Empty Your Trash for Earth Month

It's time for an AUDIT!

OK, I know that word is scary during tax season, but it's also Earth Month. 

So this month, we're going to do a *trash* audit. 

Sometimes, you can make all these changes... reusable mug, reusable food storage, swapping dryer sheets for wool balls... and after all of that you don't know if you've made any impact. And if you're comparing yourself to the super zero-wasters whose trash fits in a single jar, you may start to get overwhelmed that it seems like an impossible task to reduce or eliminate your trash. Well, in order to know if you're making an impact, you need to know where you're starting from. 

A few years ago, I started collecting my recyclable plastics for an upcycling project. I assumed that the majority of my plastic waste was going to be the white plastic lids from Starbucks hot beverages, and after several months, I learned how wrong that was. Now, the first two types of plastic waste I made were indeed coffee-related :) but it was mostly my creamer bottles from home-prepared coffee. Point being, the areas of waste you think you have may not be the biggest opportunities in reality. 

First step: pick your full trash bin or recycle bin, and literally dump it out. You may want to prep first by bringing it outside and/or laying down a tarp! You may also want a pair of gloves. :) 

Next, start sorting the waste into categories. Is it leftover food, plastic, aluminum, vacuum lint, paper bills?

(photo from Brian Hoffman, Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Next, start dividing into subcategories. Is there a single source within a category? For example, my plastic waste was almost entirely creamer bottles, followed by dairy containers (ex. sour cream tubs). 

Identify your top 2-5 sources of waste.

Now what to do with this information? 

1) Stop worrying about everything not in those top 2-5 sources. Look at the pile outside those categories, is it less than 20% of your waste? You can make dozens of changes and not realize any major results if you focus on the the wrong ones. 

2) Make a plan for the top sources. I had you identify 2-5 for a couple reasons. Not only will these make up the majority of your trash can and be the most rewarding to resolve, but also, you can move on to the #2 or #3 item if the first one is hard for you to address. There may be items that you just need to cut yourself some slack on because you really love that thing or your life requires some convenience. 

To start making a plan, look to the R's, and in this order: 

• Refuse/Reduce: Can you live without the thing altogether? Is there an alternative that creates less waste or packaging? For example, if you have a lot of beverage cans in your trash, are you able to switch to a tank system like SodaStream? If it's paper bills, can you switch to e-billing? Can you unsubscribe from junk mail or catalogs?
  

• Repair: Is the item something that could be restored? If you are throwing away clothes or shoes, could they be fixed with some simple sewing or shoe polish? Or a visit to a tailor or cobbler? 
  

• Reuse/Gift: Are the items something that can be repurposed? For example, if you are throwing away containers from lunch meats or takeout, they are equivalent to Gladware or similar food storage. If you have acquired too many to reuse yourself, have you posted to gift to a neighbor?
  

• Rot: Synonymous with composting. Is the majority of your trash food scraps or leftovers? You don't have to have a home composting system for this, as some municipalities let you put your food scraps right in with your lawn and garden waste. If you are worried about smells or pests or leaky countertop bins, simply put your food scraps in a bag in the freezer. When the bag gets full, transfer it to your yard waste bin. The freezer will solidify any liquids and reduce the time it's in your bin. 
  

• Recycle: I'll include trash and donate in this category. These are your last resort. Unless you have a charity or organization calling for specific types of donations, your thrift store drop-off may very well end up ultimately in the trash. 

After you've identified your top categories, chosen from those the ones you're most able and willing to address, and reviewed the questions above, you should end up with something like: "Wow, food waste makes up 30% of my trash. I'm going to Reduce by sharing meals when eating out and making a planned grocery list for when eating at home. I'm going to Reuse by intentionally eating my leftovers and using up leftover ingredients in the same week. And I will Rot the rest." 

Now you can save mental effort by focusing on one or two changes and having confidence you've made a substantial impact!

Ways to Honor the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day #QuarantineStyle

It was the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day today. This year feels like a weird year to be celebrating anything. We can't go out for the usual tree plantings, litter cleanup events, or other group events. However, let's not let the unusual year prevent us from a moment of reflection.

With COVID-19, we are seeing some unplanned, positive side effects. With stay at home orders and business shutdowns, there are no more commuter cars on the road and reduced manufacturing. You can see dozens of before-and-after pictures like the following, from around the world (Asia, Italy, California), showing visible reduction in air pollution.

