Photo by Gary Chan on Unsplash
- Do you compost food waste? Details please on your experiences!!
- What do you do with textiles that are too worn out to donate or sell?
- What do you do to try and minimize packaging on household and/or personal items?
- How do you re-use things you might otherwise throw away?
- Any favorite resources for a lower-or-zero-waste lifestyle?
My answers…
- I want to start composting now that we have a yard and more space to do it. I put down the disposal all the food waste I can, but after clogging it too many times, I throw away a lot more than I’d like to.
- Sadly, I usually just throw them away. Now after hearing from some of you, I took my old towels and sheets to animal shelters, but I still don’t know what else to do with clothing that’s worn out besides put it in the garbage. And no, I don’t need any more rags LOL
- I’ve switched almost exclusively to bar soap that I buy in bulk at whole foods for hand soap and body soap, I buy household cleaners that are refillable and try to buy glass over plastic containers when available. I use Kjaer Weis for makeup, which offers refills. I buy too much on amazon, and am constantly frustrated with the packaging and multiple deliveries for the same order. Thank goodness I use all my boxes and packaging material for slowre orders. Which answers question number 4…
- I use boxes and packaging materials for slowre orders when I can, and I re-use plastic food containers as much as possible, and always keep glass containers.
- I only started thinking about zero-waste after looking at Paris to Go, and that’s my only current resource. I do have the Zero Waste Home book on my wishlist at Amazon but haven’t ordered yet. I can’t wait to hear your answers!!
1. Do you compost food waste? Yes, and we use it on our own garden. We also have chickens and they eat a lot of the kitchen scraps. Like, bits of bread crust, the tough part of kale or asparagus stems, apple peels if I’m baking (otherwise I eat the peel!). The compost bin is just for what they can’t eat: citrus and banana peels, tea bags, coffee grounds. Also, our dog helps us eat meat scraps and yogurt/cottage cheese that are past their prime. I think more than backyard composting (it’s great if you have the space and a way to use it, but most people don’t), what people need to put their energy into is pushing for municipal composting where they live, and also for community garden spaces…
2. What do you do with textiles that are too worn out to donate or sell? Well, first it goes into rotation as painting clothes, or chicken-coop-cleaning clothes. If it’s cotton, like a t-shirt, it will eventually get turned into a cleaning rag. Stuff from companies that recycle their own garments (like Patagonia or Darn Tough) gets returned to those companies when possible. I haven’t had too many wool things wear out; when my son was still in diapers, I did felt a couple of old wool sweaters to make into diaper covers (for use over cotton diapers). Speaking of which, all of his old cloth diapers are having a second life as cleaning rags. Psychologically, I’d have a hard time using them on, say, dishes, but they’re great for cleaning floors and cars!
3. What do you do to try and minimize packaging on household and/or personal items? Ugh, not enough. I live a 30 min drive from most retail shopping, so I mail-order a lot of stuff, and end up with tons of cardboard boxes. Some of them get re-used, but there are really too many to save them all. So they end up going to recycling, or sometimes into our fire pit. I’m trying out Who Gives a Crap for TP right now — it sure doesn’t last as long as a roll of Scott (my preference), but I like the fact that I can buy a huge batch, it’s recycled, and that the packaging is plastic-free. I used to be good about bringing my own containers for shopping the bulk section (we do buy a lot of bulk goods — oats, rice, beans, etc), but then we moved around a bunch and I got disorganized and fell off that wagon. I carry a water bottle and a thermos, so I mostly manage to not buy single-serving drinks or order to-go cups for coffee. Also, I never really think of this one, but just cooking things at home, rather than using pre-packaged versions: granola, bread, soups, cookies, etc. I hate buying “convenience” foods, and try to stick to purchasing ingredients as much as possible.
4. How do you re-use things you might otherwise throw away? I wash and reuse plastic storage bags, both ziplocs and things like produce and bulk bags, to the degree that feels reasonable to me. Also glass jars and plastic yogurt containers, although I usually end up with too many and eventually have to cull. Plastic grocery bags — which I struggle to avoid altogether, despite having plenty of reusable totes — get used as trash bags in the bathroom and basement. We very rarely do take-out (no good options locally), so I don’t have too many of those plastic food containers to deal with. I have a big set of Pyrex for storing leftovers. I’m vegetarian, but when I buy meat for my family, I tend to choose things (like whole chicken or bone-in roasts) that can be transformed into soup stock once the meat is eaten.
