Reducing household waste - especially plastic

[lauraw4321]

Inspired by several posters on this board, I've been trying to reduce our household waste.  I've gotten a lot of low-lying fruit, but I know there's a long way to go.

 

So far I've started composting.  I have switched to reusable bags for groceries, etc.  I buy as many groceries in glass as possible (milk, sauces, etc.) which I can recycle or reuse.  I burn cardboard and dryer lint.  I try to buy meat wrapped in butcher paper.  We've switched to bar soap for soap.  My husband and I share a safety razor for shaving.

 

But there's a lot of stuff I'm struggling with.  A lot of groceries that I buy (like baby carrots, refrigerated pasta, some meats) are wrapped in plastic, which is often not recyclable.  A lot of make up I use is comes in plastic (eye shadow, mascara, lipstick).  I don't know what to do about shampoo, conditioner and lotion.  

 

I'd appreciate any suggestions!

[Guest]

First - I feel your pain. It is a very difficult problem to tackle in the so-called civilized world. Here are a couple of things that might be possible for you.

 

There is a co-op grocery I go to about once a month that has a LOT of bulk food and goods. They actually do have shampoo, conditioner and a couple other liquids you can buy this way. If you bring in your own container, you take your container to the help counter and get the "tare weight." This is the weight of your container so you are only paying for the contents. Fortunately, the staff there are so used to people being unusual, they never bat an eye when I ask for such things. ;)

 

There is also the possibility of going to a shampoo bar, though I have not done this and have no idea; it may not work on my long and thick hair. There is also various "no 'poo" methods, but I have not been satisifed with any of them.

 

You may be able to use jojoba oil or coconut oil as a lotion. YMMV. I love jojoba as a hair oil. Much cheaper than expensive hair oils and works just great (for my hair texture, which is coarse and tends to dry).

 

I do have cotton produce bags which I use, but TBH, I usually only use them at the food co-op. Regular grocery stores don't see a lot of weird zero-wasters and I get tired of explaining myself.

 

I subscribe to a website that is anti-plastic (although oddly I can't think of the name ATM) it's a weird name. Anyway, there are a lot of good ideas there and they sell products that help, like lunch containers and such. There was a reminder on there recently that said something like, "remember not to let the plastic problem overwhelm you. It is impossible to live normally and avoid all plastics, but every person doing his own part helps." It was a good sentiment.

 

ETA: the blog is "Plastic Manners." I just think that is an odd name! Why manners? I just don't know. ;)

Edited January 26, 2016 by Quill

[kubiac]

Have you read Bea Johnson's Zero Waste Home? She has recommendations for alternatives for many many things. I re-read it every six months and always find a new observation or idea that I didn't find before. Her YouTube channel is a great place to start:

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/ZeroWasteHome

<< my favorite segment on the channel

 

Love this Zero Waste Quick Start Guide:

http://www.paris-to-go.com/2014/11/10-easy-time-saving-steps-to-zero-waste.html

 

Lots of support here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/journeytozerowaste/

 

Zero waste alternatives for the things you mentioned are below.  (These answers may not be the ones you want to hear, but consider them something to consider.)

 

Baby carrots: Buy whole bulk carrots and cut down yourself.

 

Refrigerated pasta: Learn to make fresh pasta at home. It's surprisingly easy, I swear.

 

Meat: Purchase and eat less meat, or ask the butcher to put the meat in a container you provide.

 

Makeup: Make your own from bulk ingredients. Bea has many recipes in her book. I know she uses bulk cocoa powder for a bronzer. :)

 

Shampoo, conditioner, lotion: Very difficult until bulk liquids become more common in America. There are a handful stores scattered around the country where you can take your own containers and refill shampoo, conditioner, lotion. I know San Francisco has one. Try checking Bea's app called Bulk via the Apple app store. I keep reusable glass bottles in the shower with reused pumps in them. I refill the bottles from the biggest plastic bottle version I can find. I'm going to make a trek to a salon supply store in the near future to see if I can find gallon sizes. A lot of zero-wasters use shampoo bars or Marseille de Savon instead of liquid.

Edited January 26, 2016 by kubiac

[Guest]

Oh, also, I just remembered this, but the blogger at Trash is For Tossers has a recipe for making a lotion. I have never made it, but there you go. This is another good blog. She is very entertaining.

[Stacia]

I was going to recommend Zero Waste Home/Bea Johnson too!

