I still remember reading Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle for the first time and reading about her stance on bananas. I quite agree with Ms. Kingsolver about being conscious how far our food travels and being willing to put our foot down about certain foods whose negative environmental impact is just too large to ignore. Buuut, then I had kids. And a zillion and half other things to worry about, and bananas crept back into our kitchen, along with various other foods.
I do my best to reduce food waste. I’m definitely more conscious about food packaging at this point than the food itself. So, I bring my own containers to restaurants for leftovers and we use Pyrex containers at home for everything, instead of plastic baggies. I do my best to make food from scratch. We buy organic, mostly. But, I would say my awareness about food and where it’s come from and its environmental impact, is something I really would like to know more about. I’m far from perfect in the impact-my-food-has-on-the-enviroment department, but all I can offer is my best. And my best right now, is to appreciate the food we use and not waste it. To slowly journey into discovering which foods we might want to steer away from because of their environmental impact. And to share as I’m learning.
This section is devoted to my exploration in reducing food waste, reducing food packaging waste, and sharing ideas for making more meals at home.
Thank you for being here.Your actions can and will make a difference.
As we roll into the last month of this year, I have to admit that my first temptation was to have a post about gifts. And, while I would still like to do that, I stopped myself and realized how strange it is that our holiday season has become so centered around this.
Now, honestly, as much as I’m a fan of reducing unnecessary consumption and waste, I really do love the idea of holiday gift giving. I think there’s a lot of good behind the idea of wanting to show our appreciation of others through giving gifts and recognizing our own part in others’ lives by receiving gifts. But, it seems like the idea behind why we exchange gifts has almost gotten lost. I feel the holidays have become a whirlwind of shopping and lists and obligations. Many of us are going through the motions and doing the holiday “thing” out of habit or a life checklist of sorts.
So, I wanted to pause and think about what the holidays really mean. I know, upon reflection, this answer will be different for everyone. It might be about family or religion or forgiveness. It could be about endings and beginnings as the year comes to a close. It could be about the importance of quiet reflection or finding joy in the moment. But, much like the Whos down in Whoville, I know that the holiday season—for whatever it is you’re celebrating this month—is about more than gifts and feasts. So, while I don’t disagree with many of the traditions behind this month, I do think it’s important to pause and remember just why it is we’re doing them.
Why reduce our paper napkins? Like any product, disposable napkins go through quite a journey to get to us, including trees cut down, transported, turned into pulp, possibly bleached or dyed, transported to be packaged and put in warehouses, transported to our stores or homes. All of this takes energy, oil, causes pollution in our air and water. This is to say nothing of the garbage transportation and afterlife of these paper napkins. So how can we reduce our use of paper napkins?
REDUCE
My favorite way to reduce my use of paper napkins is to use cloth napkins instead. I find them to be superior in so many ways. They’re softer, they’re cheaper in the long run, they are far more absorbent, and they’re better for the environment*. (Cotton is an extremely wasteful crop, so try using eco-friendly fabrics or reusing fabric from other items.) Cloth napkins are easy to make, and they are a great project for reusing fabric pieces. If you want finished edges, you can stitch around the edges, a project that, while a bit tedious if you’re making a lot at once, is easy enough for a novice sewer. Some people might want matching napkins, but I find that using what fabric is on hand is easier and creates a fun assortment to choose from. You can also use napkin rings to keep track of family member’s napkins if they aren’t too soiled, so they can be reused at another meal.
This cloth napkin idea can definitely be carried out beyond the home as well for those who are feeling truly dedicated. A small “clean” cloth bag and “used” cloth bag for cloth napkins can be tucked into a bag or purse for outings.
If you have young kids and you’re anything like me, you may turn away from any food establishment that uses cloth napkins, a quick indication that kids may not be welcome, but I hope to see that shift. I’ve seen lots of casual, smaller, independent food places use fun cloth napkins at their tables, and it’s so nice to see businesses taking charge and reducing their waste. These cloth napkins are also far more useful than the paper ones, which I find people have to sometimes grab three or four of during a meal.
