I know we typically keep it pretty light on Stylebook, but I want to talk about something that is really important to me - avoiding single-use plastic! Recycling is something engrained into every child. It is taught in school, in the home, and is mentioned on children’s shows. While I am a huge advocate for recycling, what if we didn’t produce as much waste, period? While I am not here to preach, and I am certainly not here to discourage you from recycling, I would like to advocate for choices that avoid the need for creating more recycling and trash. I think an easy first step everyone can take is committing to drinking out of a reusable water bottle!I would like us to consider a plastic water bottle. Sure, it’s convenient, but choosing to drink out of a plastic water bottle has over 500 years of consequences. ValleyWater.org notes that it takes over “1,000 years to bio-degrade, and if incinerated, they produce toxic fumes. It is estimated that over 80 percent of all single-use water bottles used in the U.S. simply become ‘litter.’” Not to mention the copious amounts of oil used in the process of producing plastic bottles. Avoiding plastic is good for the environment all the way around! Read more about the downside to single-use plastic at The Water Project.  At The Shoe Hive and The Hive, we stopped buying plastic water bottles for the store. In Alexandria, we are lucky enough to have a safe water supply, and we all have our own water bottles. The Shoe Hive actually carries some amazing reusable drink and container brands that have really helped us adapt to this change. You all are familiar with S’Well, but we also are now carrying W&P Design and E Coffee cups.  I am particularly in love with W&P as all of their items are made out of glass and ceramic materials that last forever and are 100 percent recyclable. Not only are their water bottles so cool and useful, but we also carry their ceramic and glass lunch containers, mugs, and to-go cups. Beyond avoiding plastic bottles, I have traded out plastic containers for my lunches for the W&P ceramic ones. I like them because they are safe to put in the microwave, so I don’t have to dirty another dish when I go to heat up my food. I highly recommend you check them out and do what you can today to make our world a little cleaner! [nemus_slider id="86849"]