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Sustainable Shopping

Be an INFORMED consumer - do you know how the things you buy affect the environment or your health. Ask yourself - where does this product come from? What is it made out of? Is it biodegradable? How was it produced? Will it be used just once and then thrown out? Can I re-use or re-purpose it? Where does it end up after I throw it in the trash? Ask yourself these questions and consider these tips the next time you make a purchase:
 
Sustainable Shopping Tips:
  • Bring your own bag! Use reusable bags at retail and grocery stores to reduce plastic and paper production and pollution. One reusable bag can replace 1000 plastic bags from our environment. Find more info at www.longbeachny.gov/bags.
  • Shop locally! The closer you shop to your home, the less your carbon footprint will be. You will also be strengthening the local economy by supporting small businesses. Check out local and organic produce at the City Farmer’s Market in Kennedy Plaza on Wednesdays and Mondays 9am – 2pm, May through November – more info can be found at www.ligreenmarket.org/long-beach.
  • Try vegetarian and vegan food options. Modern meat production has a large eco-fopotprint - consuming land, water, resources, and has a large carbon footprint. increases harmful greenhouse gases, such as methane and can contaminate local habitats. Start with Meatless Mondays – visit www.meatlessmonday.com for tips and recipes. When buying meat, buy free-range, organic meat to reduce chemical intake and pollution. When buying fish, avoid endangered/threatened species and buy sustainably fished products – if in doubt, visit www.fisheries.noaa.gov/welcome.
  • Avoid products with harsh chemicals that harm the environment and your health. Choose bio-based cleaning products that are free of parabens, phthalates, 1,4-Dioxane, VOCs, and other harmful chemicals. Better yet, make your own cleaning products from natural household items such as baking soda, vinegar, or lemon juice. You can make a DIY all-purpose cleaning spray with just 1 part distilled white vinegar and 1 part water. Visit our "Reduce Toxins in Your Home" and "Sustainable Cleaning Recipes" pages to learn more.
  • Invest in durable goods and purchase products with minimal or zero packaging.
  • Stop using microbeads in your home beauty and cleaning products. These plastic beads are too small to be captured by sewage treatment plants so they end up in our water ways. They can be mistaken for food and ingested by fish and wildlife, which results in stunted growth, birth defects, cancer, starvation, etc. These chemicals are passed up the food chain to larger fish and ultimately to humans.
  • Buy more gently used items that you need instead of buying new. You can buy used items on social media and nonprofit sites. The City’s Police Department, adjacent to City Hall, is a designated Internet Purchase Exchange Location.
  • Have unwanted clothes or other textiles? Donate them to charity instead of throwing them out. You will be diverting landfill waste while also supporting others in need. 
  • Choose eco-friendly dry cleaners. Traditional dry cleaners may use chemicals that are the culprit of numerous hazardous waste sites on Long Island. See here for list of eco-friendly dry cleaners on Long Island.