An atmospheric map of China:

And an on-the-earth view of India: 

While the shutdown efforts may feel extreme and won't be entirely replicable when things return to "normal", let's figure out what we can bring forward. And in the meantime, it seems harder to maintain some of our good habits: restaurant delivery/takeaway with disposables have replaced ceramics and cutlery, Starbucks started refusing reusable mugs even before stay-at-home orders, and online shopping replaces reusable shopping bags with shipping packaging. Let's figure out where we can contribute now.

Here are several ways to honor the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day.

What You Can Do Now: 

• Many of us have moved the majority of our shopping online. When shopping on Amazon, choose "Frustration-Free" packaging if possible. If it's an option, you should see it as a filter on the left-hand side, as you are refining your search. Or search for Frustration-Free up front. 

• If shopping on Amazon, message cs-reply@amazon.com to request minimal plastic packaging inside your orders. This will help those non-frustration-free orders to do things like replace the plastic air-filled pillows with crumpled paper. 

• Shop Amazon Smile (smile.amazon.com), now available on the mobile app too by navigating to Menu > Settings > Amazon Smile. This allows you to designate a charity of choice, and Amazon will make a small donation on eligible purchases. There are many available charities/non-profits, included many with a sustainability mission. 

• When online shopping, you can still do second-hand. Consider options like thredup.com, swap.com, or Poshmark.

• Reuse your disposables. Just because they are marketed as disposable doesn't mean you can only use them once. The plastic cutlery I've been receiving with my takeout has survived multiple rounds through the dishwasher. A single reuse of a disposable means you're reducing your waste by 50%. 

• Are you making fabric face masks to wear when grocery shopping? Make your masks out of worn textiles, for example, a retired bed sheet. 

(old sheet + seam ripper = fabric and elastic for masks)

• Plant a tree or get a houseplant. You can get plants at stores that are otherwise essential, for example grocery stores and hardware stores. Take advantage of spring and get some green in your home.

(new tree brings joy and breathes carbon dioxide)

• Start a food garden. Whether getting a starter from the garden section of a hardware store, or regrowing food from your produce scraps, growing food has the general benefits of growing plants, and also makes you more food self-sufficient.  

• Mend clothing. You may have some extra time at home now to catch up on that mending pile. And if you are a beginner, this is the perfect time to practice with worrying so much about the end result. 

• Gather donations. Just because you can't drop off your donations at a thrift store, doesn't mean you can't gather them in the meantime. For some items like clothing, online sales are a way to deal with donations if you want to move them before physical stores reopen. 

• Shop produce online. Subscription clubs like Imperfect Produce allow you to get fresh fruits and veggies while avoiding the store crowds. They will now even take back the box they deliver food in. 

• Switch to a bidet. No better time to consider alternatives than when there's a shortage of toilet paper!

• Use food scraps to get creative about cooking. Keep small amounts that don't seem like a small serving to combine into an interesting salad or buddha bowl at the end of the week. Keep the trimmings from your veggies to make homemade veggie broth. 

• Eat your leftovers! If you want to mix things up, just freeze those leftovers, and you'll soon have a stockpile. 

• Switch to reusable feminine products. With a shortage of those necessary products at stores, no time like now to invest in washable pads, period panties, or a menstrual cup. 

• Continue to use online marketplaces where safe and available. Some groups like Buy Nothing are reducing posting to essentials only. Find the groups that allow you to buy and sell, read their safety guidelines, and use "porch pick up" for free items.

• Save your delivery packaging for reuse. Larger boxes are great for moving or storage. Smaller boxes and envelopes for are good for shipping and by small businesses. I put out a weekly stash on the curb and have it claimed each week. 

(boxes with free sign on curb disappear within an hour)

• Repair something around your home. Now is a perfect time to learn a new skill and prevent the need to shop for new things.

• Once you've gathered your donations, choose a t-shirt that isn't ideal for donating, and turn it into face cloths/makeup wipes. Simply cut into squares, and you have the softest reusable tissue.

• Stream more, buy less. Replace impulse buying movies or magazine from the Target end-caps with some of the amazing free content that is being provided by cultural institutions. From museums to Nasa archives, to at-home musical concerts, there is tons of content to enjoy.

• Pick a favorite snack food and perfect an at home recipe. Love snack applesauce or granola?Identify containers to portion and replace single use snack packs. It will be easier to develop a new routine now than when you are in the hustle of your daily commute. 

