Unfortunately, recycling is not a solution to plastic pollution. Due to limitations in infrastructure, the majority of plastic waste is downcycled into cheap disposable goods, incinerated, or dumped into landfills, sometimes it is even dumped in landfills in developing countries. Recycling requires a lot of energy and is ultimately, unsustainable. While we are often quick to fall back on recycling as a measure to cope with the copious amounts of plastic that we humans are producing and throwing away, the reality is very different. I appreciate your care in diligently recycling your plastic waste. If you are curious, you can look into the princliples of the zerowaste movement, which actually does not rely on recycling as a solution to plastic pollution. Recycling, instead is seen as more of a last resort. Better to opt for glass, or paper, or to do your best to buy foods unpackaged, filling these into your own reusable containers whenever possible. Sorry for the delayed reply! Thanks for your comment! :)
Oh! Thank you for explaining this! Hmm. I'm curious how they would tackle this issue more sustainably. Recycled paper (if it's not already)? Or maybe scannable coded labels on each individual item so they don't need to be individually packaged at all? That way the company could transport all the individual items from different categories and warehouses to the final packing center where they are all packed together in a single (recycled) box and shipped out?
Yay! : ) How so? Because more people are using Amazon services more often? Or in terms with the packaging materials themselves? Thanks!
Grundy, you are probably ahead of the game! I think many people don't own re-useable mugs and if they do, they often forget to bring them with them! This kind of program would likely raise awareness and work well for people who automatically take a single-use cup without a second thought. This is quite a fresh concept for many people. Also, in Germany it is very typical to pay deposits on re-usable cups. For example, at the Christmas markets, your hot mulled wine is served in a ceramic mug that you pay a deposit on and return at the end of the night (or else you just bought a mug). Paying a deposit on a reuseable/returnable coffee cup is a logistical next step in Germany, in my opinion anyway. Thanks for your comment! : )
All good! Many thanks for looking into it! Cheers and all the best! :)
Awesome!! :-)
Cassolotl, it sounds like you are already doing a lot of good for the environment as it is! All the best to you and happy new year! Thanks for sharing your experience with us! :-)
Thanks for writing again. Sounds like you are already doing a lot! Shine your light and happy new year! All the best. :-)
Interesting points! I still don't consider laundering dishtowels in your terms, however. If you find laundry to be environmentally problematic, there is of course the possibility to use biodegradable soap nuts, or ecological laundry detergent bought in bulk and to use a cold cycle, or to handwash in grey water (as in water that has been used prior and saved from washing your ziplock bags, for example). You can also forgo the dryer by hang drying. Intelligent moderation, of course, sounds like an excellent place to start!
Hey, thanks! I had never heard of reuseable bamboo paper towels. Here is a link to the brand called Bambooee. http://www.bambooee.com/
Zero Waste reached 250 members and there was no post for this milestone. (It was not removed.)
Yes, avoiding food packaging is definitely the hardest part.
If you have access to a zero waste supermarket, of course, then life is easy breezy. If not, the best bet is to buy produce, cheese, eggs and bread from the farmers' market bringing your own bags, Tupperware, an old egg carton and a tea towel to wrap the bread. Then you buy dry beans, rice, oats, dry pasta, flour, salt and spices from the local bulk store using reusable jars, cotton bags or Tupperware. Buy milk, nut butters, yogurt, condiments and things like sauerkraut in glass jars and bottles.
The biggest challenges to avoid food packaging that I have experienced is when buying meat, fish and gluten-free products. We now can get meat put directly into our own Tupperware containers from the butcher at a local organic supermarket. We also asked the employee of the fish stand at the farmers market to place fish into our own Tupperware containers. They do it upon request! If you are buying gluten-free products, they are almost exclusively packaged in plastic to avoid cross contamination with wheat and gluten. Being gluten-free and zero waste is pretty tricky. Otherwise, it's quite possible, if not challenging! : D
As for personal care products, the first thing is to switch to unpackaged bar soaps- getting rid of liquid hand soap, body wash and trying unpackaged shampoo bars makes a big difference. Shampoo bars are great! (Zero waste conditioner is tricky/non-existent.) I recently started washing my hair with Rhassoul clay, which is a clay powder you mix into a paste with water and slather through your hair. I then rinse it with apple cider vinegar. Since I started, my bad hair days ended! It doesn't lather of course, yet manages to clean your hair without stripping the oils.