Another simple way to reduce paper napkin waste is to just be conscious of how many you are taking and be sure you are using them wisely. Think about what the napkins have gone through to get to you and appreciate them.
REUSE
Again, reusing a paper product like this seems like a weird thing to address. But, as with the tissue post, for instance, if you find yourself with napkins that for some reason aren’t usable for their intended purpose or aren’t that soiled, you can use these to wipe up oily or grease-y messes. I know we always have certain foods that are tough to wash off of dishes, things like butter or oils. So, it can be helpful to keep a stash of only slightly-used paper products on hand to reuse for wiping up things like this, so they can be given a second life.
If a cloth napkin becomes too used or stained for continued use, see if you can use any bits of it for another scrap sewing project or keep it on hand as a cleaning cloth instead.
RECYCLE?
Just as with some of the other disposable paper products I’ve covered, I find that recycling paper napkins doesn’t seem to be a possibility many places. If your napkins aren’t bleached or dyed, you may be able to add these to a compost pile, especially if they aren’t grease-y.
The plastic wrap that surrounds a package of store-bought napkins may be able to go into a grocery bag recycling bin at a store.
Cloth napkins that can no longer be used as cleaning cloths or scraps, can be recycled with textile recycling.
ENDING THOUGHTS
The great thing about starting to reduce disposable paper products and replacing them with cloth is that it all starts to fit together like a puzzle. Once you start using cloth instead of paper towels or napkins or tissues, it becomes part of your daily life. You never have to run out and buy these products, because they are always on hand. You can group your cloth laundry in a way that makes sense for your family and uses the washing machine consciously.
Cloth napkins are such a fun choice to make. Not only are the colorful or designed napkins a great addition to your table, but these napkins are also far more effective than the disposable ones. This is a great way you can start to make big change.
Thank you for reading. Your actions can and will make a difference!
It feels weird talking about reducing pots for plants! Wonderful, glorious, green plants. But it’s always just struck me as weird how these plants are purchased, transported home, repotted, and then have left this plastic pot waste behind. How can we do this differently? Also, I know the tempting feeling to acquire more and more plants. And if you really have the time and knowledge to care for them, that’s great. But, if you’re a newbie or you often get distracted at poor plants’ expense, maybe hold back from purchasing more than you can care for. Just a thought…. That being said, I’ve become an absolute sucker for houseplants, so I get it. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with propagating plants, which is loads of fun and another way to have more plants without worrying about these little pots.
REDUCE
I think plants are great, but it seems that even in the most down-home, local, organic plant place, you’re dealing with these darned plastic pots. So, a lot of what I’m going to say about reducing will just tie in with reusing in the next section. But, what I will say here is this little tangent: Not all plants are created equal. Think about where you’re buying your plants from and if that’s the kind of place you’d like to support. What kind of soil have they used? What kind of growth hormones have they used? See if you can locate a local seller who uses good practices and really loves what they’re doing. Often times, people hold “plant sales” at their homes in the spring, just as one might hold a yard sale. Propagating your own plants ( as mentioned above) is another great way to reduce the waste of these plastic pots.
REUSE
A lot of ideas I’ve seen on reusing these plastic planting pots in new ways are probably things I wouldn’t actually do… The ideas that would be the most likely involve the multi-sectioned pots. After cleaning them out, they could be used to sort screws or nails or they could be used to teach a child color sorting or money sorting. I also heard some people who use these pots as a sort of filler in very large pots to take up some soil space.
One of my favorite ideas is going back to where you bought the plant, especially if it was a local grower, and seeing if they can reuse them for a new plant. Better yet, though, reuse the plastic pots to help you as you get new cuttings started. I recently asked ReStore if they’d take a donation of plastic planting pots, and they accepted a stack of them. You can also offer the pots up on a site like Freecycle to see if anyone is interested. Maybe try calling around to some local nurseries too. If you happen to work with kids at a school or community setting, it would be super awesome to teach them about propagating plants and then use it as a fundraiser once the plants have grown. This would be an instance where you could be reusing plastic pots during your growing and selling.
