Canadians produce a shocking amount waste in year. According to a study in 2009 Canada produced 1712.99 pounds of garbage per citizen. You could produce 4.6 pounds of waste a day when roughly 1.5 pounds of that waste is compostable or recyclable. There have been steps taken to help reduce our waste. However, there is plenty more that Canadians can do. One of the biggest changes you can do is to swap out every day items that are not Eco friendly for more biodegradable alternatives.

Wooden Toothbrushes

One billion plastic tooth brushes are thrown away every year (in the US). That's 50 million LBS of waste a year. Wooden tooth brushes are a bio degradable alternative. There are many brands that create this types of toothbrushes such as The Panda Brush and The Humble co. Amazon and many local stores offer these types of brushes.

Dryer Balls

Dryer sheets are considered a wasteful product but are very useful. An alternative to these sheets are dryer balls. There are many different dryer balls such as ones made of wool or other fibres. One of many brands that produce them is Friendsheep. Their product is called “flock of friend's eco dryer balls. Their website claims that dryer balls naturally soften/fluffs fabric, reduces wrinkles, reduces static cling, speeds up drying time and is reusable to around 100o loads.

Travel cutlery set

Travel cutlery sets can be made or bought. Having a set handy will help you avoid using one-use-only plastic cutlery, your set can include stainless steel products such as forks, knifes, spoons, and straws. A bonus is to bring a BPA free water bottle with you so you're not tempted to buy water bottles or other drinks in non-reusable containers/bottles while on the go.

Eco Lunch Box

Plastic wrap, Ziploc bags and other products of the sort can be very harmful to the environment. Since plastic products are cheap, durable and convenient, they are difficult to bio degrade especially since there is a large amount of these plastic products the problem is only getting worse. Having a tin lunch box, particularly ones that are bento styled, allow you to store your food while keeping it separate from each other.

Shampoo Bars

Shampoo and conditioners are important products. However, the bottles that they are contained in are very harmful to the environment. These bottles are yet another plastic product that won't bio degrade at a decent pace (if at all), Brands like Lush offer bars of shampoo and conditioner that are completely zero waste and are made with natural products. A bonus to using these type of products is that you can find shampoos and conditioners that tackle a specific issue regarding your hair (i.e. dry scalp or encourage hair growth). 

Thrifting

Thrifting offers you so many options for many different types of clothing, decor, and much more. Fast fashion being huge waste in our landfills. You can find some pretty nice and cheap clothes available in places like Goodwill. Thrift stores even offer furniture and decor that you may love as is or you can repaint to your liking. If you're crafty you can get a lot out of the thrift store in terms of repurposing products. You can also donate clothing and other items so that they stay out of landfills.