• Use what you have for household essentials or in your pantry. Were you saving staples like condensed soups or cans of beans for a quick dinner? While they may have a long shelf life, it's amazing how often I come across the one that got lost in the back and expired 2 years ago. Rotate your essentials and use them up. 

• Use what you have for activities or gifts you have yet to get to. Receive a book for Christmas and have yet to crack it open? Get bath and body supplies for your birthday two years ago and haven't used them up yet? While you can't do certain activities that are closed, treat yourself to the things you can do and were planning to "get to someday". 

• Try a solid bar shampoo or conditioner. It's an ideal time to experiment with new products. Dry products avoid the plastic bottle packaging, and save shipping fuel by concentrating the size and weight of the product. 

What You Can Do When We Return to "Normal":

• Continue to work from home. Even 1 day per week is a 20% reduction in commuting.

• Switch to a rideshare or public transit for the days you go to the office. 

• Keep track of the changes above that were easy for you, and maintain them as we move forward. 

Cheers to you for whatever you're able to contribute amidst this crazy time, and Happy Earth Day. 

Mindful Mopping

I absolutely love the convenience of my Swiffer but don't love the single-use pads.

It was time to try a DIY replacement, but so often I haven't posted DIY cleaners because they are complicated or not super effective. Then I came across this recipe from Housewife How-To's, and it's just 5 ingredients that I already have at home: 2 cups water, 1/4 cup alcohol, 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/8 tsp dishsoap, and 5 drops essential oils (optional).

Katie of Housewife How-To's warns not to use dishsoap with lotion or castille soap, because it will alter the effectiveness and leave streaks. She also wrote this recipe for a mop or Swiffer Wet Jet, but I tried it with a regular Swiffer.

Important note: if you are a pet owner, do your research about what essential oils are safe around your pets. I'm reading too many stories about pets getting sick from just breathing around diffusers. I chose lavender for this batch.

Simply mix all ingredients (I used an old peanut butter jar, which I'll use to store the leftovers).

Then, I replace the Swiffer pad with an old towel or t-shirt. This one was almost the right size, so I didn't even alter it, but you cut cut your fabric to size and finish the edges if you prefer. Tuck the edges into the same holes you would the Swiffer pad, and you're ready to go!

Mop your floor and be prepared for *how effective* it is. (Gross!)

Once you're done, you can throw your mopping cloths in the regular wash.

This method is a winner for a few reasons:

• You get more use out of retired fabric.
• You don't use any more single use pads.
• The cleaner is very cost-effective, costing under $1 for 22 ounces of fluid. 

Don't Cry Over Spilled Eyeshadow

Have you ever dropped an eyeshadow, and picked it up, just to see it shattered and crumbly inside the lid? Or get almost down to the bottom of one and want to get the most of it?

It's easy to re-form powdery makeup! This will work for powder, blush, bronzer, etc. There are numerous tutorials online, ex:
If It Works for Lauren Conrad... 
Or If You Prefer A Video

and I decided to test it out for myself:

Here I have two eyeshadow palettes, where I'm down to the bottom on the lightest shade of each. It's definitely gonna be hard to get into the edges with those little applicators. The colors are both in the same family, so I think it might work to just mix them together.

If the whole pan isn't already crumbled, break up any solid pieces. Here I'm using a clean butter knife; toothpicks will also do a good job.

Next, I poured the makeup from both palettes into a small bowl for mixing. I added this step because I'm wanted to thoroughly mix the two colors, but if you're just repairing a single color, you can do it right in the pan. All you need to do here is add a few drops of rubbing alcohol. Use a small spray bottle or eyedropper to avoid pouring too much in.

Mix until smooth. It should be thick, at least toothpaste consistency. Then spread back into the pan.

Press down on the surface of makeup with a firm object for a couple seconds. For round containers, some tutorials recommend a coin; for this small square pan, I just wrapped my finger in a tissue. This will compress the powder back into a solid cake.

Allow to dry. Most tutorials are saying wait 24 hours. Mine dried within about 3 hours. What you're looking for is a nice powder finish like when the eyeshadow was new. Voila! Full pan of light shadow!

 

No more needing to throw away half your eyeshadow!

