How to Live More Sustainably This Earth Day (and Beyond!)

Earth Day is a great reminder that sustainability doesn't have to mean overhauling your life. It's about making small, intentional swaps that when multiplied across millions of households add up to make a big, positive impact on the planet.

At The Neighborgoods, our mission has always been to bring joy to your everyday life through our bright kitchen and home products. But we also believe the products you choose every day can help protect the planet we all share.

Our line of kitchen and home products feature vibrant, playful designs that make everyday essentials more fun, while helping reduce your waste.

4 Easy Ways To Reduce Your Waste At Home

1. Bring a reusable tote bag everywhere you go.

Skip the plastic bag at checkout. Plastic bags are used for an average of just 12 minutes before they're thrown away, yet they can take up to 1,000 years to break down in a landfill. Swapping out plastic bags for a reusable tote is one of the smallest sustainable changes you can make towards creating a healthier planet

A reusable tote is one of the simplest sustainable habits you can build and one of the easiest to stick with. The trick to actually making it a habit? Keep totes everywhere. Stash a few in the trunk of your car, hang one by the front door, tuck one into your pantry. That way, whether you're doing a big grocery run or ducking into a shop on a whim, you've always got one on hand.

The Neighborgoods' tote bags are larger than your typical canvas totes and a great accessory for travel, farmers markets, beach days or carrying lunch. 

2. Swap out paper towels for dish towels.

Paper towels are one of the most wasteful single-use items in the average home. Americans alone use billions of rolls every year. The good news? A simple dish towel can handle every job a paper towel can.

Keep our dish towels in the kitchen for hand and dish drying, and to cut down on paper towels, use them as everyday napkins, or hang one in your bathroom.

Hang one in the kitchen for drying hands and wiping up spills. Keep one in the bathroom instead of reaching for single-use disposable towels. Use them for everything from dusting surfaces to drying produce. They wash easily, hold up over time, and honestly look a lot better draped over your sink than a paper towel roll ever did. And when a dish towel finally reaches the end of its life? Don't toss it, just cut it up into smaller rags for cleaning jobs around the house.

3. Replace your kitchen sponges with biodegradable sponge cloths.

If there's one swap that might surprise you with how much of a difference it makes, it's this one. The average household goes through an enormous amount of paper towels and plastic sponges each year and most of it ends up straight in the landfill.

Sponge cloths helps cut down on paper waste at home, while also saving you money on your grocery bill. Discover our sponge cloth styles.

Swedish sponge cloths are a simple, effective alternative. They handle everything a paper towel or kitchen sponge can (think wiping counters, soaking up spills, scrubbing surfaces) but they're built to last. A single sponge cloth can replace up to 17 rolls of paper towels and hold up for 6 months or more, which means less waste and real savings on your grocery bill over time.

When it's finally time to retire one, you don't have to feel guilty about throwing it away. Sponge cloths are both compostable and biodegradable, just toss it in the compost bin and it'll break down naturally, with no waste left behind. 

4. Get creative with gift wrapping while reducing your use of traditional, non-reusable wrapping materials.

Traditional wrapping paper usually ends up in the trash after 30 seconds. Try wrapping your gift with a dish towel, sponge cloth, or a tote bag.

Check out our blog posts here for gift wrap tutorials showing you how to wrap everything from a bottle of wine to puzzles, and more!

How we do our part at The Neighborgoods?

We take pride in making sustainable products and we build eco-conscious choices into every part of how we run our business. 

• We use water-based inks on all textiles. All of our towels, totes, aprons, and sponge cloths are printed with water-based ink instead of plastisol plastic ink. Unlike plastic-based inks, water-based inks are far more likely to be biodegradable and compostable, meaning they can break down naturally over time without releasing harmful chemicals into the environment.
  
  
• Our cards are created by wind-power and use vegetable-ink. Our greeting cards are printed using 100% wind powered energy and vegetable-based ink. Wind power produces no carbon emissions during energy generation, and vegetable-based inks are derived from renewable resources, making your favorite cards a little kinder to the planet from start to finish.
  
  
• We aim to ship orders using sustainable shipping practices. We keep our packaging plastic-free whenever possible. When shipping your orders, we use kraft paper tape instead of plastic tape, and we reuse box stuffing materials we receive from other shipments. It's a small thing, but it means less new material used and less waste generated with every package that goes out the door.

This Earth Day, we hope you feel inspired to make a few small changes that feel right for you. Whether it's reaching for a sponge cloth instead of a paper towel, switching to a reusable tote, or wrapping a gift in something that can be used again, these swaps may seem small, but when we all make them together, they add up to something far bigger than any one of us could do alone. Every sustainable choice is a step toward a healthier planet, and that's something worth celebrating this Earth Day and beyond.