Beginner's Guide to Going Green: 10 Ways to Live More Sustainably Every Day
This post first appeared in our weekly Make Waves Mondays email series on July 14, 2025.
Hello hello friend!
So I’m currently in the process of redoing a bunch of back-end things with A Drop in the Ocean, and while I was working on one of those back-end things the other day, I realized that one of the questions that we ask in our EcoWarrior Archetype Quiz is where you are in your sustainable journey.
Are you just getting started?
Have you been on a sustainability journey for a little bit now, but still got work to do?
Are you a seasoned eco-pro?
And even though I intentionally asked this question in the quiz to better understand where our EcoWarrior community is at in their journey, I never actually ran the numbers to see where everyone falls. 🤦♀️
So I finally did that last week, and I learned that most of this community is in the “just getting started” camp, followed closely by the “not quite a beginner, not yet a pro” camp.
And this honestly makes me so happy because this is such an exciting time for you! There’s so much to learn and so many new things to try and it’s basically a whole new world. The possibilities are endless!!
But on the flip side… the possibilities are endless.
There’s SO MUCH information and SO MANY how-tos and how-not-tos, and there’s a million and a half judgy people on the internet, and as exciting and fun as this time can be, it can also be incredibly overwhelming.
So today I wanna take things back to basics a bit.
We’ve got some deep dives coming up in the next few weeks for those of you in the “I’m an eco-pro!” camp, but before we get there let’s start at the beginning.
So if you’re trying to “go green,” go zero waste, or simply live more sustainably (which, I’m assuming you are because you’re here, reading this 😉)...
These are my 10 favorite ways to be more eco-friendly in your daily life:
Reduce Your Plastic Use
Plastics are freaking ~everywhere~. And they’re, quite frankly, impossible to eliminate from our lives completely.
I mean, the keyboard, mouse, and computer I’m writing this on right now are all made from plastic.
But just because we can’t eliminate ALL OF IT, doesn’t mean there isn’t A LOT we can.
Plastics are made from fossil fuels, cannot biodegrade back into the natural environment, and are causing all sorts of problems for wildlife, ecosystems, and even our health. So every little bit we can eliminate is a net positive.
Here’s a few ways to reduce your daily plastic use:
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Start with a waste audit! See what you’re throwing away the most and brainstorm ideas for alternatives.
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Shop the perimeter of your grocery store as much as possible. It’s those inner aisles that have the most plastic!
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Start with the easy stuff: use reusable grocery bags and produce bags (or just toss your produce directly into your cart; you’re gonna wash it anyway!), carry a reusable water bottle and fork, say “no thanks!” to plastic straws, and ask for your to-go coffee in your own mug.
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As you run out of your plastic-packaged things you’ve identified in your waste audit, replace them with plastic-free options from A Drop in the Ocean!
Eat More Plants and Whole Foods
Did you know that in the United States, we consume about 241% more meat each year than the rest of the global average?
That’s wild to me.
I’ve never shied away from the fact that I’m not vegan or vegetarian, but I do intentionally incorporate at least a couple of meatless meals into my week.
Because when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and land use, meat and dairy products take up a huge amount of resources.
I won’t get too into the weeds with the numbers here, but definitely check out our blog post about the sustainability impacts of one pound of meat to see some pretty shocking comparisons between various food items.
And if you need some meatless meal inspo, check out my Meatless Monday Pinterest board!
Here are some of my go-to personal Meatless Monday recipe faves:
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Lemon Broccoli Pasta (I like to sub kale for the spinach!)
Use What You Have
It is SO dang easy to fall into the trap of throwing out all of the unsustainable things you have in your home when you first start on your zero waste or plastic-free journey. But that is the very last thing we want to do.
Remember - the only thing worse than a single-use item is a zero-use item.
Just because your toothbrush is plastic doesn’t mean you need to throw it out before it’s worn out in place of a bamboo one.
Make use of the things you already have first. Use them up, wear them out, and when they’ve reached the end of their usable life, dispose of it the best you can and replace it with a more sustainable version.
This is also where that waste audit comes in handy! Brainstorm better solutions while you still have the unsustainable option, and when you’re ready to replace it you’ve already got a plan in place!
Compost
I know that composting isn’t always available to everyone, but there are many different types that suit many different types of homes and lifestyles!
And it’s not just for food scraps! When you clean out your hairbrush, trim your fingernails, brush your dog, cut a yellow leaf off of a houseplant, all of those things can go into your compost.
When we put these things into our trash bins instead of compost bins, they go to their grave in a landfill, where instead of breaking down and returning to the soil, they mummify for eternity, and emit methane into the atmosphere.
It’s no bueno.
So if you can compost, definitely do it!
Quit Fast Fashion
Our clothes have a dirty little secret: they’re awful for the planet.
The textile industry is responsible for 10% of all global carbon emissions each year, and producing just one cotton/polyester blend t-shirt requires 2,400 gallons of water, 0.55 pounds of fertilizer, 0.02 pounds of pesticides, 2.2 pounds of fossil fuels, 16.3 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, and 0.28 pounds of other greenhouse gas emissions.
In just the last 25 years, clothing sales have more than doubled, but the number of times an item of clothing is worn has decreased by about 36%.
