Use these 5 eco challenge ideas to bring awareness to environmental issues this Earth Day. Being in the environmental space, every day is Earth Day, but that’s not the case for a lot of people.
Sustainability challenges are found all over the internet. Some are more extreme than others! However, start small and you’ll see that some ‘challenges’ are actually very doable. The goal is to create easy habits for a more sustainable lifestyle. These Earth Day challenge ideas aim to bring awareness to how easy it can be to produce less waste.
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sustainability challenges
I think having days on the calendar to celebrate World Wildlife Day, World Water Day, Earth Day etc. do a great job of stirring interest among the general public. In fact, I first committed to refusing single-use plastic shopping bags on International Plastic Bag Free Day. Yes, that’s actually a day!
These sustainability challenges can be gimmicky, but many are accomplishing great things. I give a lot of talks on sustainable living, and most of them happen around Earth Day. My biggest hope is that this type of eco challenge day will not only inspire initial interest but lead to lifelong changes.
It’s always so encouraging to hear from the people who attend the talks. I often hear them say, “I was nervous about sustainable living, but you made it sound doable!”
And, that’s because it IS doable! It’s really not as scary as it sounds. It’s a bunch of super practical stuff, and I created a few fun Earth Day challenge ideas to help you out.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because this list was inspired by my 31 Day Zero Waste Challenge!
eco challenge ideas for earth day
These challenges work as an Earth Day challenge, but can be used any time throughout the year, too!
Use these eco friendly challenges in the office, in your home, or in your classroom to bring awareness to the planet’s health. Maybe try one every quarter, or even every month, to create buildable habits for a sustainable lifestyle.
earth day challenge 1: recycle correctly
CHALLENGE: Head to your waste haulers website and make sure that you’re recycling right! Double check which materials are accepted and make sure those are the ONLY items you’re putting into your bin.
This Earth Day challenge is simple in theory but requires some research. Recycling rules vary depending on your city, county, and state, so it can get pretty complex. People just toss their items into the recycling bin and hope it gets recycled (aka wishcycling). But this can contaminate the whole bin!
Generally speaking, these are the common items accepted at recycling facilities: Aluminum cans and tins, rigid plastic #1, rigid plastic #2, paper, cardboard, and glass bottles. You’ll want to double check your local waste hauler’s website for how to recycle anything OTHER than those 5 materials.
You’ll also want to keep your recyclables clean and dry — so no half-full bottles of water, please. They don’t have to be spotless, but they need to be relatively clean to avoid contamination.
Check out my blog posts on recycling right here:
And, here are a few brands doing really cool work in the recycling space!
for days:
For Days has a Take Back Bag: You send them your old crap, and they help keep clothing out of landfills. They ensure every item is 100% recycled, which is super important considering 85% of donations just end up in a landfill anyway.
They accept any brand of clothing and textile too! Everything gets sorted and sent to a recycling partner. Those partners resell what could have a second life, and the remaining materials get recycled into rags or shoddy.
For Days also has a SWAP program that allows you to swap out anything, anytime, for any reason. Everything you send back gets recycled so it’s all closed loop.
batteries plus:
Every year, 2.9 billion batteries are thrown in the trash in the U.S., yet 99% of lead acid materials can be recycled. Batteries Plus makes it easy to recycle your old batteries and light bulbs.
Simply bring your used car batteries, household batteries, and commercial/residential-use light bulbs to your local Batteries Plus store, and they’ll take care of the rest. There are over 700 locations to choose from so be sure to check them out!
Maybe I should do a whole series of eco friendly challenges that revolve around these types of take back programs. What do you guys think?
eco friendly challenge 2: switch to sustainable consumables
CHALLENGE: Green your consumables list by choosing eco-friendly brands whenever possible. Consumables can qualify as more than just food, ranging from shampoo to dog treats to candles — anything you can use up really!
Whether you’re shopping for a new body lotion, shampoo, concealer, or a chocolate bar, you shouldn’t have to worry your purchase may be doing more harm than good.
I recommend looking for brands that use sustainable sourcing, ethical manufacturing, eco friendly ingredients, reduced packaging, and third-party certifications.
davines:
Davines is a B Corporation on a mission to do the best for the world through beauty, ethics, and sustainability. They sell hair and body care products made from ingredients with 83.6% of natural origin, and 99.7% of their factory is powered by renewable energy.
Also, Davines has partnered up with Plastic Bank, which means for every product sold that has plastic packaging, an equal amount of ocean-bound plastic will be collected and removed from the environment.
