8 Tips to Go Green While Shopping – A Guide to Eco-friendly Purchase

*Collaborative Post

We all know that our earth is continuously suffering from climate change. However, as mindful customers, we can change our shopping habits which can help us fight against this condition as well as waste.

An eco-friendly purchase does not imply that you cannot go shopping. Rather, you need to be more conscious before purchasing any product. For instance – you need to be careful about what you are buying, how the product is made, how it impacts the earth, etc. So, when purchasing anything, keep the planet and people in mind. Purchase products that can conserve nature, prevent waste, and save energy. By doing so, you can decrease your negative impact on Earth.

The following eight steps help you go eco-friendly with your purchases…

1. Choose Eco-friendly Products

Eco-friendly products are usually made with organic or natural ingredients. So, they are safer for us as well as for the planet. In addition, eco-friendly products are long-lasting and less expensive in the long term. For example, when you purchase a reusable water bottle/coffee cup or bamboo straw, you can use them for years.

Buying eco-friendly products over regular products reduces the demand for harmful products, as regular products are usually made with toxic chemicals. These will help to protect the environment and save you money.

2. Shop at Eco-friendly Stores

Purchase your products from retailers who are concerned about the environment’s benefit. If you are looking for companies that work with green efforts, check the website of the companies. On the website, you will find ‘about us’ and ‘media room’ options where the companies describe their eco-friendly initiatives. You can learn about the company’s devotion to green efforts from these pages. You can also check out the comment and review options where other customers give valuable feedback about the company’s products.

While buying clothes, opt for eco-conscious boutique shops like Soul Feat, to ensure that the things you purchase are made and sold with minimal harmful environmental impact. 

Once you find a zero waste store and/or websites, you need not worry about any products as they offer you almost everything, from refillable soap dispensers and biodegradable phone cases to organic beauty products and backpacks made of recycled billboards.

With these eco-friendly beauty and personal care tips, you will learn how to become more eco-friendly. 

3. Buy Local

Try to purchase environmentally-friendly products from local stores or companies. Buying locally means you are purchasing the items that were manufactured in your community. And the money you will spend purchasing the items will also stay within the community. Moreover, local companies employ local workers who work for the creativity and innovation in your community. They also improve their standard of living by earning from these companies. So, this is one of the easiest ways to enhance your eco-conscious shopping.

Additionally, when you purchase products that are produced over long distances, it will definitely add the transportation cost to the product price. Besides, the vehicle you choose to ship your products, whether a truck, car, bus, or aeroplane, will emit greenhouse gases that lead to land and air pollution.

4. Buy in Season

Buying in season means you buy seasonal vegetables, fruits, and other products from the local farmer’s market. You will get the best products from them with the least environmental impact. However, if you want to have everything all year round, you will find them on the shelves of any super shop.

Buying anything, no matter when you need them is more convenient than buying only seasonal products during that time. But remember, it may be suitable for you, but not eco-friendly at all. Buying in season also supports the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program, where local consumers can buy farm shares from local producers and get the weekly harvests in return.

5. Purchase in Bulk

Buying in bulk can create efficiency as traveling, packaging, and other environmental costs will increase with every trip. When you are buying a lot of products at once, you need not pay for the excess shipping. Thus, it saves you time and money. You can also bring your recyclable packaging or reusable container to make your shopping trip more eco-friendly.

6. Avoid Impulse Buying

Before making your purchase decision, you need to ask yourself why you need the product, if you already have a similar item at your home, how the product will benefit you, and whether you can wait to purchase the item later, etc.

Impulse buying leads you to purchase the things you do not need at that moment. The items may end up somewhere in your local landfill area. Thus, impulse buying is a great threat to eco-conscious shopping.

You can also eliminate these unnecessary items by exchanging them for something, selling, recycling, or even donating them to a thrift store or local charity.

7. Take Your Own Reusable Bags

Using reusable bags while shopping is a good way for eco-friendly purchases. Because they are a sustainable alternative to paper or plastic grocery bags.

Reusable cloth bags are long-lasting and keep plastic bags away from your home. This is an eco-friendly option and saves your finances in the long run.

Buy some heavy reusable organic mash cotton bags of different sizes to take them to the market repeatedly. These bags are made from the safest materials, so your fruits and veggies will last longer in these bags. But make sure to use one bag for one specific item. For example, put onions in one bag and potatoes in another. These bags are machine washable, but you should air dry them.

8. Choose Products with Recycled Packaging

As plastic bags are harmful to the environment, as a consumer, you can start by choosing products that come with recycled materials. Using recycled packaging saves manufacturing energy and raw materials and reduces the emission of greenhouse gasses and the waste of natural resources.

Besides, when you don’t buy products in recycled packaging, you are encouraging the manufacturers to produce new items repeatedly.

Final Words

Going green while shopping is a challenging task. However, many mindful shoppers now choose to produce and stock eco-friendly products. They also support social responsibility efforts to conserve the environment.

Their initiatives help mindful consumers to act on their part, as they need not worry about getting eco-friendly products.

When both parties consider the earth’s interest over their self-interest, it is a positive indication to save the environment in the long run.

*This is a collaborative post. For further information please refer to my disclosure page.

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