My first month of living a no waste lifestyle has come and gone!
I’ve definitely sucked at this in some areas of life, ie. workplace while other areas I’ve excelled at. I’ve had to learn a few things and prepare for the lifestyle as well. You may currently find me sometimes in the Value Village scrounging up some cheap reusable bags like this one:
It’s for soft plastics. Because we love the Earth. 😉 I was stoked that it has hearts all over it!
I’ve been learning that I need to carry more with me so I have to figure out ways to do that without feeling like I’m a twelve year old or just weighed down by a massive amount of stuff. This is just about getting the right tools like a backpack, proper reusable containers and the such (mason jars aren’t cutting it any more).
Here’s what I’ve learned this month:
- This is actually much easier than I thought. I don’t know if its because I was already living fairly environmentally friendly comparatively or if it is because I live in such an awesome city, but it’s surprised me how easy it really easy to be waste free in Victoria, BC.
- You can recycle a lot – just not foil or waxed paper. I did some research and found out that for pretty much everything household that is not recyclable in the pick up service the city has there’s a place you can go to and drop off everything else! This is preeeeetty exciting! So I’ve started to collect soft plastic in the heart bag (because we love the Earth!) to recycle it. Soft plastic was one of my biggest concerns so it was one of the quickest things I’ve changed.
- Mostly it comes down to the proper tools. I find that I will order a samosa at the deli where I work often, and its rare for me to have a container to put it in. Then it comes wrapped in wax inside a foil bag. I have trouble remembering to bring an extra food container (never mind that I only own one, beyond mason jars). It’s been super helpful buying reusable bags and putting them in the most random spots so that I always have them, and now I’m going to do that with containers and mason jars too.
Action Plan for This Month:
- Buy a couple more glass containers and
some wool balls for the dryer.ÂWool is not a vegan option, which I am, therefore this is not the best thing to invest in. - Figure out what happens to clothes when they are beyond wearable & how to dispose of them correctly.
- Print out recycling do’s and don’t’s to put on fridge.
- Research plastic paint tubes – recyclability? Reusability? Sustainable ways to paint with acrylic?
- Study work’s recycling system and see if it needs to be implemented at my house. They only have about 7 different bins with picture and word guides for staff to recycle their stuff in. It’s amazing how many people don’t read and through their stuff in the trash. I wonder what would happen if the trash bin disappeared? Would people read and sort their trash accordingly?
Interesting links
David Suzuki has this cool guide
If you live in Europe check out this fair trade phone – the phone is fair trade, built to last, repairable by the consumer
Wonderbag  – this is a portable slowcooker, and on Amazon has 443 reviews giving it 4 stars (wow!). When you buy one the company donates one to a woman in need.
To Go Cutlery – I’m actually really stoked about this because they are travel size, come with the holder, and chopsticks, and are only $15. I have one coming to a local store for me and I can’t wait!
Safe Chocolate Brands – A list of chocolate brands that are child slavery free.
Remember, part of no waste is using what you have and only buying what you need (I kind of suck at this sometimes). It’s mental shift. It gets easier over time (and if you don’t watch commercials or read newspapers or otherwise ingest a lot of advertising which I find seduces me into needless consumerism).
