you money in the long run.
A 12 pack of cloth napkins on Amazon is under $20. It may cost more than a package of paper towels at first but will help save money in the long run if used regularly. Even using cloth napkins or rags with paper towels would help save money and the environment.
If you’re feeling crafty, making your own cloth napkins could be a fun afternoon project. There are plenty of tutorials online about how to make them with and without sewing skills.
Another way to cut down on paper products is to use rags to help clean up. They can be used to clean up spills in the kitchen, to wipe up water in the bathroom or to use as a napkin when eating greasy foods.
Utilize thrift stores and wear your clothes out
Macklemore’s thrift store song may not be popular anymore but that doesn’t mean thrift stores can’t be.
Mercado said that 26 billion pounds of clothes and textiles go to the landfill each year. Those sit in landfills and lead to poor air quality.
To help save clothes from decomposing slowly in the landfill taking gently used clothes to the thrift store is a great option.
Buying clothes from the thrift store can also save you money. Donating to thrift stores can help save billions of pounds of clothes from being thrown in landfills to produce greenhouse gasses like methane and carbon dioxide.
Reducing gases produced by clothing takes more than just donating to the thrift store. Wearing clothes out and then turning them into rags is also a good idea. By wearing out clothes you make sure that they reach the end of their lifespan before they are discarded.
Kali Nelson | Argonaut
Buy sustainable cotton or reusable feminine hygiene products
Sustainable period products come in a variety of options, from organic pads and tampons to menstrual cups and cloth pads.
Walmart has cloth pads on sale for as low as $13 for six pads and the bag to wash them in and has organic cotton tampons for as low as $5 for 16 with the applicator.
Organic tampons are different from regular tampons because they do not use a cotton or synthetic rayon blend that could have been grown with pesticides while organic tampons use pesticide-free cotton according to Fawnia Soo Hoo from Teen Vogue. They can also differ in the applicator which in regular tampons can be made from plastic and is not the best for the environment.
Another eco-friendly option is a menstrual cup, which usually cost about $30. According to a Refinery 29 article, these cups can last for up to 10 years.
Choosing a sustainable-, eco- and budget-friendly period products is entirely up to you and depends on your comfort level. These options aren’t for everyone and doing your own research into these options is very important.
My recommendation to anyone who wants to be eco-friendly is to start small with something manageable for you. Research all the options out there and then pick one thing at a time to work on and then when that is a normal everyday part of your life, add another.
Becoming eco-friendly is a process — but one worth the wait.
Kali Nelson can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @kalinelson6