[Liz CA]

1. Mighty Nest has wraps that are made out of beeswax and can be reused.
2. Glass bottles that can be refilled at a co-op for honey, shampoo, soap, conditioner, etc., if you have one nearby.
3. Consider CSA membership and get a basket weekly or bimonthly of produce / eggs. You take the basket back when you return. Nothing gets tossed out.
4. Store a lot of things from liquids to solid stuff in mason jars. You can get other caps if the metal rings are interacting with acidic food or dairy.
5. Cook as much from scratch as possible. There are reusable cloth bags if you don't want to use the typical plastic bags for produce. Like these:

https://jet.com/product/detail/60770c4f1bc14af38e7b08c3aad213eb?jcmp=pla:ggl:home_garden_a3:kitchen_dining_food_storage_a3_other:na:na:na:na:na:2&code=PLA15&k_clickid=30fa77bf-f0a6-49eb-bdc3-ee3b8f03cdf3&abkId=403-58462&gclid=COzP8422xsoCFQqPfgodvXkHww

 

 

 

Edited January 26, 2016 by Liz CA

[Carol in Cal.]

Buy giant economy sizes of things that come in plastic.  That way the ratio of plastic to product is more favorable.

It's a step in the right direction.

[lauraw4321]

I appreciate all of the links and ideas. I'm going to look into a CSA. I don't currently have the time or energy to to make my own make up or lotion or pasta, but maybe someday. We do have good farmers markets in the summer - winter is harder. Thank you all!

[UmMusa]

Great ideas.

[Carol in Cal.]

A few of the CSAs here have winter veggie shares available.  Usually they take off the holiday period (which is a bummer, since that's when I need more food) and a month in the early spring.  But I know we are lucky to have such a long season here.

[redsquirrel]

Do you have a halfway decent co-op nearby?  I can buy bulk shampoo, conditioner and lotion, laundry detergent, dishwasher soap, dish soap, etc etc.  It isn't uncommon. I've never seen a co-op that didn't have those items in bulk. What you don't have is a lot of choice in what kind it is.  The soap will almost always be Dr Bonners, for example. And please, don't use glass containers in the shower. If it slips and breaks it could be a disaster.  Save your plastic containers and reuse those. Or, look for metal containers. There is a resurgence in stainless steel for such things. It is much better than using glass in a wet environment.

 

Fresh pasta might be a challenge, but I can buy dry pasta in bulk.  If you want fresh pasta you can always make it yourself. It's actually not that difficult if you have a food processor. Ive made it without a processor and it's still pretty easy. It's a good skill to know because there have been times I was too broke to spend the $ on a box of pasta but I had ingredients to make my own. I do own a pasta roller/cutter (great thing to have, btw) but I have made it without. The thing is, if you make pasta, it isn't something that takes a lot of time.  Is it as fast as opening a package? No, of course not. But it is something you can pull off quickly.

 

for makeup, you are going to have to do some digging around online. I've never known people who are hardcore sustainable living types to wear makeup..parabens and other harmful chemicals etc...so it might not be much of a priority. We have a whole "intentional community" established here that is dedicated to sustainable living and prob the most cosmetic I have seen is homemade lip balm, made from beeswax, lol. And they are raising their own bees, because of course they do. 

 

 

Your county co-operative extension should have info on local CSAs, as might your co-op.  They are a fantastic way to really eat local and cut down on waste.  For example, I belong to a cow share program. I get milk direct from an organic dairy farmer. It comes in glass bottles. But locally we have meat co-ops, obviously veggie co-ops, fruit co-ops, even bread coops with locally grown and produced flour. It might take some driving and asking around, but you might be surprised at what is around you. 

 

If you don't have a co-op keep asking around because there might be something called a 'buying club' which means you form your own co-op.  Several of the suppliers/shippers to co-ops will make deliveries to houses if the order is big enough. My friend started one.  Everyone puts in their order monthly and pays up front and the truck shows up on a particular day. Everyone unloads the truck and divides up the stuff.  It takes work, but it is a great way to build community and support sustainability.

[Carol in Cal.]

Use big canning jars for bulk storage.  I use half gallon ones for dry pasta, for instance.  They are great for beans also, as well as flour, sugars, and salt.

[lauraw4321]

I don't think we have a buyer's co-op.  I keep googling and coming up empty.  The only thing I can find are CSAs, which don't really have produce in the winter.  Suggestions on alternative search terms?

[redsquirrel]

a winter CSA is not super common, we have a couple, but even then it is fairly limited in what you get.  It's a lot of potatoes and parsnips and a little bit of kale, lol. We have a LOT of CSAs so there are enough that are well established enough that they can offer a winter option. But, that has only been in the last 5 years or so. And from what I have seen, they are more supplemental.

