With winter finally coming to a close, aren’t you glad flu season is ending too?

Wrong! In the U.S. the flu season is usually between December and February but peaks in January and March until it comes to an end around May. If you’re a victim of the late-winter flu, combat your symptoms in a more natural and less wasteful way instead of running to the drug store and buying pharmaceuticals that can end up polluting the environment.

Curb that cough

Like most things bought at a supermarket, household medicines are sold in an unnecessary amount of packaging. In 2015, 77.9 million tons of packaging waste were thrown away. Skip the packaging and add a squeeze of lemon to a spoonful of honey and let it dissolve in your mouth before swallowing to coat your throat and curb your cough.

For a sore throat

You’ve probably heard your mom say this a thousand times, but drinking tea can help soothe your throat. Cut out single-use tea bag waste by making your own tea with a reusable tea infuser. You can heat up this simple ginger tea recipe to soothe your throat. Don’t forget you can also compost your biodegradable scraps like ginger and lemon peels.

Knockout your headache

Drop that pill bottle and instead take a few drops of peppermint essential oil and massage it into your forehead and temples. The cooling effect peppermint has on the skin can relieve migraines and headaches. You can also use an aroma diffuser and add drops of lavender or eucalyptus essential oils to inhale and relieve headache tension and sinus pressure.

Ditch the tissues

In the U.S. a person will use 50 pounds of paper tissue products per year, and the EPA estimates that 28 percent of household trash is paper. Ditch tissues and purchase an organic tissue book with cloth pages that you can wash and reuse.

For more severe congestion, purchase a neti pot to flush out mucus and clear your sinuses with a saline solution. You can reuse the neti pot every flu season.

Disposal

According to Mother Nature Network, more than 100 different pharmaceuticals have been found in bodies of water around the world. If your symptoms persist and you end up relying on pharmaceuticals from a physician, make sure to properly dispose of your medicine so it doesn’t end up in the environment.