LOOK: You Need to Stop Using These Everyday Items NOW

Some items inside your home may be doing more harm than good. Although most of these items are cheap and convenient to use, these items have a high cost through the damage they bring to our health and the environment.

Here are some common household items you need to stop using now.

everyday-items

1. Wooden Chopsticks

Did you know that about 4 million trees are cut down to come up with 57 billion pairs of wooden chopsticks that you dispose right after eating in Chinese or Japanese restaurants? In addition, these disposable utensils are treated with chemicals that actually cause respiratory disorders.

2. Plastic Bags

A whopping one trillion plastic bags, which cause clogs in landfills, breakdown in waterways and release toxic chemicals when burned, are disposed every year.

3. Disposable Razors

In order to produce disposable razors, you must produce steel and plastic in a carbon-intensive manner which harms the environment. That’s why it’s more environment-friendly to use straight and electric razors instead of buying disposable ones. In addition, about two billion razors are disposed in the US alone every year.

4. Disposable Batteries

Disposable batteries contain harmful elements like mercury, lead and cadmium which can cause pollution by leaking out into the soil and waterways. If incinerated, metals from the batteries become airborne, increasing health risks. Rather than purchasing disposable batteries, get rechargeable alternatives.

5. Wet Wipes

Popularly used on skin as well as household surfaces, wet wipes are non-biodegradable and contain plastic that blocks sewers. As a result, it often wash up in high amounts on beaches.

6. Hand soaps containing triclosan

Stay away from hand soaps that have triclosan content, as this controversial chemical has been linked to serious health conditions as well as cancer in mice. Extremely resilient, triclosan survives water treatment and has the potential to kill bacteria in the base of the food chain.

7. Plastic Tea Bags

Some tea drinkers prefer plastic tea bags as these apparently offer a higher quality brew. But unknown to them, these tea bags don’t decompose and allegedly release dangerous toxins.

8. Styrofoam

Included in most disposable packaging, styrofoam is a polystyrene-based material that is non-biodegradable and is difficult to recycle. This material is poisonous to small animals.

9. Coffee pods

Highly popular in US households, coffee pod machine are inexpensive sleek capsules that deliver gourmet quality coffee. But according for Nespresso CEO Jean-Paul Gaillard, coffee pods contribute to environmental disaster as they are difficult to recycle and often end up in landfill.

10. Toothpastes containing microbeads

Many toothpaste brands have been discovered to contain plastic microbeads, which is a leading contributor to plastics that enter the ocean every year, killing wildlife and marine environment. Aside from the fact that microbeads don’t biodegrade and are hard to be caught during clean up, they attract toxic chemicals as they travel.

Share this: