Why You Should Adopt A Plastic-free Lifestyle Like Erin Rhoads 

Erin Rhoads, popularly known as the Rogue Ginger is one of the leading eco-friendly figures in the world today. Rhoads adopted a plastic-free lifestyle in 2013 and has been living this amazing lifestyle since then. She revealed that she got to know more about the impact of plastics on the environment after watching a Canadian documentary in 2013. The documentary was about a couple who have been living the plastic-free lifestyle for a while. 

"[That documentary] changed my life and set me on a new path exploring waste and plastics and just what I could do to make a difference," she says.  

Since 2013 till now she has been on the lookout for the different alternatives to all the most important plastic products we often use. This includes shopping bags, cooking utensils, and a lot more. She constantly shares this on her blog "The Rogue Ginger."

She has organized different programs where she encourages people to live plastic-free for a period of time and continue to encourage this.  Also, she has written a book titled "Waste Not," which is focused on encouraging more people to adopt a plastic-free lifestyle. 

How did Erin achieve this?

Truth be told, if living a plastic-free lifestyle is an easy feat, adopting it would not be difficult. One of the hardest parts of the lifestyle is finding alternatives to all the plastic products we use including our toothbrush, kitchen bowls, shopping bags, water bottles and so on. However, while adopting the lifestyle is not easy, here are some of the steps outlined by Erin Rhoads.

• Reassess your life

The first step Erin took after her determination to live a plastic-free lifestyle is to reassess her lifestyle. She started becoming conscious of all the things she buys and uses from the clothes she wears to the foods she eats and the packaging. She stopped buying her foods in plastic packaging and always takes a grocery bag whenever she is going to shop. "If we forget our bags we will carry them [groceries] by hand...or find an old box at the store," she says.

If there is any reason an item should come in packaging, she always makes sure that it is recyclable. 

• Find alternative methods

This is the most important aspect of living a plastic-free lifestyle. Erin has alternative products for everything including her medications. She uses lavender for headaches and adopted a healthy lifestyle. For things that she could not find alternative products for, she makes them for herself. In fact, she makes her very own toothpaste. 

• You feel more fulfilled and happy 

"I have scaled the peaks and conquered the mountain of change. I feel content and happy, and as silly as this might sound, more in harmony." - Erin wrote on her blog.

Plastic-free lifestyle is not an easy feat, however, it is a journey that makes you happier and more proud of yourself.  It fuels your inner strength as you become more aware of the fact that you have made a change that most people find too challenging.