 

KonMari Krisis

We know that thrift stores are only able to sell about 25% of their donated goods at their regular retail stores. What about the other 75%? The leftovers are divided between:

• outlet stores to be sold at a deep discount,
• textile recycling (but this can be a challenge with blended fabrics), 
• being sold in bulk and moved on to developing countries, which can hurt their own textile industries and economies,
• ending up in the landfill anyway.

This all goes to say that donating isn't a perfect solution. New Years Resolutions to tidy your home only make it worse, and with this year's Marie Kondo Netflix special even more people are making serious resolutions to go minimal and get their house in order. What this means is thrift stores can't keep up, and leftovers end up in the trash anyway. In fact, Australian charities are paying $13 million a year to send unusable donations to landfill. 

How can you help?

If you are cleaning up:

• Upcycle, repurpose, or mend items - would you like that skirt better if it was shorter, or that bookshelf with a coat of paint?
• Directly give to friends or neighbors - your stuff may spark joy with a new owner!
• Directly give through neighborhood groups like Buy Nothing or Freecycle. Direct giving guarantees a new owner better than hoping it sells at the thrift store. 
• Clothing swaps - find joy in new-to-you items while finding a home for your old items. 
• Slowly downsize not by getting rid of large quantities at one time, but by simply not buying new things, then getting rid of items when they wear out

If you are looking for a deal:

• GET THRIFTING! Take this as a blanket license to go wild. Someone else's New Year's Resolution is your jackpot! Inventory is up on all categories of products: 
• Clothes
• Used books
• Housewares
• Crafting supplies/upcycle projects

Food for Thought

As the world population grows and with it, the waste reduction movement becomes more mainstream, we're starting to see TV programming join in. Here are a couple shows to check out to give you some great ideas about minimizing food waste:

1. Wasted! The Story of Food Waste (85 minutes documentary). This film was produced by Anthony Bourdain (RIP) and was organized around two simple ideas. First, there are billions of pounds of food wasted each year and there are billions of people that are food insecure. Seems like a 1:1 problem that we can solve. Second, the EPA has a pyramid for ways to utilize food. The film follows each step of the pyramid to look into areas where waste is created (from farms and fishing operations, to restaurants and grocery stores, to end consumers) and solutions for each (from big to small).

(source: www.epa.gov)

I haven't found Wasted! for free yet, but it is available for rental as low as $1.99 through Amazon Prime Video or a number of other apps referenced on their site. You can also request a community screening; I learned about this through a community screening at my work.

2) Scraps (series on A&E, now in season 2). Chef Joel Gamoran goes around the US making incredible meals out of parts of food that would otherwise be discarded. I learned about this show first through my mom (Thanks, Mom!) and then was lucky enough to have Joel be a guest speaker at work. He spoke about things that we often don't think to eat that make great dishes and often become mainstream (think: using carrot greens for pesto). You can take classes at a Sur La Table near you on the theme, for example, how to re-purpose Thanksgiving leftovers. He also has a cookbook, Cooking Scrappy, for more inspo.

Next steps:

• Check out these shows for inspo! (And let me know if you find others. :) )
• Think about how you can insert a step in your own life before compost or the trash. Can you you use the heels of your bread loaves to make homemade bread crumb? If you have a recipe that asks the the whites of green onions, can you meal plan to use the greens? 

Happy Scrapping!

Baby Steps at the Office

I'm pretty dang proud of my company's efforts. They are hosting a series of events over a couple weeks this month (one at each building) where employees can decorate a reuseable mug, and socialize the idea of not using the paper cups available in the kitchens. With over 40,000 employees at our downtown Seattle campus, these are the types of efforts that can really add up! 

Some of our satellite offices don't have disposable cups at all, and each employee must bring their own mug to the kitchen. I'm not sure how realistic that is at our HQ offices, because we have a large quantity of visitors, but this is a really good first step.

With Earth Day this month, is your office doing anything to encourage good employee habits?

My Mailbox is Full of... Just Advertising

This time of the year, my mailbox is extremely full. No, it's not Christmas cards quite yet. It's catalogs, and more catalogs, and some reminders to charitable organizations I've donated to in the past.

While I will likely be doing a bit of shopping and donating this holiday season, I don't need a full recycling box to remind me to do so. :)

To stop the madness, you can always call or email each company directly. However, this can take a lot of time to track down each company.

