A healthy environment starts with you. For example, Your everyday kitchen habits can harm or preserve the environment. Factors like the kitchen tools you prefer for everyday tasks like cleaning, cooking, serving food, etc., may have a great impact on the ecosystem.
The wrong choices can take a toll on the surrounding in many ways. Though most are essential products, some have long lasting effects on the surrounding. Luckily, there’s always a greener alternative to most of the harmful products we consider essential.
When shopping, it’s important to focus on the raw material used to produce an item rather than the item itself. For instance, raw materials that are non-biodegradable (or can’t be broken down by the ecosystem) are considered harmful to the environment.
And though we can’t avoid these products altogether, most green homeowners tend to look for the most eco-friendly alternatives.
If you can’t seem to find a remedy, ask other people for ideas or chat with your interior designer about it. Who knows? Maybe they are green activists just waiting for you to start the conversation.
What are Eco-friendly Kitchen Tools?
These are kitchen supplies that cause little to no harm to the surroundings.
An example of an eco-friendly shopping decision is choosing cotton kitchen towels over paper wipes. The logic behind it is that; while cotton towels are reusable, paper versions are for one-time use and encourage tree cutting (one of the challenges nature is struggling to deal with today.)
There are many other instances when an environmentally-friendly shopping decision can help save mother nature. Discover more below.
4 Eco-friendly Kitchen Tools to Consider
From cleaning products to eco-friendly dinnerware, here are some sustainable items to add to your kitchen.
1. Cleaning products
Yes, your cleaning solutions contain chemicals, some of which are harmful to nature. When shopping for cleaning products, consider the all-natural and eco-friendly types.
When shopping, ask for anything green, eco-friendly, or environmentally safe, any of those terms should help you find what you’re after.
To be on the safe side, check whether the item is approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Remember, even green cleaning products have been found to be as effective in handling most cleaning tasks as their traditional counterparts. In the end, you still achieve your primary goal, and as a bonus, make the world a better place.
2. Dinnerware
Dinnerware is another way to show your love for the earth and achieve unique aesthetics.
For example, you hardly run into bamboo plates and spoons at the dining table. Yet bamboo makes some of the most stylish plates. Beyond pretty looks, it also molds both regular and disposable dinnerware.
Bamboo is considered green because of many reasons:
- It is a grass species, not a tree
- Grows relatively faster
- It is easy to regrow
- It does not soak up or absorb liquids making it effective for kitchen use.
- It is less harmful to the surrounding
- Its toughness withstands extreme kitchen work e.g. Doesn’t wear out if used as a chopping board.
- Its disposable dinnerware are degradable
- Its production consumes less energy
For these reasons, green activists use it as a raw material in place of scarce materials like wood, or non-biodegradable substances like plastic.
3. Towels and wipes
We all have to admit it; cooking is a messy art with splendid results. As you mix ingredients to prepare a sumptuous meal, spills and all sorts of dirt can stick on the countertops and mess up your kitchen.
Because there’s plenty of wiping to do in a cooking area, it’s crucial to consider cotton towels instead of paper wipes that you use once and get rid of.
You can also swap the paper tea towels for eco-friendly versions made from cotton.
Cotton towels are a green approach because:
- You can use, wash and reuse time and again.
- They don’t rely on trees as paper versions do.
- Cotton is sustainable and biodegradable.
- Its production is chemical-free, unlike other fibers.
However, it’s important to double-check the products when shopping for cotton towels. If you’re after organic cotton, confirm whether it is approved.
4. Recycled glasses
All kitchens rely on glasses in one way or another. From a green home’s perspective, recycled glass plates and cups are a safer alternative than plastic types.
Using recycled glasses is considered eco-friendly because:
- Glass is recyclable and can be reproduced over and over without losing its quality.
- Recycling glass saves energy.
- It also reduces wastes and Carbon dioxide emissions.
Though glasses are brittle and may be expensive to replace, they are still a better choice than plastic if you love your environment.
Final Advice on Eco-friendly Kitchen Tools
As hinted throughout the post, the journey to going green starts with a single step. First, you must identify the products harming the environment and then find eco-friendly alternatives for those.