Davines recently launched their limited-edition shampoo and body wash, WE STAND/for regeneration. The bottle is made of recyclable bio-based plastic coming from renewable vegetal sources.
This shampoo and body wash features regenerative organic and Slow Food Presidium ingredients. For each purchase, Davines is contributing up to 50.000€ to Rodale Institute and Slow Food International to support their work with regenerative organic agriculture and biodiversity.
On top of this, they’ve debuted the Grow Beautiful Regenerative Organic Lifestyle bag for Earth Month. This limited-edition tote bag is made from regenerative organic certified cotton grown by the Khond, an indigenous tribal community in Odisha, India.
This bag is a regeneration manifesto for climate action that’s perfect for zero waste shopping. It’s carbon neutral because the CO2 emissions generated by raw materials, production, packaging, and transport are neutralized through the reforestation project Degraded Land Reforestation in India.
nellie’s clean:
All of Nellie’s Clean products are Leaping Bunny Certified, free of synthetic fragrances, and gluten-free. All items are eco-friendly, hypoallergenic, and highly effective.
In particular, their new Dish Butter is a high-performing, antibacterial semi-solid dishwashing detergent that gets the job done.
It’s super concentrated, which means less water waste (70% less water to be exact). Just one Dish Butter is equivalent to 2-3 bottles of liquid dishwashing detergent.
It comes in a reusable ceramic container that’s perfect for storing dry goods from bulk bins, hair ties, or other assorted knick knacks when empty. Or simply order a refill of the Dish Butter!
Switching to Nellie’s Dish Butter keeps 50+ single-use plastics per year out of landfills and waterways, making this a pain-free eco challenge that you can maintain.
Use the discount code ZERO20 for 20% off, excluding bundles and sale items.
lochtree:
Lochtree is on a mission to make it easy for consumers to find great eco-friendly products while helping create positive environmental change.
They have a great selection of sustainable consumables in their Bath & Body collection. They’re all natural and plastic-free.
These products would be easy zero waste bathroom swaps and would make really cute gifts too!
chippin:
Chippin creates planet-friendly pet snacks, and Nala LOVES them.
This woman owned, small business uses cricket protein for a low “carbon pawprint”. Per pound of edible protein, crickets produce zero methane and use only 1 gallon of water vs. over 2000 for beef!
The treats come packaged in a bag made from 29% post-consumer recycled content, and each bag saves over 40 gallons of water!
tru earth:
Tru Earth offers laundry detergent in strips. These plastic-free strips are ultra-concentrated and enough to wash an entire load of clothes.
They’re super easy to use — just tear them in half, place them in the drum, then put your laundry on top and wash.
These strips are certified hypoallergenic, cruelty free, biodegradable, and HE safe. As far as sustainability challenges go, this one isn’t even a challenge! I love my Tru Earth strips.
earth day challenge ideas 3: choose to reuse
CHALLENGE: Pick one disposable product you use and swap it for reusable items you can rely on again and again! These will save you money, reduce waste, and save precious resources (like water, energy, etc).
A lot of people think that throwing away paper towels or paper plates is eco-friendly because it ‘saves water’.
It makes sense on the surface because throwing away paper plates equals no water being used to clean dishes. Throwing away paper towels means no water being used to wash the rags.
But, that ignores all of the water that goes into the creation of the products. It takes 8 gallons of water to create ONE paper plate, 37 gallons of water to create ONE roll of toilet paper, and 3 liters of water to create ONE liter of bottled water.⠀ ⠀
Water is used in the creation of every single product and in the long run, it saves A LOT of water and resources to reuse the same items over and over again.
Here are a few of my favorite reusable swaps for your Earth Day challenge!
earthhero:
I really love these bamboo pot scrubbers and bottle cleaning brush from EarthHero — they can be reused for SO long, and at the end of their life, they’re fully compostable. They’re so much better than plastic sponges that wind up getting disgusting after just a few uses.
Also FYI, EarthHero is a Certified B Corp that’s basically an eco-friendly version of Amazon. They boast 175+ brands and thousands of vetted eco-friendly products, plastic free shipping and minimal plastic packaging.
bees wrap:
Kiss plastic wrap goodbye with Bees Wrap, a food wrap that’s reusable and fully biodegradable at the end of its life.
The Bee’s Wrap Vegan Variety 7 Pack is made out of candelilla wax. It’s fantastic for beginners looking to ditch plastic wrap ASAP. It has an ensemble of sizes that will cover dishes, cut veggies, and sliced fruits easily.
I also love the Bee’s Wrap XXL Roll, which is amazing for wrapping baguette’s (especially freshly made ones from the farmers market!).