I'm loving a site called Catalog Choice to opt out of paper mailings. This is a free service. Per their FAQ, they have over 9000 companies listed. Most of them you can fill out a quick form on their own website to opt out. For some, they redirect you to the company's website to their own form or email address (they've already done the Google legwork for you!). All of your history is tracked in a personal dashboard for reference. Catalog Choice is non-profit reducing mail for environmental purposes, so they communicate their environmental wins. If this screenshot is too small for your device, a couple impressive numbers are 500K mature trees saved and 3.6B gallons of water saved.

 

Another service is DMA Choice. This service costs $2 for 10 years. DMA is the Data and Marketers Association and has about 3600 members that you can opt out of mailings from. In addition to catalogs, they also have magazine offers and other categories of mailings. A couple cool things: they allow you to opt out in bulk. If you are getting mailings from specific companies you've done business with previously, you still need to remove yourself from that business itself, but this removes you from mailing lists that these direct marketing companies purchase. Direct Choice also lets you register deceased relatives. While a bit morbid, it's nice to be able to stop receiving ironic insurance offers for someone who can no longer benefit.

If you're starting to think about New Year's resolutions and getting 2018 off to a good start, take a half hour and make junk mail a thing of the past! :)

Re-Use, Re-Cycle, Re-Creative?

We're all familiar with thrift stores, second-hand stores, and consignment shops offering a variety of goods from clothing to toys to furniture to small housewares. But have you heard of reuse shops that specialize in arts and crafts supplies? Let me introduce you to Seattle ReCreative, located in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle.

This store is roughly 1000 square feet of many types of creative supplies plus room for classes and workshops, kids parties, and community events. What is cool to see is the broad variety of supplies they carry. Some more traditional fine art supplies, to common paper and fabric crafts, to more obscure ideas like vinyl records (seriously look at Pinterest for all the amazing ideas to paint on, cut up, or melt records into new objects!) and empty plastic bottles (perhaps to mix paints or store beads in).

Here's a sampling of some of the great inventory today. A huge box of of rubber stamps:

Buttons - use them for their original purpose or to craft an adorable angel ornament:

Paints galore:

Scrapbooking or cardmaking paper. Full 12" sheets and smaller pieces:

Canvas stretcher bars for the serious painter:

A whole wall of yarn! Some partial balls, and some completely new skeins, along with knitting needles: 

And the reason for me going today. They carry a large selection of fabrics, and I scored about 14 yards of holiday fabric. Check out my next post for what I'm doing with it. ;)

Not shown here were stacks of postcards, greeting cards, National Geographic magazines, vintage photographs, tile, beads... great for collage, card-making, school projects, mosaics, jewelry-making. Today, I observed that most items were going for about 10-20% of what they would cost new/retail. For example, the fabric was just $2/yd, an incredible skein of fuzzy sparkly yarn was $2, and cards and postcards were just $0.10.

This store has so much potential for both shopping and donating. How many times have you tried a new craft and decided it wasn't for you? Donate the leftovers! How many times have you or your kid wanted to try a new craft but you're worried about the investment just to give it a try? Shop at a steep discount and see if you like it. Even better, you can just buy a few pieces of something without purchasing full sets. I think too about teachers who end up having limited budget for supplies or even spend some of their own money: think how far that same money would stretch here, for art supplies for their students or creative materials for bulletin boards.

Ultimately, this store allows for low-risk creative pursuits, while funding a community space and keeping many pounds of leftover arts supplies out of the landfill.

Made From Concentrate

We're not talking about orange juice - I prefer that fresh squeezed! Nope, we're talking about cleaners.

Selling dry powder, solid bar, or concentrated products is not a new concept, but let's make it a preferred one. There's bar soap vs body wash, powdered or concentrated laundry detergents, concentrated household cleaners, and those yard sprays that you attach to your hose for full yard coverage.

Why the shift? First, if you can remove water weight from your products, you are literally not paying to ship *water* from the manufacturer to the store or your doorstep. This also saves room and weight on the shipping truck, saving fuel. For concentrated liquids, you will reduce the size of packaging needed for the product, and for dry solids or powders, you may even be able to shift to non-plastic packaging.

So with all the reasons to buy minus the water and all the other products listed above that already have this model, why don't we see it more with beauty products? How many plastic bottles do we have in our bathrooms from shampoos to face wash?

