Shhh... Victoria's Secret is out

I stopped into Vickie's this weekend (bras are one item I won't be thrifting), and was pleasantly surprised to see this sign. You bring in old bras to recycle and get a $10 credit towards a new bra. With the cost of VS bras, this is a decent discount of 15-20%.

VS isn't the only mainstream store trying to reduce the impact of your new purchases. Just a couple other examples:

• H&M will give you a discount voucher for recycling textiles of any brand.
• Madewell will give you $20 off jeans when you bring back old jeans, which they then recycle into housing insulation. 
• The North Face will give you $10 when you donate clothes or shoes of any brand, which the then use for disaster relief or micro-businesses. 

There are more and more programs like this popping up. While we still have too many new clothes and fast fashion items entering the system, this is a great way to participate in recycling, especially for those items that you want to purchase new.

Ham, and Brussel Sprouts, and Butterball, and Limes!

What do these things all have in common? They've all entered my home in nylon mesh bags.

These are not recyclable in some municipalities, but there are many ideas online for how to reuse these. The most direct reuse with no crafting skills needed at all is: Bring them back to the store and use them again as bags for your loose produce! 

But, if you want to get into crafting or upcycling, the most common idea I've seen is to form them into kitchen scrubbies. The patterns go from extremely easy to advanced: some are no-sew, some involve sewing, some involve crocheting. Depending on your skill and desire for pretty kitchen accessories will help you choose your method. My priority was EASY. :) 

I worked off of this tutorial. Laurie's scrubbie came out a bit more attractive than mine due to having bags of the same size and color.

First step: prep your bags by trimming off any tags and hardware.

Next, tie one end shut, and then flip the bag inside out so the knot is on the inside. 

Roll up and stuff a few other bags inside the first one. Once you have the desired size, tie a knot at the top of your first bag. Laurie left her top knot visible - I finished mine by sewing the "tail" flat, leaving me with just a ball. I also switched mid project from purple, to green and yellow, just because I didn't have enough purple and green yellow was the most attractive color combo I had available. Totally your choice if you are thinking of aesthetics, or pure functionality!

Last step: test out your new scrubbie at your next meal!

Postponed: 4 nylon bags into the landfill.
Saved: about $1

Every Last Scrap

I showed up at work this morning to find this empty box at my desk. My co-worker, who is an avid tea drinker and regularly has it shipped to her, had left it for me to see because of the awesome packaging!

 

What is all this "paper" shred? Biodegradable, renewal, corn mesh. :)

 

It turns out this is the scraps from when they make the tea bags! Not only do they use up all their production scraps, but they also don't have to use extra materials like bubble wrap or peanuts to pad their shipments. 

I don't drink a lot of tea, so I needed to read up a bit on The Republic of Tea to learn about their company. Besides having cool packaging, they also do a bunch of other great social good, such as donating proceeds to non-profits, and being a member of Ethical Tea Partnership, for environmentally and socially responsible tea production.

What can you do?

• Beginner: support companies like this that make the most of their production waste and shipping supplies
• Advanced: contact companies of products you love, who could improve on their packaging, to recommend changes