If you love protecting pollinators, definitely check out the Bee’s Wrap Monarch Explorer Pack. It’s made in partnership with Nat Geo and is perfect for lunches on the go!
lunette:
Switching to reusable menstrual products has been one of my favorite eco challenge swaps. Not only are menstrual cups more comfortable than tampons, they’ll also save you a BUNCH of money.
The average menstruating person could save more than $1,800! Lunette’s packaging is completely free of single-use plastics. They’re made with medical grade silicone, and switching will also reduce a lot of waste.
eco challenge 4: talk about the climate crisis
CHALLENGE: Talk to one new person about climate change this month. Friends and family count too! Just talking about it can lead to change down the line.
Did you know one of the best things you can do for the climate crisis is to simply talk about it?
I was guest lecturing at UC Berkeley and asked the class, “How many of you care about the climate crisis?” Every single hand in the room shot up. Then I asked, “How many of you have had conversations and spoken about it with your friends and family?” Fewer than ten hands were up.
One of my personal climate heroes, Katharine Hayhoe, has a wonderful TedTalk about this, and it’s such an easy way to get involved. If you’re looking for inspiration or conversation starters, check out my blog post on how to start the sustainability conversation.
Here are a few brands that can help you start a conversation:
rapt gift wrap:
Here’s a real conversation starter: Rapt gift wrap. These reusable fabric gift wraps can be used for any occasion and will surely get your family and friends chit chatting.
You can also use them to wrap up a plant based dish to share with loved ones. Be sure to include the recipe to encourage them to make it themselves too.
These eco-friendly gift wraps are inspired by the centuries-old Japanese tradition of wrapping cloth, furoshiki. They’re double the gift — the present and the reusable gift wrap itself!
They have sheets in 4 sizes so you can fit everything from jewelry boxes to boxes of Lego. I love how they also have ribbon, gift tags, and accents made from reclaimed ribbon, fabric, and yarn.
incipio:
Social media is a great tool to plug into a like minded community as well as share eco friendly thoughts, ideas, news articles, or even new lifestyle habits.
It’s always fun to show your friends and family ‘how to’ do something. Maybe that’s a new DIY all-purpose cleaning recipe, composting, or a delicious plant based recipe like this BOMB vegetarian chili.
What better way to protect your communication device than with a compostable phone case! Incipio recently released Organicore, a line of phone cases and AirPods cases made from plant-based materials.
Even better, for every purchase in April, they’re planting five trees! It’s in partnership with Eden Projects, a non-profit focused on specialized reforestation and creating jobs to end poverty.
sustainability challenge 5: upcycle before recycling
CHALLENGE: Before tossing something into the recycling bin, see if there’s a way to upcycle it into something useful. You can upcycle yogurt cups into seed starters, milk cartons into bird feeders, etc. Get creative!
Before you recycle an item, it’s always a good idea to see if you can extend its life. Upcycling actually increases the value of an item, whereas recycling slowly decreases the quality of certain materials (aka plastic) over time.
So many items are constantly created to meet consumer demand. With only 9% of plastic actually recycled, and China not taking our trash anymore, it’s better to just reuse what we DO have.
Trust me when I say, you’re bound to run into an item you just cannot recycle. In those situations, ask yourself, “Can I upcycle this into something useful?”
Here are some of my blog posts about upcycling to inspire your next eco challenge:
These are some innovative brands who really know how to upcycle:
laughing frog studio:
These beautiful jewelry pieces from Laughing Frog Studio are made from upcycled silverware. Yes, you read that right. Every piece is made by hand and is entirely unique.
Silverware is something that possesses unlimited creative possibilities, so just tossing it out is such a waste. Laughing Frog Studio takes unwanted silverware and repurposes it into these valuable pieces that can be worn for generations.
Laughing Frog Studio tries to really utilize every piece — including those from the “scrap bins”. They make everything from earrings to belt buckles using vintage silverware (but you’d never know it unless they told you)!
haverhill:
Haverhill‘s Terra Collection is made in Rhode Island. They use recycled solid 14k gold and sustainably grown emeralds and sapphires. The emerald represents land and the sapphire represents ocean — perfect for an Earth Day eco challenge!
These special pieces are designed to be worn a long time. They’re extremely durable so you can even wear them while sleeping, showering, or exercising!
I also LOVE that 10% of the purchase price of the Terra Collection is donated to The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental nonprofit working to create a world where people and nature can thrive.
Use the code ZEROWASTE15 for a discount at checkout!
