Zero (less) Waste
Here’s a picture with mostly the same things I’ll be eating this year from Thanksgiving 2020. Somehow I didn’t take a single of any food on Thanksgiving last year?! Yikes! This year I’ll be having that same TJ’s roast, a hopefully less salty recipe of homemade stuffing (it was rough that year), and a vegan version of this same easy mashed potatoes recipe.
When we first got married, I was a huge proponent of paper plates, paper napkins, paper towels, and everything single use especially since we didn’t have a dishwasher. Fast forward a couple years, reusable napkins and tissues, Swedish dish cloths, always using real plates, and no more ziploc purchasing are all normal parts of our lives. Anymore we have one roll of paper towels mostly for oiling our cast irons or other sporadic needs. And we have replaced ziploc’s with Stasher(paid link) bags which are wonderful because you can cook in them as well as store food in them. I also kept all of our burp cloths and baby wash cloths and they are now “snot rags” and little rags for the kids to clean up messes with. I purchased reusable tissues a few years ago and haven’t bought a box since, they are softer on your face and I just throw them in with my twice weekly load of towels so it’s not a big hassle at all.
Giving products more life is something we try to do in every situation. We try to buy used ‘hard goods’ anytime we can, from Amazon used to OfferUp and everything in between. We reuse whenever possible, whether that’s glass jars from food, plain cardboard going into building a garden bed, “egg” carton style apple liners either in our compost bin or directly into my garden, and so much more. I also use our local Buy Nothing group on a weekly basis. Lots of things that either haven’t sold or we just don’t want anymore I list on Buy Nothing or Offer Up for free and I have only ever made one Goodwill trip because of this. Plus sharing with your direct neighbors is way better, in my opinion, than giving it to Goodwill (nothing against them when necessary-I definitely shop there).
Another switch I have made, that Corban was already so good at doing, is buying higher quality. He buys high quality clothes and gear from good brands and they last. I always wanted to find cheap clothes and the best deals but have moved onto simplifying my wardrobe and only having high quality and versatile pieces in it (more to come on that in a minimalism post). This is also true for things like appliances, doing your research so you buy the brand that will last a long time, and buying only when something is broken or you actually need and not just when it’s a want.
One highly underrated thing that is so earth friendly is borrowing. Before buying, ask friends or family or even neighbors if they have one that you could borrow. I have borrowed a dress for a wedding I attended, a post-hole digger, a leveling rake, baking pans, books, kids clothes/shoes, and all sorts of other items. Particularly with tools or appliances that you want to try out or use only once in a while, this helps save you money as well as helping you be more zero waste. And I have found most people are more than happy to lend you things, as long as you return them clean and promptly.
Other more shopping related ideas are using mesh bags for produce so you can forego the plastic bags (or just skip bags all together), buying coffee in bulk or finding a local company that can let you refill their bags (thankfully this is my father in law for me so it’s super easy), and using the library. We rarely buy books anymore, and if we do we buy them from Thriftbooks which is an amazing company that gives books a second life. I check out cookbooks from the library both in print and on kindle, and frequently listen to audio books and read kindle books that I borrow. Sometimes there are books, that you need a physical copy of and that’s when I try to buy books from Thriftbooks. Another instance we buy books is for our kids, library books are great but kids can be fought on books so we both buy and borrow for our kids.
Other easy switches that most people have done is switching to paperless billing, signing up for no-junk-mail lists, reusing ziplock bags or grocery bags for other uses or as in home trash bags, and not leaving water running while walking away from the sink or brushing your teeth. Another favorite is reusable, and dishwasher safe stainless steel straws with silicone tips. The kids love these(paid link) for their smoothies! Little changes like this truly do compound and you’ll start to notice other little changes that could easily be switched and the ball will keep rolling helping you to transition to a less-wast lifestyle.
I follow a lot of people on Instagram that have inspired me along this journey but a book called 101 Ways to go Zero Waste and Plastic-Free by Beth Terry were two books that really helped me along this path. My reusable cloth napkins and tissues are from MamaBear BabyWear and I get Swedish dish cloths through Grove Co.
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