5. Any favorite resources for a lower-or-zero-waste lifestyle? Uh, my friends? I have a pretty crunchy cohort. Chelsea Green Publishing for books. Rodales and Mighty Nest for shopping/product inspiration, although I mostly browse. I’m skeptical of solutions that involve adding new “stuff” even if that stuff is cotton instead of paper, or steel instead of plastic, etc. It all has a carbon footprint. As a New Englander, I do try to subscribe to the old adage, “Use it Up, Wear It Out, Make it Do or Do Without.” Clothes are probably the hardest arena for me to do this. I don’t throw clothes away, but I do pass them on frequently, either due to size or style changes. Trying to be more mindful, that’s why I’m here. 🙂
Great topic Grechen! I look forward to reading everyone’s comments.
1. We compost, although I admit I pretty much do the “easy” part of throwing the waste into a container and my SO does the actual minding-of-the-compost-bin. He inherited two big composters, so we were quite lucky in that regard! I have a little ceramic compost container I found at World Market that doesn’t look too bad on the countertop, and the charcoal lid liner keeps it from smelling (seriously).
2. For tired textiles, my first choice is to make them into rags, but at the moment we have more than enough rags. My local thrift store sends fabric to textile recyclers, so I just drop them off with other clothes.
3. This one is tough, especially since we shop at Trader Joe’s and they insist on packaging fruits and veggies that do not need packaging! I try to buy only things I can’t find locally from Amazon. If I need something for the home I’ll put it on the Cozi list and try to check for it whenever I am at an applicable store, or in the neighborhood. If they don’t have it then I’ll buy it on Amazon. It requires a bit more patience but I very rarely need something TOMORROW or even THIS WEEK.
4. We “stoop” things that are still in decent condition, but this feels kind of lazy. Sometimes things (furniture, broken and repaired cups) go into the garden for a second life filling some niche need.
5. None really. I like the blog Reading My Tea Leaves, who talks about reducing waste, among other topics. I don’t think it is realistic to commit to zero waste, but I do try to reduce waste for sure!
1. Minimal food waste at my home… but, that’s because I don’t do a lot of cooking for myself. I don’t garden, either, so not sure if composting would be a good option if I took up cooking as a hobby?
2. I have crates of old tees, sweaters, etc. Don’t give up on rags! I moved from a condo (no exterior maintenance) to a stand-alone house about 3 years ago (ALL of the exterior maintenance) and I have burned through so many of those discarded textiles. You might surprise yourself. I am constantly using old t-shirts, etc. to clean up outside. I also do a lot of painting/refinishing projects at home and use old textiles for that. Finally, I cut up the softer cotton tees in squares and have them stationed around the house for light cleaning. I think very carefully before using paper towels. I can almost always use one of my cotton squares instead.
3. Probably 75% of my non-grocery shopping is done online and I struggle with this constantly. I save boxes that I think will be useful to me in the future, but most get broken down and sent to the recycling bin immediately. I don’t have a lot of faith that this is any better than throwing them out with the garbage, but there’s a sliver of a chance.
4. Living solo, I don’t have a ton of waste because I can be more selective about what comes home with me in the first place. I try to be more vigilant on the front end so I don’t have to fret over waste on the back end (not always an effective strategy). When I replace furniture, the old pieces are donated to a local shelter. I have limited desire/tolerance for “art” in the house, so when I add something new inside, another piece has to come down. I’ve started hanging the discarded pieces in my garage and now it looks like a kooky salon. But it is kind of fun to see all of that stuff when I pull my car in to its stall.
5. Hope to get some new ideas right here!
Seattle composts as a city. Compost has its own container and gets picked up weekly. Goodwill will take unwearable textiles and recycle.
1. I did at my last home. In Portland, you can throw all compostable items (food waste, yard waste, paper towels, coffee filters, etc.) in your yard waste bin, so it’s just part of normal curbside trash & recycling pick up. I kept a paper bag in the freezer and put food waste in there until it was full – the freezer keeps it from making a mess, attracting bugs, and stinking. Unfortunately, now that I’m back in an apartment building, I don’t have curbside yard waste service anymore 🙁 I’ve actually been researching ways that I can continue to compost because I really want to! I throw away so much food waste.
