Steps towards zero waste - 2019

miss_empty_piggy

I went a step closer to zero waste today. Went to my usual butchers and took 3 Tupperware boxes to put my 3 different types of meat. I think the lady thought I was a bit strange but I explained and she was very obliging and helpful.

then went to the usual green grocer and used the produce bags I got for xmas for all my fruit and veg. Then went to Mr T for the odd sundries - I bought cheese in plastic, however must check out the cheese counter to see if I can get it put into my own container in future Doh!!!

I can't get lactose-free or rice milk without plastic so at the minute that's the only real plastic issues I have. Not a huge step but one step closer.

I have got my dd2 cutting up cardboard into a big bag4life-type bag whilst watching Dynasty of all things! She's been there for hours and is loving it. She said she'd be super-bored otherwise and would go on her phone and play 1010 but she's enjoying doing something to 'help the cause' as it were.

I've ordered bread-making yeast online to reduce packaging - £8.99 on AZ but £5.85 (both free delivery) on the bay-of-E. AZ is my go-to for shopping but I think I need to start shopping around more, I do it in the physical world but really should consider this more when virtual shopping.

-taff

Cardboard is just as good as paper to start off a fire, just crumple or squish and lay the kindling on top...

dragonlily

Hi everybody, it has been lovely reading through what you have all been doing

My main area of progress this week is in learning to use my daughter's sewing machine. Originally, I was hoping to be able to help her, but now I am finding I am interested in learning too! I can now thread it properly, and yesterday I (rather badly) repaired an old fleece blanket, that I wanted to keep as I am fond of it. It isn't perfect but now at least is useable again. My daughter knows the basics of using it once set up so has had a great time with it this weekend. She also went for her sewing lesson yesterday, and they made clothes for the rag doll they each made last week.

Also, have managed to keep buying new things down this week, as think a good step to reducing waste is to only buy exactly what you need. The meal planning is helping, and food waste from us was really low last week, so that has made me happy. It is also saving money, which is a bonus!

We have seen a sewing project we want to do of a simple easter rabbit, in my daughter's sewing book. So I bought a couple of bits we needed to do that - toy stuffing, and tracing paper. I found we did have plastic pompom makers my daughter got for a present a couple of Christmas ago we had never used (the rabbits have pompom tails). I remember making pompoms with my nana when I was a child but with cardboard rings. A relative crochets so she offered yesterday to supply a little wool for making the pompom tails.

I'm not sure how you would replace toy stuffing, zero waste, what did people use to use before polyester filing?

Finally, bought fruit and veg at the market in town zero waste. I still haven't been as brave as some of you have been in going to the supermarket for meat and cheese with containers! I am building up to it!

x

atypicalblonde

I have been reading this thread with interest.

We have taken some steps this year to reduce our waste. These are:

We now have a milkman, so we get our milk and apple juice in glass bottles. He also delivers our eggs, so we return our egg boxes weekly to him. We get through 6 pints a week, and two pints of juice.

We bought a soda stream. We drink around 8 litres of fizzy water a week so this is a big reduction in plastic waste

I now buy our bread from the bakery, which comes in a paper bag

Replaced the empty hand soap in the bathroom with a bar. We still have a lot of shampoo and body wash to use up, but when this is gone it will be replaced by bars.

I'm not buying biscuits anymore, we bake them.

I buy a cardboard box of 24 cans of dog food, used to buy the multipack of tins that was shrink wrapped in plastic, no more.

Our recycling bin was only half full when it was emptied last week (fortnightly collection). Our waste bin is due to be emptied tomorrow and only has two (shop sized carriers) of waste in.

Not bad for a family of four plus a dog.

ETA I go to the market for F&V now, no packaging at all just weighed loose and straight into my rucksack

dollypeeps

-taff wrote: »

Cardboard is just as good as paper to start off a fire, just crumple or squish and lay the kindling on top...[/QUOTE

We use the inners from toilet rolls and kitchen rolls.

We twist paper and thread through to make 'fire lighter' and when we had a tumble dryer we would keep the sheets after they'd been used and use those in the rolls.....works beautifully....

Am thinking on how to wrap tortilla wraps for the lunches tomorrow. I think foil will be the way to go for the moment as I need them to be wrapped tightly and at least the foil can be recycled.

