25 Sustainable Habits for 2025
Happy New Year! Instead of making a list of New Year's resolutions this year, we thought it would be more useful to share some habits that will help you reduce waste and take care of our planet in your day-to-day life. After all, only about a quarter of Americans who make New Year's resolutions stick to them after January - and less than 10% actually reach their goals.
What's missing in most resolutions? We believe most resolutions lack the space for imperfection, leading people to give up at their first mistake or after so many days of strict following. This year we're focusing on forming habits instead of strict resolutions, and embracing imperfect progress. Read on for 25 sustainable habits for 2025, and share your own ideas in the comments!
"We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly."
-Anne Marie Bonneau
1. Use reusable napkins and towels, even for casual meals and when hosting.
2. Start a water pitcher to collect unused water from drinking glasses, dog bowls, pasta water, and shower water (while you wait for the water to warm up). Save it to water house plants and your garden!
3. Check secondhand options before buying new. Some good places to start are local thrift and vintage stores, Facebook Marketplace, Poshmark, ThriftBooks, and McKay's Books.
4. Shop at your local farmers markets. Find more info on Knoxville's markets here.
5. Pick up trash on your walks.
6. Try mending torn clothing before throwing it away. Consider taking a workshop to learn how to mend items with sewing and patching. Check out the Sustainable Fabric Workshop in Knoxville.
7. Wait at least 24-48 hours before buying something online. Sleeping on it might help you realize you don't really need it.
8. Walk or bike to get to places within 1-5 miles of home (as long as you have safe infrastructure for this!).
9. Carry a reusable water bottle everywhere you go.
10. Start composting food scraps. The City of Knoxville has a few food scrap drop-off locations around town for free composting. You can also sign up for Green Heron Compost compost collection services, which start on April 1.
11. Take shorter showers - challenge yourself to shower in 5 minutes or less.
12. Volunteer for local community cleanups, environmental projects, and community gardening. Keep Knoxville Beautiful and Beardsley Farm are great places to start.
13. Eat more plant-forward meals. Try new recipes and snacks, and maybe even start Meatless Mondays.
14. Recycle, even if it's not super easy. Start a stash for hard-to-recycle items, and check out our Zero Waste Guide for where to recycle around Knoxville.
15. Turn lights off and unplug big appliances and electronics when you leave your home for a while.
16. Bring your own reusable cup to coffee shops.
17. Start carpooling with co-workers and friends whenever possible.
18. Meal plan and make a grocery list based on your meal plans to avoid food waste.
19. Avoid printing receipts, tickets, and other unnecessary documents.
20. Delete emails you don't need (and go ahead and unsubscribe from those emails you never read). Emails are stored on servers that use a ton of energy!
21. Bring your own shopping bags and produce bags to avoid plastic and single-use grocery bags.
22. Support small businesses and avoid Amazon. If you buy less overall, you can save some extra money to support small businesses.
23. Bring reusable to-go containers to restaurants, which usually have styrofoam or single-use plastic to-go containers. Just keep a stash in your car so you're ready anytime!
24. Shop bulk groceries and bring your own containers when possible. Three Rivers Market has a variety of bulk grocery options like beans, grains, flours, nuts, and more - just be sure to weigh your containers at the register before filling.
25. Start refilling. We're a great place to start this habit! Save containers you like or purchase our containers for refilling household products over and over again. Check out our list of refills or order online to get started.
We hope these habits help you along your sustainability journey, and we look forward to another year of taking care of our planet with you. Thank you for being part of the progress in our world!