2. Sadly, just throw them away. There have been a few times I’ve used them for packing fragile items.
3. I use mostly bar soap (package-free from WF whenever possible) and try to opt for larger containers of household items that come in non-reusable containers. I was saving all my glass bottles from cosmetic type items, but I wasn’t using them often enough. Amazon is the biggest source of packaging frustration for me. This is still a major work in progress.
4. I reuse bottles and jars for homemade skincare items and candles. I keep nicer-looking boxes for wrapping gifts. Pretty much any “pretty” packaging (like tea tins) get kept around in some way. My hoarding tendencies aren’t so great in many ways, but certainly helps in terms of reusing product packaging haha.
5. This podcast episode is the first thing that opened my eyes to the zero waste movement, and literally everything stemmed from that: http://jesslively.com/beajohnson/
Favorite low/zero waste blogs: Reading My Tea Leaves (readingmytealeaves.com), EcoCult (ecocult.com), Going Zero Waste (goingzerowaste.com).
I love Mighty Nest for low-waste shopping (I was subscribed to their monthly box for a while and found some great products that way – I still use everything I received and it helped to replace disposables.
I don’t have time to answer all of the questions right now, but check out the refill revolution on IG. It’s not a perfect solution but it’s a good option!
Jenny
1. No, but I should. I live in an apartment building and unfortunately Honolulu is not doing as good a job as other cities with ensuring urban dwellers have easy options for composting. I just returned from Seattle and there are composting as well as recycling bins everywhere.
2. I still donate very used clothing items to goodwill. To be honest I’m not sure what standards they have and what happens to those items. I should find out. I give old denim to a friend who makes strong tote bags out of carpet samples and denim (her name is Libby Behn and her line is called Maui Island Love). The humane society may take old blankets and towels. There is a company btw that will make a quilt out of old Ts. I’ve been wanting to do that for my dad. He’s a retired science teacher and science bowl coach. He has a ton of old Ts from science competitions that would make a great quilt. I’m also seen people strip old Ts has stuffing for ottoman or cushion covers.
3. I use reusable bags or put purchases in my purse instead of taking shopping bags. If I forgot my bag, I keep the shopping bags from shops in my trunk and reuse. I’ve also given excess shopping bags to resale stores to use. Maui has a no plastic bag ban. Honolulu has a less strict ban in effect (only prohibits certain plastic bags – I think they should do the same as Maui). I buy some items in the bulk (unpackaged section) from Whole Foods and sometimes buy produce from the farmer’s market. Also choosing products that are efficient with packaging. I don’t shop at Costco very much (IMO most of their products have way too much packaging). Using a spray and microfiber cloth for cleaning rather than disposable wipes. I don’t do a good job of limiting online purchases, which creates more wasteful packaging as well as the fuel usage. I also buy biodegradable bags for cleaning up kitty litter as the one I use decreases the smell. I also read many books on my kindle or borrow from the library. I use the Texture app for magazines. I donate books/magazines to “Friends of the Library”.
4. I don’t think I do a good job of this except with wrapping for presents. I like to use old magazine pages or catalog pages to wrap presents. I also try to reuse any wrapping on gifts I’ve been given. Many people including my BF and family reuse some take out containers (like plastic ones with lids). I confess that I hate doing that as it clutters up my small space but I’ve been rethinking that lately. I think the biggest thing I can do to improve is honestly to buy less things and prepare more meals at home. My overconsumption is the hugest contributor.
5. Zero waste home or general googling of upcycle or zero waste.
Thanks G! This was good food for thought.
1. Do you compost food waste? Details please on your experiences!!
Yes! My city collects everyone’s food waste every week and makes it into compost for us. The research institute I work for has some projects looking at using municipal compost on dairy farms and the like.
2. What do you do with textiles that are too worn out to donate or sell?
Usually they end up as rags in the garage for use on bikes and motorcycles. When they’re worn to bits/too grubby to use anymore, they go in the rubbish bin.
3. What do you do to try and minimize packaging on household and/or personal items?
Wherever possible, I buy in glass , buy in bulk, buy refillable items, put things in my reusable product bags, use my reusable shopping bags.
I’m conflicted about refusing packaging in the store (eg. shoe boxes etc) cos I feel like if I take them home with me, there’s a better chance that they will be recycled appropriately than if I left them in the shop (where they’d possibly go in the rubbish?).