 

You don't have a local health food store/coop?  Or one in a larger city nearby?

 

If you google 'health food store near me' you should hopefully get something.  I have heard of people driving an hour or so to get to one, depending on where they live.

[lauraw4321]

Ha - when I google that, I get GNC.  We do have an Earth Fare, which I use, but they don't have bulk liquids, unless I just missed them somehow.

[redsquirrel]

I've never heard of those.  I assume they are chains and not actual co-ops?  Ask around or widen your search.  I would guess that people are traveling to the next city etc to get to a coop with what you are looking for.  Or there might just not be anything within a couple hours.

 

If that is the case, then a suggestion upthread, buying in bulk and decanting to your own packaging at home, is your best bet. That way, you are getting less plastic per product.  That is what the co-ops do, they buy direct in huge sizes and then let you fill your own container, passing the savings on to you. But it is shipped in plastic. But I know you can find Dr Bonners in gallon jugs (I have bought it myself) etc. Sometimes you can buy direct from the company or in bulk sizes from Amazon.  It is especially easy if you have Prime.  A gallon of shampoo will last a long time, for example.

 

 

I don't know if this is useful in any way:

 

http://www.coopdirectory.org/

 

http://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/how-to-start-a-food-buying-club

 

https://wholesale.frontiercoop.com/buying-club.html

 

My friends went through frontier, but that was almost 20 years ago now

Edited January 26, 2016 by redsquirrel

[lauraw4321]

GNC is a chain that sells vitamins and dietary supplements.  Earth Fare is a chain grocery store.  I'll keep digging.  Thanks!

[knoxinsox]

We are not at the zero waste status yet, but working on less garbage, less energy usage and lots of small positive changes in the last couple of years.  

 

We purchased a Berkey water filter and now do not purchase any throwaway bottles of water.   I have been replacing all of our lunch and leftover storage items with reusable glass or BPA free.  We use beeswax wraps for storing leftovers in dishes with no lids.  I've also learned to make my own cream soups, BBQ sauce, salad dressings, enchilada sauce, chocolate syrup, etc and I use recycled glass to store these in if they need to be stored.  We cut our own veggies and fruits.  We are almost at zero waste of actual food.

 

I make my own laundry soap now, and all the ingredients come in cardboard and I store the soap in mason jars.  I decided to hang dry our laundry as well, and I've worked out a system for that as well...no lint to dispose of and its free to dry.  I will be trying a homemade window cleaner after my bottle is gone and would like to try my hand at homemade shampoo as well.  

 

Our big thing this year, is to cut off the paper towels and use only rewashable towels.  I have a stack of Ikea towels that I keep in the spot where I had the paper ones and so far its working well.  I am in the process of switching to "mama cloth" as well, but the family has drawn the line at reusable TP. LOL 

 

Our culture does not make this easy.  I started this as a way to save money and the savings started adding up fast, but there are so many other benefits as well.

We have garbage pickup 2x per week and the second time I barely have one kitchen bag to throw out. I have a tiny can too, and I remember only a couple years ago, it was an overflowing can twice the size.  

 

[73349]

I've replaced lotion with grapeseed oil, which comes in a recyclable glass container (which I decant into a small spice bottle less likely to get tipped over in the bathroom). You may also be able to find alternatives that will make you happy. I third the recommendation to check out Zero Waste Home.

 

You might also decide to just rotate the trashiest items into less frequent use. Maybe ravioli becomes once a month instead of once a week. Maybe you will choose to wear eye shadow only on certain days or occasions. I'm choosing to buy potato chips and breakfast cereal less often, without saying "never," since we don't have them in bulk and I don't want to make them from scratch.

 

You really can make a difference. By composting and tweaking our shopping habits, we've cut down so much that the majority of trash is now kitty litter, except when we are deluged with Christmas and birthday gifts. (Party season is now ended, hallelujah!)

Edited January 26, 2016 by whitehawk

[lauraw4321]

I think I'm going to pick one "trashy" food item a month and try to come up with an alternative that I make.  I figure if I get used to making them and slowly incorporate the changes, that will help. The biggest ones are the refrigerated ravioli, deli meat, baby carrots, cheese, sour cream and yogurt.  Hmm..  I think I'll start with the carrots.  That seems easiest.   :lol:  

 

I've done away with paper towels.  I'm looking for an alternative for AF, but I haven't found something I like yet.

 

We're not allowed to hang clothes to dry in our neighborhood and I don't have enough space anywhere to do it inside.  

 

I'm thinking about what to do with clothes that are too ratty/worn/stained to donate or save for the next kid.  Does anyone use them for dishrags?  Any other ideas for what to do with those?  Some materials of old clothes wouldn't be conducive to that kind of use.  

