Spotlight: TerraCycle

So we all know how to recycle soda cans and junk mail. But what about that odd trash? Like the wrapper from your protein bar, or the empty glass container from your holiday candle? I wouldn't even think twice about throwing these away. 

Well, there's a company that's here to change all that: Introducing TerraCycle. Started by a then college-student in 2001, Tom Szaky, TerraCycle is now an award-winning company doing business in 20+ countries. The goal is eliminate hard-to-recycle waste through recycling, upcycling, etc. 

They have a few different models of doing business, from partnering with municipalities, to installing recycling boxes in businesses, to providing outlets for individual participation. 

For individuals, you want to look at their "brigades". These are partnerships with specific brands to get their waste returned to them. From your perspective, you can either drop if off at the store when you buy more or print a free shipping label to ship it to the manufacture.

Here are just a few examples of the current Brigades:

• Bausch + Lomb contacts - send in your used contacts and the plastic packaging. Especially big if you use daily disposables!
• Yankee Candle - bring in 5 empties to the store, and get $5 off your next candle. 
• GoGo Squeez - send in your pouches and caps, and you also accumulate points to donate to a favorite non-profit or school.
• Nespresso pods - bring your empties to a Sur la Table store and they promise to make you a coffee drink as a thank you!

And here are just a few examples of the impact they are making (in # of units recycled): 

• Larabar wrappers: 7,507,287
• Brita filters: 33,159
• Capri Sun pouches: 216,792,671
• Writing instruments: 2,882,877

What an awesome amount of waste diverted from the landfill! TerraCycle is regularly adding more partnerships, so sign up for any products you regularly use, and check back periodically for more brigades. 

Reuse: Ipsy Packaging

I LOVE my subscription clubs. I've finally cut back so I'm just getting beauty products (Ipsy) once a month and clothing (StitchFix) every two months. But I've also enjoyed snacks (Love With Food), and dog toys and treats (Bark Box), and T has enjoyed monthly bacon (Bacon Freak). It seems you can get almost anything by subscription, and it's so fun to get a surprise in the mail.

What I don't love is tons of packaging. So let's talk Ipsy: Ipsy comes with 3 layers of packaging. There's the outer bubble mailer. Then each month comes with a little makeup bag. And then all the products are travel size, meaning lots of plastic to product ratio.

The product packaging itself, I've gotten over. This is a great way to try new products without risking hating and wasting an entire full size bottle. And frequently, I use these for weekends away, so I'm not buying travel sizes.

On to the bubble mailers: These are always festive fuschia. :) You can, of course, slap a new label and row of tape on them, and use them for mailing a package. I'm liking them for storing fragile items around the house, like glass Christmas ornaments.

 

Simply pack one or two ornaments per envelope, and stack them in a tote or box. Voila! Tons of padding protecting those easy-to-break keepsakes.

  

Now, for the makeup bags. I don't know about you, but I don't need a new makeup bag each month. I keep a few up my favorites for makeup for my purse or travel toiletries, and then the rest get re-purposed. A few ideas: 

An activity kit for your kids. These are perfect size for some art supplies or a few toy trucks.

An organizer for your chargers. Keep those electronic accessories in one place and tangle-free. 

A discreet case for monthly supplies. At the end of the year, I take the bags I won't use, fill them with hygiene products and bring them to the local Tent City.

A place to stash all your coupons and gift cards. 

Or, use them as cute packaging for gift cards or small gifts this holiday season!

Upcycle: DIY Corks

Have you been collecting your corks like I have, in the hopes of one day doing a Pinterest project with them? Crack out those glue guns! I finally got around to making some trivets, and they are going to make my holiday table much more festive.

All you need is: 

• a few dozen corks, wine or sparkling wine types both work. 
• saw (optional)
• a hot glue gun
• decorative ribbon in your favorite colors

For my trivets, I cut the regular wine corks down, so I could have a few different trivets of varying heights. This also helped with evening out the heights of the corks, since not all corks are the same size. 