Fast fashion companies like Shein, Temu, H&M, and Zara push out thousands of new items each day at way-too-cheap prices.
Someone, somewhere, is paying for that $3 t-shirt.
Here’s a few of my favorite tips to get off the fast fashion train:
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Wear what you own. It’s okay to be an outfit repeater! (No matter what Kate Sanders says.)
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Take care of the clothes you already own. Wash them less often, use a natural detergent, do not use fabric softener, wash them in cold water, and hang them to dry.
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Participate in clothing swaps
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Shop secondhand first
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If you must buy new, buy high-quality pieces from sustainable, ethical brands that you know you will LOVE and wear often.
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Figure out your style, what you feel most confident and comfortable in, and your sizes. If you try something on and you aren’t immediately in love with it, you probably won’t be in love with it when you get home, and it’ll sit in the back of your closet forever (we’ve all been there!).
Drive Less
If you’re lucky enough to live in an area where walking or biking from place-to-place is possible, do it as much as possible!
The average person drives about 260 miles each week, and nearly a third of all of the greenhouse gas emissions in the United States come from the transportation sector, with half of that coming from “light-duty vehicles” (aka cars, trucks, minivans, and SUVs).
If everyone reading this right now drove just 10 miles less this week, the carbon savings would be the equivalent of taking 4.4 cars off the road completely for an entire year!
That’s like preventing 20,972 pounds of coal from being burned.
But if everyone reading this drove 10 miles less every week for the rest of this year…that would be like taking 106 cars completely off the road for an entire year, or preventing 503,332 pounds of coal from being burned.
That’s just the people reading this. And only 10 miles less per week.
Here’s a few tips to make it happen:
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Combine your errands! MapQuest has a super-handy route planner tool that lets you create an optimized route for all of your errands, rather than running them one at a time.
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Take public transit whenever possible. I feel incredibly grateful to live just a few blocks away from a light rail stop that can take me straight to my Zumba class each week, or even to the bus station to grab an express bus to the airport. Check out the Transit app to help you get from Point A to Point B as efficiently as possible!
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Walk or bike if you can! With the summer weather as beautiful as it has been, I’ve fully embraced walking around the city as much as possible. Drinks with friends? Walk there! Zumba? Walk there! Picking up a library book? Walk there! Grocery shopping? Walk there! Like I said, I know I’m incredibly lucky to live in this kind of walkable area, but maybe you are too?
Learn How to Recycle Right
Recycling is definitely not the solution to our waste problem, but it is an important component of a circular economy…but we gotta do it right!
Yes, it is INCREDIBLY frustrating that there aren’t standard recycling guidelines everywhere. In my perfect world, there would be. But, alas, we do not live in Krystina’s Perfect World. *sigh*
So get super familiar with what’s accepted for recycling in your community. Just search “recycling guidelines [your city]” and you should pretty quickly find a webpage from your city all about what’s accepted and what’s not. Your city wants you to recycle right, too!
I pinky promise they’re not making it complicated on purpose – it’s just a bad system all around 🙃
And for some general recycling tips and tricks, here are a few of our top recycling-focused blog posts:
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The 7 types of plastic you need to know (and how to recycle them)
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Is textile recycling greenwashing or an actual waste solution?
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My city stopped accepting glass for recycling. Here are my thoughts.
Support a Sharing Economy
This one may be my favorite tip of them all.
A sharing economy is a socio-economic system where individuals give and share goods and services without any exchange of money.
Basically, the antithesis of capitalism. (Take that, Bezos ✌️)
There are many forms that a sharing economy can take, but my personal favorite is Buy Nothing Groups. From my Buy Nothing Group, I’ve received everything from shipping boxes, clothing, houseplants, a bar cart, a printer, and so freaking much more.
So check out our blog post all about Buy Nothing Groups, how to find them in your area, and what you need to know about them, then go find one and get sharing!
Take Care of Your Health
Okay so this is one I personally hadn’t even thought about until I saw it on a Reddit post about a year ago, but as soon as I saw it, it made perfect sense. Take care of your health!
Eat well.
Move your body.
Go to the doctor.
Wear your sunscreen.
Sleep well.
Manage your stress.
While these are good things to do always, because, ya know, life…they’re also great ways to avoid excess waste.
Think about all of the waste from medical emergencies and procedures. The average hospital patient produces nearly 34 pounds of waste per day.
In contrast, the average [non-hospitalized] person produces about 4 pounds of trash per day.
Preventative health is important for many, many, many reasons, and waste prevention is just one of them.
Take care of yourself, friend! 💙
Don’t Try to Do Everything All At Once
Most importantly, friend, I want you to remember this: do not try to go all-in, all at once.
That’s a recipe for burnout.
I know that when you start trying to go zero waste, or plastic-free, or just live lighter on the planet, it can feel so overwhelming at first.
You’re suddenly SO AWARE of all of the plastic and unsustainable things around you, and you want to do everything you can to do something about it.
But honest-to-goodness, friend, the best way to do it is one step at a time.
Make one change.
Test it out.
Let it become a habit.
Then add another change.
Rinse and repeat.
You’ve probably heard me say it before: just do what you can, when you can, where you can.
We’re all just humans, doing this thing called life the best we can.
Give yourself grace, and do what you can.
You got this 💪
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