There are also possibilities to make your own toothpaste (super easy), deodorant (also easy) and facial cleanser: wipe off makeup with coconut oil and then wash face with honey and warm water. This feels effing amazing on the skin. Just make sure not to get the honey in your eyes because that effing stings!
I'm still not zero waste, but have drastically reduced my consumption of plastic. Gluten-free bread, crackers and pasta are the major offenders at the moment (packaged in plastic.) Looking to crack down on plastic by learning to make gluten free bread so I can make a batch every week and get off the packaged stuff! :)
Have you ever tried a French press? Super easy and it makes a delicious cup without the waste. I use the remaining coffee grinds to scrub my pots and pans. (I have a small container by my sink and a handful to the dish soap and get off all the crusty stuff.)
If you go do make the choice to use coffee pods, you have the possibility of finding a recycling center that will recycle them- if such a possibility exists in your community.
Happy Earth happy life.
Another question for those who are without a state organics collection program. Do you have access to a backyard space where you could put a compost bin, or the ability to put a free standing compost bin on a balcony?
This is a tricky one. If you live in an apartment building and/or share a space with roommates, you are seemingly limited in dealing with your waste.
When I lived in Toronto, apartment buildings offered recycling (paper/plastic/cans etc.) but no green bin. The infrastructure simply wasn't in place. Each floor had a space for recyclables and then a garbage shoot. You were basically forced to throw organic waste into the garbage.
In Berlin, however, the apartment building I lived in had access to a green bin for organic waste in the front yard. There was no garbage shoot. The garbage, recycling and the green bin for composting were all outside. Maybe this is more typical in Europe than in North America. I'm not sure.
For people in apartment buildings without access to a green bin, I have heard a few sort of renegade approaches to composting. Zero Kristine Ullaland (Her Ted Talk is posted in this community) put an indoor worm composter (vermicomposter) in her room without telling her roommates!! Another example: a friend of mine in Canada used to keep her organic waste and look for opportunities to put it in other people's green bins.
NYC resident & zero waster Lauren Singer of Trash is for Tossers keeps all her food scraps in her freezer and then brings them with her in a paper bag to the farmers' market and drops them off with farmers who compost them. I have been to plenty of farmers' markets in Canada and Germany and have never heard of that option before. Have any of you? Pretty cool, if that option is available to you. Definitely worth looking into!
For apartment dwellers without access to a backyard, or balcony for a compost bin, indoor vermicomposting is an option, however fringe it sounds. The worms require moderate temperatures so the compost cannot be kept outside, unless you live somewhere warm all year round.
My landlords would have soiled themselves if I had started indoor vermicomposting, so that is why we organized a free standing outdoor compost bin in the back yard. (Fortunately, I am able to use the building's back yard.) I have never vermicomposted myself. I know someone who does, who has had a positive experience and even repurposed a wooden box she already owned to house her new worm friends. It sounds pretty cool! Kristine Ullaland talks a bit about worm composting in the Ted Talk I mentioned that was posted not long ago. I will be sure to post info about worm composting if I come across some good articles.
Please, share your experiences, or thoughts!
Hope you all are well!
Oh! Thanks for explaining to logo! I didn't recognize the arrows as the outline of a coffee bean!
It says they are expanding internationally, so I hope that it will be an option for you in the future!
Thank you for your comment! It's wonderful that we can share this information and continue to pass it on in order to contribute to real change.
Yes!
This guy is awesome. Taking DIY to the next level!
Thank you! Great! : )
Thank you so much for your voice and support! : )
Yeah, me, too! I hope that this project is an example of more widespread sustainable actions on the part of big businesses to come!
Hi Arri, Yeah, me too. I want to do more research about this. In Europe, countries are using incineration instead of landfills and using the heat created from the incineration process to produce energy. Proponents of incineration are saying that the waste sorting process and filtration systems are so efficient that it is less toxic to incinerate waste than it is to let waste in landfills seep chemicals into the ground and to produce methane gas. I am of the mind that incineration and landfills alike pose obvious environmental problems. I hope to post more articles exploring this topic in the future. Likewise, if anyone has info about this, it would be great to learn about it. Thanks!
Yes, I hear that!
Great that your area offers the high-temp industrial composting as a waste management option! Yes, likely the wipes can be composted industrially. Great that you are taking the initiative to make a difference where you can! :)



Zero WasteUN Declares War on Ocean Plastic #UNEnvironmentMar 08 at 8:59 AM