Enter salonsolids. I stumbled across them after being disappointed that I can't seem to find bulk bath and body products in my area. salonsolids is an online store for hair products (shampoo, conditioner, and styler). They are sold as granules, and you simply add hot water to mix them to a "regular" consistency. They come in a variety of scents, naturally fragranced with essential oils like mint, lavender, and lemongrass.

Sarah was kind enough to send me a shampoo sample to try. The small envelope was enough to last 5 washes.Check out this simple paper envelope - no travel shampoo bottles here.

Simply mix in whatever hot-water-safe container you have handy. Hello, mason jar! Or perhaps I'll reuse one of my previous bathroom bottles, cuz I do love a pump or lid to squeeze through.

I was a little nervous because I have frizz-prone, dry hair, and while washing, it felt a little too "squeaky clean". However, when my hair dried, it felt glossy and soft. After 5 washes, I'm pretty confident this formula will work with most hair types despite not having multiple formulas for specific hair types.

The products come in paper tubes that are recyclable or compostable. If you want to take it totally zero waste and reap the rewards, you can send 11 tubes back to salonsolids, and they'll send you a 12th product free.

I'm glad to see there are becoming more options low-waste beauty products. Mail order solids may just be for you!

Skip the Travel Toiletries

I've previously written about hotel mini toiletries, and how some great hotels are participating in recycling of the minis. Recycling is an ok end solution for waste, but what if we take it a step back and don't create the waste in the first place?

On a business trip last week, I was excited to see the the hotel didn't have minis. Instead, they had refillable standard size bottles with pumps. No packaging waste, and no waste of half-used product.

Additionally, many hotels have signage similar to: "We're interested in saving water. If you are willing to reuse your towel, hang it up in a certain way." Have you found those to be effective? T and I will routinely hang our towels and find them replaced anyway.

This hotel took it a step further: if you refuse housekeeping for the night, they give you a $5.00 credit to use at the hotel. This housekeeping refusal saves the water and energy for the fresh linens, but I also like that the direction is clearer than "hanging your towel a certain way", and the small incentive to encourage guests to participate.

Kudos to Tempe Mission Palms hotel for exploring sustainable programs. What are some cool alternatives you've seen hotels offer?

Zero Waste on Etsy, Part 3: Produce Bags

One area that I always feel guilty about getting disposable bags is the produce aisle. At least with regular grocery bags with handles, I find a number of reuses for them, but the produce bags are just so flimsy. For a single fruit or vegetable, I've started just skipping the bags altogether, but when you have a handful of lemons or loose mushrooms, it's still nice to have a way to carry them.

The good news is tons of makers are creating reusable produce bags. Check out this awesome mesh drawstring bag:

The mesh is so light that you don't need to worry about adding extra weight to the scale, and you can still easily see the contents and the number on the sticker.

I got this one as a part of a set of 12 from Love For Earth on Etsy. At $23.75, they are just under $2 a piece. They come in their own bag, so you can easily just grab the whole bundle. I have this pouch sitting inside one of my regular reusable shopping bags for a quick grab-and-go.

With the different sizes and colors of drawstrings, you are sure to have a bag that works for everything and your own organizational system. 

While shopping on Love For Earth's page, I also learned about the tag "teamecoetsy" (Team Eco Etsy). Simply enter this tag in the search bar when shopping on Etsy for products and makers with the theme of reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Zero Waste on Etsy, Part II: Wool Dryer Balls

I did some more shopping with my Etsy gift card, this time purchasing wool dryer balls. The purpose of these balls is to replace your dryer sheets. The main reasons to consider a change from dryer sheets are they are made from polyester (see my earlier post about plastic microfibers in your laundry) and people with allergies or fragrance sensitivities wanting to move to more natural materials.

How they work: the wool causes friction when rubbing against your clothes, acting as a fabric softener and reducing static. An extra benefit is the wool soaks up some of the moisture, reducing dryer time.

(Image from FiberFeltnMore)

I got my 3 pack from seller FiberFeltnMore for just over $11 including shipping. They are simple felted wool, 3" diameter balls. I went for the plain offwhite - there are tons of designs out there.  Some makers even put cute little sheep faces on them!

T and I do about 3 loads of laundry each week, so I was able to do some tests. I put one ball in per load (though some people put in multiples). Sure enough, the clothes came out soft and wrinkle and static free. And, our regular dryer time is 56 minutes; with the balls it dropped by 7-10 minutes. Woot!

