Plastic is pervasive, often lurking in places we least expect. From packaging to household products, the convenience of plastic comes at an environmental cost. I will look at 20 common household product categories where plastic is commonly found and explain why eliminating or replacing it with eco-friendly alternatives could benefit your health and the planet.

Here’s a list of the everyday household products we’ll be discussing in a series of posts dedicated to helping you take small steps to eliminate these plastics from your life. Some habits will be harder to kick than others since there may not be widely acceptable, convenient alternatives—yet.

And that is the crux of the problem—convenience. Humans are crazy good at inventing new things. The challenge is that we have become addicted to the convenience that many offer, including plastic, without understanding the long-term consequences. Until we make a mess of things. And now we get to practice adulting by cleaning up after ourselves. For an enlightening and rather scary read, check out a recent book by Darin Olien titled “Fatal Conveniences.”  Like he says, it’s up to us to take our health and the planet’s health into our own hands.

Some swaps will be easier than others. Personally, I am starting with the ones that are easy to do and annoy me the most. Unfortunately, some swaps will be hard – lots of my favorite tech gear uses lots of plastic. That’s where looking at products made from recycled materials will make a lot of sense. Choose the ones that are doable for you, and don’t beat yourself up about the ones you aren’t ready to change or let go. The more people we can get who are taking small steps now, the better for the planet!