The demands dynamics in the 21st century are driven by ease of use. The easier a product or good is to use, the more it will sell. The ease of use offered by disposable products in the form of packaging material carry bags, cutlery, etc. accounted for raising the global demand for disposable products. However, while focusing on the ease of use and the cheap price of a disposable product, we completely overlooked the environmental impact of it.

According to a report publishes by the UN in 2019, the annual global usage of single-use plastic bags is around five trillion. That means nearly two million single-use plastic bags are used every minute across the globe. These alarming stats are not only confined to disposable products of plastic material, but disposable products which are termed as ‘ecofriendly’ are an issue of concern, too. Millions of trees are cut to produce paper bags that are used up in a single year by one country.

Now, you must be wondering what type of products should you go for? The answer is reusable products. To help you understand how reusable products induce minimum damage to the environment, we have compared them with disposable products based on the following factors:

●      Carbon Footprints and Emissions:

Carbon Footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide released in the atmosphere to carry out a particular activity. In this case, a carbon footprint is the number of resources and energy utilized to produce these products.

To your surprise, the carbon footprint of HDPE (High-density polythene) is less than that of paper bags and reusable bags. But, since on average a person uses thousands of plastic or paper bags in their lifetime, the low carbon footprint is compensated by high demand, leading to the carbon footprint through single-use products being more than that of a reusable product. Whereas, if you choose to use a reusable product to its full capacity, you will be able to bring down your carbon footprint.

●      Cost benefits:

Reusable products are a one-time investment that goes as long as you wish to maintain it. The cost at the time of purchase is more than that of a single-use product, but you do not need to make a purchase every time you require the product since the product is reusable, you can use it multiple times. In the long run, reusable products are, therefore, more cost-effective than single-use products.

In addition to this, once you are through with a single-use product, it needs to be disposed of. The cost of disposing of a product is high which peaks up further based on the material of the product. Whereas, in the case of a reusable product, even after utilizing the product to its full capacity, the cost of recycling or laundering the product is much lower than the cost of disposing of a single-use product.

Apart from these major benefits, reusable products help us in generating a lesser amount of waste, preserve natural resources and energy while helping us control the emission of harmful substances in the atmosphere. It is now up to us to make conscious choices to preserve the environment.

Recycling Services is a firm that provides waste management services in Oman, has already made this conscious choice a while back. Adding more to this, they will be introducing a wide range of reusable products soon.