4. How do you re-use things you might otherwise throw away?
I reuse glass jars for preserves/jams.
5. Any favorite resources for a lower-or-zero-waste lifestyle?
I started with Zero Waste Home. Paris To Go is another I follow. Locally, I’m a fan of EcoOikos (https://www.ecooikos.com/)
We are super lucky in Christchurch that we can recycle all numbers of plastic, that our compost is collected and that we have both soft plastic collection and battery recycling at my local supermarket. Our rubbish bin goes out once a fortnight and it’s barely got anything in it.
I really want to reduce how much we’re “recycling”. Most of our recycling is shipped to China. I figure it’s best to just not consume in the first place……..
Great questions!
1. Yes, a lot of what we throw away is from our kitchen–coffee grounds, citrus peels, etc.–so I really like being able to compost it.
2. I have a really hard time with this one. I do keep old clothing as rags, but some things don’t really work well for that. I would like to miniminalize my closet further, but I struggle to do so because it feels wasteful.
3. I don’t do this enough, but we do cook a lot and use glass containers for food storage. We also have thermoses and water bottles for beverages.
4. In general, I just try to ask what I can do with something before throwing it away. I live in the thrifty Midwest, so I have guilt ingrained in me about getting rid of things, although I still do too much of that.
5. No, but I want to look at some of the blogs mentioned above.
1.Do you compost food waste? Details please on your experiences!!
Nope! NYC has a composting program but my building does not participate. It’s still slowly rolling out. Other than that, your option is to take compost to the greenmarket. Best way I’ve heard is to freeze it through the week in a cut open milk carton and then compost it.
2. What do you do with textiles that are too worn out to donate or sell?
I take them to the textile recycling at the farmer’s market. Feel pretty lucky to have this service! It’s sorted, salvaged, and then recycled.
3. What do you do to try and minimize packaging on household and/or personal items?
Not enough. But I try to buy bulk items and reuse the bags they come in. I never take bags at the store. This is definitely an area I could improve in. Buying fewer clothes has helped.
4. How do you re-use things you might otherwise throw away?
I wash and reuse ziploc bags and containers (like plastic takeout containers). I use plastic grocery bags as garbage bags in my kitchen and bathroom, which I only get when I forget to bring my own bags to the store. I reuse jars from packaged foods to store things in, like overnight oats and soup.
5. Any favorite resources for a lower-or-zero-waste lifestyle?
There was a great study the other day about how the biggest things you can do for climate change are huge life choices, not small things. The suggestions were: not have children/more children, live car-free, eat a plant-based diet, and travel less. The scientists said they recognize that a lot of these are personal choices but they said that these choices would make a huge impact. Definitely something to think about. I currently do not have a car, do not plan to have children, and eat mostly plants, but I travel a ton.
Article about the study: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2017/07/13/the-four-most-effective-things-you-can-do-about-climate-change-according-to-science/#7d5644f2635c
1. We have a citywide compost program, so I always compost.
2. I’ve been stressing about this for a while. I have a bag filled with old fabric items waiting until I find a decent way to get rid of it, but I’ve had this bag for several years.
3. I use bar soap, bar shampoo and bar shaving cream to cut down on packaging and water waste. Anything that I can buy without extra packaging, I will. I live right around the corner from Trader Joe’s, but really object to their wasteful packaging and rarely buy anything there. I avoid buying precut produce in plastic packaging. I use reusable produce bags, shopping bags, and sandwich bags. I have on occasion brought glass containers to restaurants to bring leftovers home in. I never take straws at restaurants.
4. I’ll save containers from beauty products and use them for things like coconut oil or honey that I use in the bathroom. I use mason jars for storing tons of stuff.
5. There’s a local store that sells eco-friendly stuff and all sorts of reusable containers.
If you’re starting to compost, those old worn out clothes can be added as long as they’re natural fibers. Just cut/rip/shred them into tiny pieces and throw them in! You can also add dryer lint, any loose threads from clothes, sweater lint, etc. I’ve recently started composting much more and have been so happy to discover this. Hope it helps!
This is a topic near and dear to my heart and a lot of what I end up blogging about! Great topic!
