Save and Go Green: Buying in Bulk
I shop in bulk all the time because it saves me tons of money. I buy large quantities of foods and household items that I use all the time to save money and reduce the number of times I have to take a trip to the store. I have never thought of buying in bulk as going green, but I wanted to find out if it does and does it always save you money.
Buying In Bulk Bins
When it comes to the environment, it makes sense that it is a greener alternative to buying smaller quantities. There is less packaging involved that with traditional retail packaging. When you buy a large amount of the same product, there is only a minimal amount of packaging involved. The EPA reported that we generate about 80 million tons of waste from packaging and containers every year. That is a lot of wasted packaging that we don’t need. One really good example comes with cereal. There is such a small bag of cereal inside of a big box which is completely unnecessary. If you ever go to a natural food store, you see the bins with cereals and granola in them. You can buy whatever quantity you want and it only requires a small bag with none of the packaging.
Wholesale Stores
Natural food stores are not the only places that can save on packaging when purchasing in bulk. Even in wholesale stores like Costco and Sams Club you can really save on packaging. Be careful with some of the products though, they still have just as much packaging as with traditional retail packaging. If you are going to purchase something in bulk from these stores, just make sure to recycle the packaging. I found an interesting article that talks of Costco uses an environmental friendly packaging made by Natralock and recyclable cardboard for their packaging. These products are still inexpensive so the cost is able to stay down.
Saving Money
it’s easy to see that you can easily save money on buying bulk with less packaging and larger quantities. When I was in college, I would buy granola and other cereals from a co-op located on campus. The price of them would be around $1.50 per pound for both. I would leave with a huge bag of granola for only a few bucks. It would probably cost close to double for a similar amount of product in packaging. What was also great is that everything I purchased was organic.
Going to wholesalers can also save you tons of money because you are purchase much larger amounts of the same products. I save money by buying bulk, especially when it comes to meats. I buy large quantities of beef, chicken and other meats at a fraction of the cost I am able to get them in a grocery store. I freeze any of the meat that I don’t eat immediately and they last several months. Here is a good reference to how long meats and other products can last in the freezer.
The next step for me is to buy meats in bulk from local farmers. I have previously purchased meats from local farms. They aren’t fed any hormones and are free-range. The price was about the same as the price of meats in any grocery store. I should be able to save a little by purchasing in larger quantities from local farms.
Save and Go Green: Local Produce
I go to a local farmers’ market every weekend because I love fresh produce. The taste of the food I buy is unmatched by any grocery store that I go to. I have even heard Alton Brown from the Food Network say on his show that large strawberry farmers only produce for looks not taste. Even though taste is a huge factory, it is not the point of this article. The article will be geared towards answering the following two questions: does buying locally promote green lifestyle and most importantly, will it save me money over buying produce from the grocery store?
I had heard various segments on the radio about how our travels far to get here, but I never realized just how far. Apparently, our food travels an average of 1,500 miles between the farm where it was grown and your refrigerator. Much of the food we buy in the grocery store that usually could be bought locally is still shipped in from other parts of the country. Why not just buy from local farmers to get fresher produce that will taste better? I can only guess that cost must be the major factor into their decision. The amount of pollution that is occurring from the food’s transportation seems extremely wasteful. Also, many major farmer don’t use sustainable or organic methods of farming.
A huge plus I find when buying local produce is that you can actually talk to the farmer that grew the food you are buying. You can just ask them the types of farming methods they use and if pesticides are used.
You can save also save a bundle when buying local produce. One food that I love to eat is tomatoes. They are ridiculously expensive at the grocery store, usually $2-$4 a pound. Thats way too much to spend on tomatoes may or may not taste like crap. The tomatoes I buy at my local market are about $2.50 for about 5. That’s a huge savings over the grocery store and they taste better. In general, many things you can buy locally will be at a fraction of the cost of comparable products at the grocery store.
On the flip side, the grocery store is a little more convenient as you can buy produce whenever you want. Farmers’ markets and local farmers can sometimes be a far drive away or only be open certain days of the week. This can lead to buying produce too far in advance and it can go bad before you get a chance to eat it. Also, grocery stores carry a much wider range of produce that you would normally find at a local produce stand.
My rule of thumb when it comes to buying produce is to buy them locally while it is in season and get any reminding produce they don’t carry (like bananas) at the grocery store. Also, don’t buy too much produce just because it looks fresh. I have done this in the past and I regret it every time.
You can check out my article on Farmers’ Markets to find farmers in your area selling local produce.
Eco-Friendly Ways to Buy Clothing
This past weekend, I went to a Consignment shop in nearby neighborhood with my fiance. I used to always hate going into places with used clothing when I was a child because it was not the “hip” thing to do. She has always loved to go into Consignment shops to find cool fabrics to make things with.
This really got me thinking about the the environmental impacts that clothes could be have. So, I decided to do a little research on the topic of clothing as it relates to the environment. I found an interesting article from Organic Consumers that talks about the effects of being wasteful when it comes to buying clothing:
Like most things you buy today, clothes are intended to phase out of fashion. As we attempt to keep up with fashion trends we end up accumulating more and more in our closets. Spurring on new buying, clothing prices have dropped 25%, and the volume of clothing we purchase has increased 75% between 1992 and 2002.
The worst part about all the clothes bought is not necessarily how the clothes are made, but the clothes hangers. Wire hangers cannot be recycled because the quality and quantity of metal contained in each hanger make it not worth recycling. Even if they decide to use wooden hangers, they are usually treated with dangerous chemicals.
Its pretty scary of all of the negative aspects associated with buying new clothing from retailers. After giving it some thought, I determined a few ways that we as the consumer can make a difference.
- Buying used clothing
- Buying Sustainable Clothing
- Choose quality over quantity
As with most people, I don’t see myself buying used clothing very often especially when it comes to business clothing. But, buying used clothing can be a huge savings benefit. There were clothes a little as a $1 while I was at the Consignment shop. I was really shocked at how many designer brands and new looking clothes they had. It is definitely worth considering before making your next trip to the mall to buy new clothing.
Another alternative is to buy eco-friendly clothes. A local new station in Minnesota wrote an article about Eco-Friendly Clothing
as an alternative when buying clothing. Birch Clothing is a small company that sells items produced from sustainable and recycle materials. They also use fair labor standards and produce their clothes in America. I have purchased from a similar company to Birch Clothing called American Apparel in the past and have been pleased with the quality and comfort of their clothes. Stores like these have slightly higher prices than traditional clothing stores, but are worth considering if you want to go green when buying clothes.
My favorite choice of the three is to just buy higher quality clothes in lower quantities. It’s that simple. I have been following this philosophy for years now. You can spend much less on clothing because you will be buying far less clothes and they will last you much longer. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to buy the designer brands and spend huge amounts of money to get good quality. There are many high quality clothing brands that are moderately priced. The biggest thing is to stay away from buying clothes that are trendy as you will probably not wear them very long. If you buy clothes that fits well and has a simple design, you can’t go wrong.
Farmers’ Markets are in Season
Farmer markets have been around for years, but are really starting to become more and more popular as people have become more health conscious. People want to eat food that is fresh, locally grown and most of all tastes great. Going to your local farmers market is a great idea to stay healthy and save money.
Much of the produce sold at farmers markets is local and sometimes is organically grown with no pesticides. At the farmers’ market I attend every week, they even have fresh milk, eggs, cheese and meats. The taste and quality of the products are almost always superior to what I find in the grocery store.
The USDA has a good search engine to find a farmers’ market near in your area.
