Suporting A Plan For Sustainability

Because it is a cause that is near and dear to my heart, I strive every day to teach my daughter about practicing eco-friendly, sustainability. At the top of my list is teaching her about reducing waste and recycling.

This summer we walked past a bench made 100% recycled milk bottles. We were in a bit of a hurry, but we stopped and sat on that bench for a while. I pointed out the sign and explained what it meant to keep all of those milk bottles out of the garbage. What it meant to reuse them to create something new. We talked about landfills and how the garbage we throw away sits and sits. “Like in WALL-E, right mommy?”

Right kiddo.

While recycling is one of the more obvious sustainable measures I can show my daughter, there are opportunities all around us to take a small part in sustainability. From little things like turning off the water while we brush our teeth to buying products with a commitment to reducing their environment impact. The key to making a difference is to work together.

While Unilever products like Q-tips, Dove and Breyers have long been staples in our house, until recently I didn’t know anything about the company’s commitment to sustainability. Through its Making Life Better efforts, Unilever is committed to a three-pronged approach to sustainability to improve people’s health and well-being, reduce its environmental footprint and enhance livelihoods. This umbrella of sustainability includes a Unilever’s Cross Off Hunger campaign and a commitment to new ways to halve the company’s environment footprint by 2020 by reducing greenhouse gasses, water consumption associated with product use and the waste associated with disposal of its products.

That mission makes me feel even better about stocking Skippy, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, Popsicle and Bertolli on my shelves. Since companies like Unilever can’t reduce all waste, we do our party as consumers to reduce waste by reusing whenever we can. My stockpile of empty jars, plastic tubs and Popsicle sticks might border on hoarder status (if you ask my husband), but saving those items to reuse even just once more before landing in the trash or recycle bin is my way of  making this planet better for my children. (Check out my shopping trip to see more Unilever brands I like to stock up on.)

I come by this habitual reusing honestly. Growing up my mother had an entire storage area* (*that’s what I need hubs!) for her empty glass jars like those Bertolli pasta sauce and jelly come in. At any given time there were 0-20+ jars lining those shelves, depending on the current status of her garden. To this day, when her roses are in bloom friends and family can expect hand-picked bouquets delivered in glass jars tied with pretty ribbon. Once the flowers pass, I recycle her jars (unless I have a fun art project in mind) and save her ribbon in my stash making her flowers the ultimate green gift. (If only I would take up composting…)

When dinner guests are invited to take home leftovers, instead of sending them home with her good storage containers or wasteful plastic baggies, mom packs to-go containers into empty I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter tubs. (I can’t tell you the number of times I have gone to putter my bread only to find leftovers inside!)

Mom was green before it was “in,” and I learned from her example to be conscious of wastefulness, and perhaps a bit of thriftiness in reusing what you already have.

It’s nice to know that my small efforts are backed by the company making the products I use. Together we can all work to Make Life Better.

Learn more about Unilever’s commitment to sustainability and its Cross off Hunger campaign on Unilever’s Facebook page and on Twitter at #BetterTogether.

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Unilever, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own. #CBias #SocialFabric.