T's biggest complaint? He likes the fragrance from dryer sheets. He associates it with fresh and clean. You are supposed to be able to add a couple drops of your favorite essential oils to the balls for a bit of frangrance, so I'm going to play around with that.

Without doing the math for how much electricity my dryer uses, here's the overall weekly impact: 25 minutes of time and electricity and 3 sheets of single use disposable plastic. Win!

Zero-Waste on Etsy: Part I

I've been joining a lot of Zero Waste and Buy Nothing groups online to get more ideas on how I can save money and reduce my footprint. One of the biggest areas that I feel I can cut back is on single-use plastics.

Working in a city, downtown, it's too easy to get take-out for lunch, or even if I bring my lunch, silverware from the office kitchen. Having identified an area for improvement, I just need a non-disposable replacement.

I've also been lucky enough to get some Etsy gift cards recently! Thanks, Mom, Dad, and Aunt T. :)

Shopping on Etsy, there are quite a few artisans making bamboo cutlery sets. They vary in design and pieces included. I enjoyed this pear-print set from Bagitconscious for $17. Shop owner Lizzie also makes reusable sandwich bags and more. This set included the cute printed carrying case and bamboo fork, spoon, and knife. I added the reusable straw and straw cleaner brush.

The case rolls up and is closed with a contrast tie.

I enjoy that the bamboo cutlery is super lightweight, so it won't add to my already hefty purse, and I don't need to be weighed down by or worry about losing my "real" silverware from home.

I can also feel good shopping on Etsy, knowing that I'm supporting a small business. More to come in the next several days - I already have two more purchases on their way!

Visiting Costa Rica

Hi friends! I've been busy the last couple weeks preparing for and then visiting Costa Rica for a work trip. While I was down there, I noted a couple things.

Downtown San Jose has a fair amount of trash accumulation, like any city, but there are signs (sometimes literally!) that there are people trying to make a difference.

This stamp reads "A beach without victims begins with a city without trash."

Sadly/ironically, the storm drain right next to the stamp is filled with trash. Baby steps, I guess, just getting the message out there?

The other experience I had was in the break rooms at the office. I'm not sure if this was due to environmental awareness so much as frugality, but they don't even have paper coffee cups in the break area. Each employee has their reusable mug to refill. Not having the option to use a disposable cup is definitely a way to get you in the right habits!

I'm happy to be back home, and will get back into regular posts. :)

Happy Earth Day, everyone!

Me "Thinx" I Like It

Hi gents, this post is for the ladies. Feel free to stick around if you have a lady in your life who sends you to the store for monthly supplies. :)

Ladies (and men who love ladies), let's talk about the realities of how much waste is created by tampon applicators and disposable sanitary pads. It astronomical, when you consider the ~2 billion women on the planet of the right age range X multiple products per month. Outside of the applicators, the tampons themselves contain plastics, if you aren't purchasing organic cotton, and some users question the health effects of chemicals used to bleach them.

I'm in a few circles of women who are concerned about the environmental and health impacts of their monthly cycles, and swear by menstrual cups. It's definitely a matter of personal style, but I'm not quite ready to go there yet. So when I started seeing ads for Thinx underwear, I was intrigued. These are absorbent panties that are supposed to replace up to two tampons worth of flow. This is the same concept as a reusable pad built right into the underwear, or for you mamas out there, the choice between disposable or cloth diapers for your little ones.

I ordered a few pairs, tested them out, and am pretty stoked overall. They come in a variety of styles, so you can wear the cut that matches your regular style. Things to note: they are a little bit thicker than my regular underwear (more like wearing bikini bottoms) so I worry they would show under leggings or more fitted clothes; however, they were discreet under medium weight jeans. I was also interested to see that that nude colored Thinx were black on the inside - no signing up for stained underwear.

Thinx definitely delivered on their promise. They were effective, kept me feeling dry, and no leaks. Ultimately, this probably comes down to personal preference. Having been both a pad-user and tampon-user at different points in my life, pad-wearers will be getting an upgrade. These keep you dryer than with a pad, substantially less bulky, and you don't have to worry about overflow. For tampon-wearers, it may be a little bit of adjustment getting used to free-flow. These are a no-brainer for light days, and great for tampon backup on heavy days. For super-heavy days, a you'll probably need to switch to a new pair at night.

