When my husband was stationed at the Pentagon and we were living just outside of Washington, D.C., I worked from our kitchen table as a writing consultant. I never imagined that, after a trip to the beach, I’d launch myself into a completely different career in sustainability – much less that the U.S. military and I would share the same mission. But, as it turned out, we did (and do!).
Like most families in the DMV (that’s DC/Maryland/Virginia for the uninitiated), we flocked to the beach in the summer months to soak up as much ocean and salt air as we could. In the summer of 2016, we grabbed our young boys, stashed our beach supplies in the car, sat in traffic on I-95 South, and, eventually, made it to our favorite beach haven on the Eastern Shore. But on a whim, we decided on a day trip to Virginia Beach. And, on another whim, we stopped at a beachside supply shop and stocked up on essentials — extra beach towels, more sunblock, snacks, and, on a final whim, a set of inexpensive, plastic beach toys by the register. What the heck, the kids will have fun and it’s cheap! Why not?
That afternoon on the sunny, crowded shores of the Atlantic coast, a wave stormed up the shoreline and swept those cheap, plastic beach toys out of our boys’ hands and into the ocean. And so began my mission: to make better products using better materials – materials that don’t pollute the way conventional plastic does.
For more context, here’s a brief overview of plastic production: conventional plastic is made from oil. It’s extracted, which emits greenhouse gasses (GHGs), then it’s refined, emitting more GHGs, and finally, it’s compounded and turned into plastic in all its various forms. All of these processes require energy, which traditionally also emits GHGs. But it doesn’t stop there. We are told that plastic can be recycled, but we know now recycling is largely a myth. Additionally, the 91% of plastic that isn’t recycled never disappears, it just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, escaping into our waterways and consumed by fish, animals, even humans. It’s been found everywhere from the peaks of Mount Everest to the tissue of a human placenta. In short, it’s a problem.
I was aware of this problem before our infamous day at the beach, but seeing those toys rush out into the water, knowing already how much plastic has already found its way into our ocean, I just couldn’t look away. After jumping into the ocean and pulling the toys back on shore, I was determined to become part of a plastic solution – to reduce GHGs, climate change contributors, and to reduce microplastics, which, in their own off-gassing way, also contribute to climate change and health issues.
I started with a beach toy – because it was the product that put me on this path of “making it better” – and spent years in research and development trying to design a better beach toy using better material. In 2021, after countless delays due to the pandemic, we were gearing up to manufacture our first production run of beach toys made of compostable, mostly plant-based plastic.
That same year, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III released a statement in advance of the new Climate Adaptation Plan, announcing unequivocally that “Climate change is an existential threat to our nation’s security, and the Department of Defense must act swiftly and boldly to take on this challenge and prepare for damage that cannot be avoided.”
The military announced climate change as a destabilizing force, and a threat – in some circles, the biggest threat – to our nation and the military mission. And so, our military decided to do something about it, shortly thereafter announcing the Climate Adaptation Plan.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III continued, “Every day, our forces contend with the grave and growing consequences of climate change, from hurricanes and wildfires that inflict costly harm on U.S. installations and constrain our ability to train and operate, to dangerous heat, drought, and floods that can trigger crises and instability around the world.”
The military began – and continues – to do its part to mitigate the effects of and prepare for climate change – and as a military spouse, I was doing mine. With the help of the military, veteran, and military spouse-focused services, my company introduced the world to compostable plastic, made mostly from plants, with a two-thirds reduction in petroleum use via our non-toxic, compostable beach toys.
The military is cleaning up its supply chain. I started a business bringing cleaner material to market – and you can help reduce the impact of climate change without starting your company or creating a climate adaptation plan. In fact, you can become more sustainable without spending a dime.
Here are my low-budget tips for living cleaner and greener, on the house.
Reuse
The old adage is true. Reuse what you have. Glass spaghetti jars become Tupperware for your soup leftovers or containers for gift giving; paper grocery bags become future gift wrap; plastic peanut butter jars become containers for crayons – you get the idea. When we remember that plastic never really goes away, it’s easy to find new uses for the plastic we have and creative ways to avoid single-use plastic for storage.
Bye Bye, Baggies
There are way too many cute ways to package snacks, toiletries, or whatever else you might need to stow in a plastic baggie to keep buying those. One of my favorite hacks? Silicone reusable “zip” baggies – dishwasher safe, heavy duty, but flexible and familiar, just like your conventional Ziplock, but without the downside of sticking around forever after just one use. Don’t feel like spending money? Aluminum foil is a great, sustainable stand-in in a pinch, as aluminum is the only endlessly recyclable material. Small salsa jars end up being our catch-all for leftovers, and also for odds-and-ends like screws and nails for our home projects.
Forgo the Gift Wrap
We all love gorgeously wrapped gifts, but let’s be honest – gift wrap is just future garbage! Save your money and save that twine from a school project, or from that roll of twine you bought for last year’s Thanksgiving dinner. Wrap it and a flower from the yard around your next gift and viola – the perfect minimalist gift wrap that elevates your gifting, keeps it cheap, and keeps the planet in mind.
Compost
Did you know that over 30-40% of waste is food scraps? And did you know 170 metric million tons of carbon is emitted from food waste? That’s the equivalent of 42 coal-fired plants per year. We can reduce those emissions by 50% just by composting food waste. With the renewed interest in composting lately, you can easily find a system that works for you – from the backyard baking pile to the tumbling system to the electric countertop version. Check to see if your community has a composting program for your food waste, or start your own! Have kids? Try worm composting – gross and awesome, with a major side of science. The other upside of composting? You can use it in your own garden, or share with your green-thumb neighbor.
Grow Your Own
Time to put that new compost to use! We can’t grow everything, but even small things like herbs make an impact. How many times have we gone to the grocery store to buy basil or mint and find them wrapped in plastic bags or plastic containers? These extremely windowsill-friendly herbs can save you money and time, and reduce plastic waste when grown at home. Our personal, low-maintenance home-grown favorites include tomatoes (for snacking), basil (for pesto), and kale (for smoothies).
Paper(less) Towels
Did I just hit a nerve?! Keep reading, I promise you can do it! I was a paper towel addict with the best of them. But then I realized the old cloth diapers we used on our boys were actually way more absorbent. I bought a dozen tri-fold cloth diapers for our home 13 years ago, and only now are they finally starting to wear – after 13 years! Forget the reduced waste for a minute; think about the money we’ve saved not buying paper towels every other week (like we used to!). It doesn’t have to be old cloth diapers – you can cut up old t-shirts, sweatshirts, bath towels, dish towels. We’ve supplemented with bar towels, and even compostable absorbent cloths (my favorite). Whatever used, absorbent cloth you have, you can repurpose.
These tips aren’t glamorous, and they are fairly obvious, but they make a huge impact. Why? Because, as a consumer products business owner, I know a thing or two about supply and demand. And if customers stop demanding things like paper towels, companies will make fewer paper towels. Same goes for plastic bags, gift wrap, ribbons, etc. It’s all future trash! So change the narrative, shift your perspective, and make small changes that could end up having a huge impact – without starting a business or writing a climate plan.