Once you have enough corks of similar size gathered, simply glue them together. (The champagne corks are a little less stable, since they have a curvy edge, so I'm gluing a felt base on for added strength.) Then glue a band of ribbon around the trivet as a finishing touch. Viola - they are now ready to rest your pots and pans on!

Not finding a project you want to do, or just not feeling crafty? Both synthetic and natural corks are recyclable. When you go to buy your next bottle of wine, your liquor store or wine shop of choice may have a collection bin. Total Wine's look like this, located right at the store entrance.

What's wrong with this spoon?

If your office is of any decent size, they have likely made the switch to compostable disposable utensils. How can you tell? Well, besides the color being beige or brown instead of black or white, really how we all know is when your "plastic" spoon looks like the clocks in a Salvador Dali painting after you stir your soup.

Now that we've identified we have compostable flatware, we need to make the fragility worth it. Most compostable kitchen products need to go through a commercial composting process. If they're thrown in the regular trash, you may as well have used a regular plastic spoon, as they won't break down much quicker than plastic in the landfill.

So, here comes my lazy girl problem: I'm not going to walk to the kitchen to grab a utensil, bring it back to my desk to eat, then walk back to the kitchen to sort my trash. Not when there's a garbage can right under my desk.

Enter: any paper shopping bag. I simply dump my forks and spoons in there after lunch. Then periodically, I can bring it with me to the kitchen and empty it. If the bag gets soiled, or I'm not heading back to my desk, it can get composted too. 

Effort level? Minimal. 

Reuse: Vintage Pearls

We all know I have an interest obsession with thrift stores, but we haven't yet talked about vintage or antique stores. What's awesome about these stores is, not only are you reusing items and getting a discount, but each of these has a potential amazing history.

If you're lucky, you'll find a store where the proprietors know the story of the items. If not, you can imagine for yourself: did this watch get passed down from fathers to sons over generations? Was this dish used by a grandmother for years for holiday dinners? Is this pop culture memorabilia that had cultural significance in the 1950s?

All re-use shopping is a little bit like looking for a diamond in a hay stack, looking for that great treasure. Don't shy away from hole-in-the wall shops.

I found these lovely peach and dusty purple cascading pearl earrings at a small house converted into a store on Vashon. If you haven't visited Vashon before, it's a cute little island just a 15-minute ferry ride west of Seattle.

These were a steal at $10. Having found comparable earrings on Etsy anywhere from $20 to significantly upward of that, I enjoyed some savings as well as imagining who may have loved these before me.

Earrings: $10
Comparable product: $20+
Savings: $50%+

Holiday Gift Guide

The Holidays are coming! Are you both partially annoyed because Christmas decorations have been out since Back-to-School but also partially really excited? I’m equal parts elf and Grinch, loving the shopping and gift-giving and music and dreading the pushy crowds.

Here are some of my plans for online shopping (to stay sane!), and be a Thoughtful Consumer this holiday season:

1. Shop through smile.amazon.com. Simply by shopping at smile. instead of www. a small portion of your purchase is donated to your non-profit of choice. #choiceofcharity

2. Posh to Meet You bundle: $20 gets you 3 bath and body products where you can mix and match the flavors or scents to customize it for your giftee. I've previously written about how cool this brand is for being natural, cruelty free, and made in the USA! #madeintheusa #naturalingredients

3. Feeling Balanced is a Gift aromatherapy set from Aveda. Aveda is an amazing company, from supporting clean water causes to using responsible packaging to wrapping their gift products in hand-crafted paper from Nepal. #handmade #naturalingredients
 
4. The Artisan Box - shop for individual gifts or give an artisan box subscription. #fairtrade #artisanmade


5. These sweet bracelets from Divinity LA. Each donates to one of various non-profits, so pick your favorite color, or your favorite cause. This one goes towards the planting of a tree. #choiceofcharity







