Every year, on April 22nd, hundreds of Instagram pictures of beautiful sunsets, stunning mountain ranges, and sandy beaches are posted for Earth Day. This year as I scrolled through my feed, I couldn’t help but think about the future of these beautiful locations. Our earth is being filled with toxic gases and clogged with plastic never biodegrades. It simply breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces that are slowly making their way into our marine ecosystems and therefore our food chain.

Here are eleven ways you can cut down on your plastic usage today.

1. Buy a reusable water bottle.

38 billion plastic water bottles are being wasted every year. One Nalgene water bottle can last years, saving you money and saving plastic.

2. Switch out your plastic toothbrush for a bamboo one.

Most people change out their toothbrushes every three months or so. Imagine how many plastic toothbrushes you've used and thrown away in your lifetime. Got an idea? Perfect, so now is the time to invest in a bamboo toothbrush that is completely biodegradable.

3. Take a real fork to lunch.

It is so easy to avoid plastic utensils. Pack your own real-life metal forks, spoons, or knives if you know you're going to need one. Even though you may end up having to run your dishwasher a little more frequently, the amount of water used to make the plastic silverware easily surpasses that of a typical family dishwasher (22 gallons are needed to make one pound of plastic).

4. SAY NO TO STRAWS.

This is probably the easiest lifestyle change you can make to help our planet become more plastic-free. Straws are completely unnecessary. Because they are so small, they have a strong negative impact on marine life as seen in this video where a turtle has a plastic straw stuck in its nostril.

5. Bring a reusable shopping bag to the store.

You can get super cute fabric bags instead! Who wouldn't want one of these bags made out of 80% recycled materials?

6. Replace your plastic Tupperware containers with glass ones.

There are so many options buying glass containers for your packed lunch.

7. Double check the material of your school supplies.

You can find so many plastic-free supplies for next semester. Recycled binders, backpacks, pencils, you name it.

8. Rethink how you buy your toilet paper.

Toilet paper often comes in thick, unnecessary plastic. Who Gives a Crap is a company that sells toilet paper made out of recycled materials in a box, saving water, trees, and plastic.

9. Bring a reusable coffee mug to work.

Disposable cups are not necessarily biodegradable. Oftentimes, these cups are lined with plastic, not to mention the 100% plastic lids and green mini-swords that trap the heat from escaping those lids. There are some really cute travel mugs that avoid all of those plastics.

10. Double check the ingredients in your face wash.

Microplastics are what contribute the worst negative effects of pollution. They are small enough that they are easily digested by sea creatures that make their way onto our plates. Many face washes contain little exfoliating beads that contain microplastics called polypropylene or polyethylene. Try these face washes instead.

11. Find other uses for plastic you already have.

Fill your used plastic water bottles with water and stick them in the freezer for automatic ice packs. Use old plastic Tupperware to hold pencils or other small supplies. Reuse your plastic grocery bags. The options are endless.

There are 100 more ways you can reduce your plastic consumption. This is our planet, and Instagram posts aside, we need to take immediate action. Every day is Earth Day.