GreyQueen

Hi, dragonlily, you can stuff toys with any number of things. Sawdust was a traditional filler, but a bit messy. You could use any dried beans. Also, most women I know have a bag of holey tights lurking around the premises. OK, not organic or sustainable, but it is reusing something which already exists. Glad you're enjoying the sewing machine. I shall have mine out later today as I'm turning an old duvet cover into a curtain.



dollypeeps, would it be possible to wrap/ tie the things in a cloth napkin? Laying something in the middle of a largish napkin then typing opposite corners together (twice) makes a little pouch with a carry handle, or you could wrap them up tightly?


I'm childishly pleased because a friend has bought me a bamboo spork from a zero waste type of shop. I shall make it a little cloth pouch to keep it clean and it will live in my handbag for those random moments when you need what would otherwise be a disposable wooden or plastic eating utensil.


My 'rents get a ridiculous quantity of those charity donation bags, which they don't use as they prefer to take donations in person to the chazzer where they're gift-aid registered. They get turned inside out and used to line the tall pedal bin in the kitchen. A re-purposed piece of elasticated cord salvaged by me from an old bag is used to keep the bag around the top of the bin. Their household of 3 adults and once cat produces about one of these sackfuls of non-recyclables per fortnight.

Dark_Star

My stainless steel straws arrived from Am*zon (cheaper than fleabay). Complete with cleaning brushes but I stick them in the dishwasher. Mini Dark Star was quite impressed. I am more than impressed as they cannot be chewed to bits. Unlike every existing plastic straw that we've possessed so far... Only use them with beakers requiring a straw at home. Always take twisty screw top drinking bottles with us when out & about. Not paying for water! Especially now some places & train stations will do free refills of your own bottles.


https://refill.org.uk/

dollypeeps

Thank you GreyQueen....I do have napkins....well small tea towels.... Or some such...bought from Prim**k some time ago.....red and white check..very picnic worthy!!!! Not really sure what they are as they're a bit small for tea towels but larger than napkins so may fit the bill perfectly...plus they'll have a ready made tablecloth )))

Dark Star ..those straws sound quite marvellous ...think I'll have to have a look.....

RicardaRacoon

Evening everyone


I had a couple of oranges that I could not eat quick enough, so I turned them into juice. The peel went into the freezer and from there into the dishwasher. Just pop the peel of half an orange into the cutlery basket before starting the machine and it helps against bad odour.



ruxpin, I'd be really happy to get something in a repurposed box, but some people obviously aren't.... I recently ordered a gift for a friends little one from a relatively big toy company and it came in a repurposed box and the gaps were filled with brown paper instead of styrofoam or these plastic thingies with air in. I didn't expected that from them, from an etsy shop yes, but not from a big company.



Greyqueen, love the idea with the brollie fabric! I have managed to break a few with a really nice fabric over the years, so it is good to know that there is a way to give the fabric a new life.



dollypeeps, I think the easiest way to avoid cling film with left over is the simple plate-on-the-bowl thingie.



dragonlilly, I suppose you could fill toys with yarn ends, fiber, small pieces of a garnment that is beyond the point of recycling, even sawdust as Grey Queen has already mentioned. I have a donkey that is close to 90 years old, made from an old coat or probably fabric left over from sewing a coat. I once mended a hole on his belly and found that he was stuffed with some sort of white fiber, either wool or maybe cotton.



have a lovely Sunday everyone! I'll spend it on the couch with my book, a cuppa and a feline hot water bottle on my lap. One of my cats is in his cuddly mood at the moment.

Lifeisforliving19

Well I am experimenting with not buying kitchen rolls and using cloths. I think its going well so far, but not sure OH is too impressed. Think its that he can't get his head round where the cloths are, different types of cloth for different things, not using the same on for a different job if it might be dirty etc etc. Think I need to simplify things for him. :rotfl: He just likes tearing off some paper roll...job done and in the bin....oh no, I need to give him a lesson in what's what I think.
Sorted out some old tops at the weekend that are past the stage of going to charity, so will be getting the scissors out and making polishing cloths with them. Then I know I have some old towels I will cut up for kitchen cloths.


I think once you put your mind to this whole thing of less waste, it all starts to fall into place. I bought some peppermint tea bags that were not my normal brand and they are truly horrible. So had a think and realised that the lady who does my massages drinks peppermint tea, so going to offer them to her as in the past I would have just dumped them in the bin.