Now, these panties come at a premium price, averaging about $34 a pair. I'm definitely not used to spending that, so I did a quick breakdown of when I'd break even. The answer? If I ditch tampons for a year, I break even at 3.5 pairs. This may or may not make sense based on your laundry cycle, but the good news is you won't be spending extra money for the greener option.

$10 x 3 pairs regular panties
$7 (1 box of tampons) X 12 months
=$114

$34 x 3 pairs of Thinx
=$96

Not entirely ready to make the leap? Thinx has a happiness guarantee, and offer discounts when you purchase multiple pairs. Next best thing: opt for organic cotton and applicator-free disposables.

Buying in Bulk/Refills

I'd been toying with this idea for a while, when a comment on a post about reducing consumption on The Story of Stuff convinced me to do some more research. (Haven't heard of The Story of Stuff yet? Check them out - they are a short film, blog, resources, and more targeted at reducing consumption and waste.)

So, back to the idea: At grocery stores, there are the bulk bins for nuts and grains. Use a lightweight plastic bag from the store, or better yet, bring your own bag. Packaging is significantly reduced, or even eliminated, when you buy in bulk like this. Often, you'll even save money, because you're not paying for the packaging. And, you reduce product waste by buying the amount you want.

What if we could buy anything in bulk in our own containers? Specifically, I've been thinking about the major source of plastic trash in my home: toiletry bottles. What if I could bring my Dove body wash bottle back to Target and just fill it back up? Or my shampoo and conditioner?
 

It turns out, like most ideas, someone has already thought of it. Or, in this case, many someones. :) While not available for every brand or common in most big box stores, here are a few of the stores that do refills for bath and body products, household cleaners, and laundry detergent:

Green11
Brands/Partners: Copper Moon Apothecary, Alaffia, Alba Botanica, Earth Science, Earthbath, Eco Bella, EO, Everyday Shea, Giovanni, Green11, Griffin Remedy, Nature's Gate, Shikai, Uncle Harry's, ZUM
Locations: San Francisco and San Mateo, CA

Common Good
Brands/Partners: Common Good
Locations: New York based, but many (use their website's store locator). For my followers in the Northwest, there is one in Tacoma, WA

PCC Natural Markets
Brands/Partners: Alaffia, Everyday Shea, Hugo, Oregon Soap Co, Dr. Bronners
Locations: several in King County, WA

The Soap Dispensary

Brands/Partners: Live for Tomorrow, Sapadilla, The Soap Exchange, Nature Clean, BioKleen, Dr. Bronner's, Carina Organics, Foster Naturals, The Soap Dispensary Brand, Eaternal Soap Nuts, Uncle Harry's, Savon De Marseille, Lunapads, Divacup, Yosh Konjac, Kishu Binchotan, Ancient Minerals Ever Bamboo, Environmental Toothbrush, The Copper Hat, Mokulock, Natursutten, Ball Jars, Abeego, gogoBags, Ecojarz, Lunchbots, Ecobags, Ulat Dryer Balls

Locations: Vancouver, BC

Attached to your current brands that aren't listed above? Buy the largest bottle you can find, and refill smaller containers for around your house or in your travel bag - you'll end up saving a large percentage of the plastic packaging, get a better cost per ounce, and save gas and time with less trips to the store. 

Example savings using current pricing at Target for Pantene shampoo:
12 oz bottle: $0.32/oz
28 oz bottle: $0.25/oz
22% savings per ounce

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

Product: Peak Fresh Produce Bags

(Image credit Ben Seese, Creative Commons on Flickr)

I struggle with buying the right amount of produce. I’m only cooking for T and me, and I want a lot of variety of flavors. Or I’ll buy limes just for the zest (cilantro lime rice – yum!), and want to get to the fruit later (hello, Moscow Mule). If I buy even a few different vegetables, half of them are spoiling by the end of the week.

Enter our hero, my mom, who introduced me to these miracle bags! I’ve been using them for a few months now, and they really do extend the life of my produce by 2-3x.

Cost: Under $1 a bag.

Savings: For me, about $10/week.

How they work: Peak Fresh is a “Modified Atmosphere Packaging”. Essentially, it removes ethylene and excess humidity from around the fruit and vegetables that cause them to age.

The best news? These bags are reusable. Simply wash them out and store the next lemon, pepper, or tomato in them. Therefore, this 10/pack of bags will last me the better part of a year.

Buy directly from them. Or, I’ve also seen them available through sites like Amazon.