Buy in Sustainable Packaging

When you buy food and products, consider the packaging. The best is to get packaging that is reusable. For example, you can buy milk from Straus in a glass bottle and then return the bottle to the store so they can wash and reuse the bottle. This is better than recycling or composting packaging. Also, find a way to use reusable packaging or buy in bulk and refill products. For example, at some stores, you can refill cleaning products with your own containers or buy seeds from the bulk section — any way to prevent more single-use packaging. Buying in bulk is also better in general since it is less packaging.

The next best choice is compostable packaging, since those materials are put back into the food system for farming. However, you must have access to commercial-grade composting facilities to compost packaging. Paper and cardboard are also good options since you can recycle them and they are light so take less transportation energy. Other alternatives include aluminum, since it is also easy to recycle and light; glass, since it is easy to recycle, though heavy; and hard plastic, which is lightweight and can be recycled, though not as much as the other two.