[Annie G]

  I have been replacing all of our lunch and leftover storage items with reusable glass or BPA free.  We use beeswax wraps for storing leftovers in dishes with no lids.  

 

I just saw these advertised today- how do you like them? I saw them advertised to keep homemade bread fresh. Do they wash ok? How long do they last?

[Luckymama]

I'm thinking about what to do with clothes that are too ratty/worn/stained to donate or save for the next kid. Does anyone use them for dishrags? Any other ideas for what to do with those? Some materials of old clothes wouldn't be conducive to that kind of use.

I use them for as cleaning rags for nasty stuff and dh uses them for shop-type things (grease, oil).

 

We have textile recycling in our state. This is separate from the regular curbside recycling. A collection bin is a mile or so away. I drop off a bag every few months.

[Cinder]

I'm thinking about what to do with clothes that are too ratty/worn/stained to donate or save for the next kid.  Does anyone use them for dishrags?  Any other ideas for what to do with those?  Some materials of old clothes wouldn't be conducive to that kind of use.  

 

I haven't use old clothing for dishrags--because I like knitting my own--but it should work fine with cotton tshirts. If you use your dishrags for also wiping down counters you'll want something absorbent. For just washing you'll have more options. I've heard of people using acrylic yarns to knit rags solely for scrubbing the dishes. They're no good for wiping counters but are (supposedly) just fine for washing. (I have no personal experience with this; just what I've read from others.) I use a lot of old clothing for rags where I'd otherwise use paper towels; namely, cleaning up cat barf. One of our cats is a barfer and I'm just a bit too squeamish to use regular rags to clean it up. (I will not be one of those people who do well with family cloth. ;))  My dd also uses these throw-away rags when she's painting--for wiping paintbrushes. I figure that even though it gets thrown away, the original clothing item was in such poor condition it would have been thrown away anyway and the rags are reducing our paper towel consumption.

 

Thanks to all for the great ideas. I have also been considering how to reduce waste and all this info is really helpful.

[FaithManor]

Just a few things. I do wash Ziploc bags and reuse them many times  before they make it to the trash. I also take my own reused bags with me to the bulk food store for produce so I don't use any more plastic bags. I try to use as much as I can banker's boxes for storage as well as the many amazon boxes that come through instead of buying plastic tubs. I have been using glass containers in the fridge instead of plastic, and burning what we can so we use fewer trash bags. I also use shower caps for glass bowls without lids. They last a lot longer and have the elastic on them so they can fit more than one size. If I am careful, it takes a good long while to wear one out.

 

I hate packaging. We have this packaging obsessed country. I can't believe how much extraneous material is used for the simplest of items. UGH.

[Angie in VA]

Have you read Bea Johnson's Zero Waste Home? She has recommendations for alternatives for many many things. I re-read it every six months and always find a new observation or idea that I didn't find before. Her YouTube channel is a great place to start:

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/ZeroWasteHome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y583QTbetsQ << my favorite segment on the channel

 

Love this Zero Waste Quick Start Guide:

http://www.paris-to-go.com/2014/11/10-easy-time-saving-steps-to-zero-waste.html

 

Lots of support here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/journeytozerowaste/

 

Zero waste alternatives for the things you mentioned are below. (These answers may not be the ones you want to hear, but consider them something to consider.)

 

Baby carrots: Buy whole bulk carrots and cut down yourself.

 

Refrigerated pasta: Learn to make fresh pasta at home. It's surprisingly easy, I swear.

 

Meat: Purchase and eat less meat, or ask the butcher to put the meat in a container you provide.

 

Makeup: Make your own from bulk ingredients. Bea has many recipes in her book. I know she uses bulk cocoa powder for a bronzer. :)

 

Shampoo, conditioner, lotion: Very difficult until bulk liquids become more common in America. There are a handful stores scattered around the country where you can take your own containers and refill shampoo, conditioner, lotion. I know San Francisco has one. Try checking Bea's app called Bulk via the Apple app store. I keep reusable glass bottles in the shower with reused pumps in them. I refill the bottles from the biggest plastic bottle version I can find. I'm going to make a trek to a salon supply store in the near future to see if I can find gallon sizes. A lot of zero-wasters use shampoo bars or Marseille de Savon instead of liquid.

Thank you this. Now I don't feel so crazy for having so many glass jars.

Edited January 27, 2016 by Angie in VA

[UmMusa]

I'm reading Plastic Free today and I like it s lot! Thanks for the recommendation.