RECYCLE?
You’d have to check with your local recycling center or curbside recycling to see if these are recyclable in your area. Don’t be shy; you can do it. Just remember, throwing the plastic pots into a recycling bin without checking first does not mean you’ve done your environmental part. In fact, it could just mean creating more work for the recycling center. Sometimes, large home improvement-type stores will have their own plastic pot recycling option too, so keep your eyes open for that as an option as well.
ENDING THOUGHTS
Those plastic pots seem to be everywhere, especially in planting season. Maybe we’ll find a better way of doing this soon. In the meantime, my suggestions are to be smart about the plants you buy and from where, offer the pots to growers who might be able to use them, or use them for your own growing and giving away. And lastly, check with local recycling to see if that’s an option.
Thank you for being here! Your actions can and will make a difference.
It seems that with so much online, catalogs would be less popular, but I still see so many. Sometimes the catalogs are fairly unassuming, but sometimes they are monster catalogs. Either way, if it’s not a wanted catalog, see what you can do to stop it from coming to your mailbox. If it’s a catalog you genuinely like getting, that’s great. Maybe consider if you could look at the products online instead though. But, quite often I see catalogs arrive at someone’s home or business and go straight to the recycling, or worse, the trash.At one of my jobs, I saw so many catalogs go into the recycling, that I finally asked if I could just cancel them. It was way easier than I thought it might be, and it reduced the amount of incoming stuff to deal with.
REDUCE
The best way to reduce your number of unwanted catalogs is to take the time when ordering something to make sure you’re not automatically signed up to be on a mailing list. There’s usually a check box somewhere along the process where you can “opt out” before anything is even sent.
But, if you do end up receiving catalogs in the mail, either in your name or from a former house or business owner, it’s fairly easy to cancel.
There’s usually a phone number on the back of a catalog. They’ll ask for your name or a code on the catalog. I’ve called and cancelled a good number of catalogs in recent years, and I would say with 95% of companies, it’s super easy and they really don’t care why you’re unsubscribing. There are some companies that are tough to get a hold of or who are slightly weird about it, but I would say that’s definitely the exception. Often times, you can also just go to the company’s website to unsubscribe. You will usually be told that you will still receive one or two more catalogs since everything is preprinted. I think the standard answer is to give it 6-8 weeks to process. Because I was dealing with canceling so many catalogs at one point, I made a list of catalog names and the date I called, just to make sure everything stopped after that time period and to have a record of which ones I had already called.
REUSE
There are so many ideas for reusing catalogs. An online search will provide an abundance of inspiration. Above are some videos I’ve made that can be used for any number of paper products – magazines, catalogs, wrapping paper, etc. Paper products can be reused for collaging, crafting, making homemade envelopes, shredded gift wrap filler, gift bows or wrap, and so much more. If you’ve cancelled all your catalogs and magazines but still want to upcycle or craft with some, don’t worry. You can always ask friends or Freecycle.
RECYCLE?
Catalogs CAN be recycled. There was a time awhile ago that they couldn’t, but that’s no longer the case. My only hesitation with the awesomeness that they can be recycled, is that some people get careless then about reducing and reusing. Remember, to get the catalog TO you, trees are cut down, dyes are made, the catalog is manufactured and transported, which means pollution and water usage. And then the recycling itself, while is better than the trash, also involves its own transportation and manufacturing.
ENDING THOUGHTS
Reducing unwanted catalogs is easy. Spend the time you might be zoning out on your device or waiting on someone and cancel those catalogs! You’ll feel an enormous weight lifted for a relatively simple process. Not only are you doing your part for our environment, it’s also just really nice not to have to see those unwanted catalogs in your mail every month.
Thank you for being here. Your actions can and will make a difference!