**Do you compost food waste? — Yes, we save our food scraps in a bucket in the kitchen (our fruit scraps go in the freezer in a bag to avoid fruit flies) and drop it off weekly at the city compost as the farmers market. Scraps that are not rotten and would make decent soup stock go into our soup stock bag in the freezer and that gets used to make stock once that’s full (then composted).
**What do you do with textiles that are too worn out to donate or sell? — At this time we have enough rags and no one is taking textile recycling (only wearable items) so at this point it’s trash, sadly. Thankfully most of that is pretty rare and is usually in the category of old underwear.
**What do you do to try and minimize packaging on household and/or personal items? — I try to buy in bulk or in paper packaging as much as possible. Our tp is now only paper-wrapped. Our beans, rice, nooch, some nuts, coffee are all in reusable bags. We avoid bags for produce or put in canvas bags to buy. I switched to a package-free shampoo bar by Lush and paper-wrapped or package-free soaps. I need to start going to Whole Foods for bulk pasta – the only kind my food coop carries bulk is Eden and they refused to provide birth control in their employees’ health plans for religious reasons and that’s not something I want to support. We make our own soy yogurt (soy milk comes in a tetrapack but it’s less waste than plastic yogurt tubs for the same amount) and our own kombucha (sugar is in paper, bulk tea). I also try to bring my lunch and coffee to work every day in either a leakproof steel lunch bowl or wrapmats to avoid takeout packaging. I also started using Gladrags pantyliners though I still use tampons. I used to use a cup but I no longer find it that comfortable. Overall, it’s a work in progress!
**How do you re-use things you might otherwise throw away? — I try to repurpose clothes to loungewear or gym wear if they’re cotton. I’ve repurposed pashmina scarves as bedding for teh cats’ baskets. I have used store bought kombucha bottles to bottle DIY kombucha. I keep takeout containers at work to bring home leftovers or compost (apple cores, banana peels, etc). I think the easiest way to deal with this is to try to not have stuff I need to throw away because it’s hard to find re-use ideas for a lot of stuff we end up with.
** Any favorite resources for a lower-or-zero-waste lifestyle? — I like the blog Litterless and the store Life Without Plastic.
I think the textile recycling thing at greenmarkets changed within the last year. At the city drop off they used to take everything and now it’s wearables/usable only. So now I’ve had a hard time finding places that will take scraps and we’re all full up on rags already!
https://www.grownyc.org/clothing
I’m so glad you introduced this topic. I really really love moving towards zero (or significantly less) waste. But I struggle with aspects of it. Is it better for me to drive further to WF and spend (probably) more money when I can walk or bike to Aldi’s and get things for less but with much more packaging? Somedays I feel like I’m striking a good balance and others I feel I’m embracing the worst of both.
Do you compost food waste? Yes. I have a tumble composter outside and plastic bucket on the kitchen counter (and I feel bad I bought plastic). My dirty secret is I don’t really have anything to use my compost for. I’m not much of a gardener other than some pots of herbs in the summer.
What do you do with textiles that are too worn out to donate or sell? Hmm.. good question.
What do you do to try and minimize packaging on household and/or personal items? Always have my own bags with me for shopping. Package free bar soap from WF. Also buy from the bulk bins what I can. Beans, grains, oatmeal, nuts, spices, coffee… I’m really annoyed that the bulk pasta at WF is significantly more expensive than what’s in the cardboard box.
How do you re-use things you might otherwise throw away? I reuse jars and plastic containers as much as I can. I used to save the comic pages for wrapping paper but I switched to the online paper. We reuse twist-ties and rubber bands.
Any favorite resources for a lower-or-zero-waste lifestyle? Nothing that hasn’t been mentioned already!
https://www.litterless.co/ is great blog for learning new ways to go zero waste! I love her insta too.
I’m only commenting so late because no one mentioned this… but H&M takes textile donations. I have a bag of old/unwanted clothes and other textiles that I add to regularly (even old underwear). I hate throwing away textiles!
My city also just starting curbside composting and even though it’s just me and my boyfriend, and we have hardly any waste, I love being able to throw food scraps in our compost bin vs. the trash.
Thanks, Katy! That’s so kind!
Paris to Go is so good! Grechen, I can’t remember where you live (Texas?), but I keep a big guide to where you can compost in different cities throughout the US on my blog here: litterless.co/wheretocompost. Sorry for the faux pas of including a blog link – hope it gives you a starting place, though!