6. For your animal lovers, "Shop" at the World Wildlife Fund. WWF turns around the concept of a part of your purchase being a donation. Rather, you are making a donation and the item you receive is a Thank You gift. They have everything from Virtual animal adoption where you receive a plush toy and an adoption certificate, to animal print tees and tote bags, to beautiful framed art. #animalwelfare

7. This cute tee from iheartsdogs.com. Each sale provides meals for shelter dogs, with this shirt giving 7 meals. #animalwelfare









8. This tee to show your dog he's loved! Hendrick & Co donates to over 600 animal charities. A purchase of this tee contributes $5.  #animalwelfare

9. Comfy enough for day, and sexy enough for date night, this soft lingerie from Brook There. #organiccotton #madeintheusa #vegan


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. The super soft organic cotton sweatpants for him from Wear PACT. (6 pack not included!) #organiccotton

11. This cross-body bag from Fritz & Fraulein. All of Stacey's products are upcycled from vintage materials. #artisanmade #upcycled







Happy shopping, folks! May your holidays be merry, bright, and filled with Thoughtful gifts. 

Stanky Straws

I'm trying to get better about using my own cups, mugs, and tumblers for coffee and water. I'm still not at 100%, but at least my first coffee of the day is brought from home.

We brew a pot of coffee each day at home, and the leftovers go into the fridge so I can have iced coffee. I know, I'm one of those crazy people who drinks iced year round. :)

Well, here's a new dilemma. The tumblers are easily cleaned, some can even go into the dishwasher, but the straws never get clean, whether in the dishwasher or by soaking.

I noticed my iced coffee was starting to get an off taste and was wondering how many colonies of yuck were growing inside. Amazon, here we come! I found this Drinking Straw Brush Set from Amazon, although I'm sure you can find similar products many places.

This set comes with two different sizes: the thinner are ideal for coffee straws, and the thicker are designed for the heavier smoothie straws. I just brought my set home tonight, cleaned my entire collection of straws, and was impressed at how effective they were.

Cost: $4.99 / set of 8
No more stanky straw? Priceless

Making Her-story (Outfit #5)

Women gained the right to vote in the US just 96 years ago. As a symbol of their movement, the suffragettes regularly wore white.

And, now in this historic election year, women are gathering together on election day to wear white. In honor of our ancestors who fought for our rights, and in honor of the first woman being nominated by a major political party. In honor of the women who are still here, who have witnessed both of these historic moments. There is even a trending:

#wearwhitetovote 

With this, the ladies in my office decided to wear white tomorrow to celebrate Election Day. Well, what self-respecting spaghetti-eating, red-wine-drinking woman owns anything white? Not this klutzy lady!

Off to Goodwill we go.

I scored some pretty amazing bootcut Banana Republic slacks for just $20. (At that price, I'll definitely be less upset when I spill coffee on them!) I already owned the fabulous sparkly flats. :)

BR slacks retail: $100

BR slacks at Goodwill: $20

Savings: $80

Celebrating history: Priceless

Regrow: Onions and Garlic and Scallions, Oh My!

Did you know: it's super easy to regrow a lot of vegetables and herbs from your scraps?

For years, I would buy green onions as garnish for tacos or nachos, use about 1/2 of one green onion, and then forget about them in the produce drawer until they were a rotten mess. I started reading about how you can regrow the allium (onion) family pretty easily, as long as you have the base or roots left.

What you need:

• some partially used onions
• a glass
• 1/4 cup of water

Yep, that's it. Set the green onions upright in the glass and add enough water to cover the roots. Add water every few days as the level goes down. The onions will last a few weeks with no additional care.

In fact, they just keep growing! You'll get several inches of growth. Just snip off what you want to use when you're ready for it, and it will just keep growing. 

I found that with just water, the onion does start to wither after a few weeks; however, you can also choose to plant the onions in soil for a longer growth cycle.

This technique of simply setting the roots in water should work for the entire onion family. Give it a try with yellow onions, garlic, and shallots too.

Now you'll always have onions available for some extra flavor. T likes to tease me when I snip some off into our scrambled eggs: "Gee, I wish we had some fresher onions!"

Savings: About $10/year