Trash Talk

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!

This is probably my favorite awareness day all year long. Two years ago I wrote about some simple steps towards more sustainable living that give you very quick and easy little tips to live a more sustainable, earth-friendly life. Today, I want to talk a little more deeply on one specific area that we've been focusing on in our home: trash.

Trash is an inevitable part of our lives, but what we do with it can make all the difference. You probably remember being raised with the Three R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, but now it's commonly the Four R's with repair/repurpose added in. Using these four principles, you can greatly reduce what of your waste becomes trash to sit in our landfills.

Reduce

This is the first, biggest, most important step in reducing waste. The concept is to reduce the potential trash that makes it into your home. Here are some tips to reduce your waste:

• Borrow instead of buy. Ask a friend to borrow a dress for a formal occasion. Borrow that tool that you only need once a year from a neighbor. Borrow books from the library. Rent movies from a local video store. By buying less, you'll have less waste coming into your home from packaging, receipts, tags, etc.
• Buy used. Check out pawn shops, consignment shops/sales, garage and yard sales, church rummage sales, etc. for things you need and will use often. Kids clothes are a great item to buy used as they out grow each size so fast that there's usually a plethora of used kid's clothes that are hardly worn. Check out garage sales for appliances that need replacing or for unique housewares.
• Buy in bulk. Buying in bulk can help reduce the packaging that comes into your house. Just don't get fooled by bulk packages that are really just multiples of the normal package with extra packaging holding them together.
• Don't buy single use items. Paper plates, napkins, and towels, plastic cups, flatware, and bags- these convenience items are a terrible drain on our resources. Whenever possible, use reusable alternatives and if you have to buy one-time use items, try to recycle or compost them afterwards. (Go the extra step and eliminate single-use diapers, toilet paper, or feminine hygiene products.)
• Bring your own packaging. Bringing your own shopping bags is becoming more and more popular, but you can also bring your own reusable produce bags or mason jars for loose items.

Reuse

Reusable items can make any home more sustainable with minimal extra effort. Most items will simple need to be washed in between uses. Here are some reusable items to consider: cloth diapers, un-paper towels, cloth snack and sandwich bags for kids' lunches, glass food storage instead of plastic bags, cloth rags instead of paper towels for cleaning, cloth menstrual pads, menstrual cups instead of tampons, cloth wipes instead of toilet paper.

Also, reuse items that are designed to be single use. 

• Save gift bags you receive to use again when you have a gift to give.
• Rinse and reuse plastic food containers.
• Save bread and tortilla bags and reuse to hold snacks or as trash bags for road trips.

Repair or Repurpose

How many times has something around the house broken and you immediately thought to go buy a new one rather than repair the one you have? It's an easy thing to do and we've been told for over a generation that we shouldn't have to repair old things. Whenever possible, repair broken items or buy a replacement part rather than replacing the whole thing. Learn how to fix a busted seam and sew a button back on. Ask friends to lend their skills to help you fix appliances or tech as it breaks. See if there's a trade school in your area that would like to have the item to teach students.

When something is truly past repair, repurpose the item. Find it something new to be. Many household items can be changed into interesting planters or lawn art. Cut up worn out clothing for cleaning rags. Shred magazines for packing material. There are craft projects on Pinterest to cover just about anything from bottle caps to burnt out light bulbs. Before tossing something in the trash, make sure you can't find some sort of use for it.

Recycle
Most of us think of taking bags of plastic bottles and soda cans to big green dumpsters when we think of recycling, and while that is an awesome way to reduce your trash output, there are other ways to recycle things around the house as well. If you're just getting started, check out these tips on recycling.

Composting is the ultimate green recycling. Home composting can take your kitchen and yard scraps and turn them into glorious dirt, perfect for growing your own organic veggies. There are plenty of ways to compost and I'm sure you can find a system that works for your household. (Foods that can't be composted can usually be sent through the garbage disposal instead of doing in the trash bag.)

Return food packaging to the producer when appropriate. Local egg farms usually love for you to return your egg cartons as they can be pretty pricey to buy new. Some companies will take back their glass bottles to refill them (many companies stopped this program some time ago, but there are still some accepting bottles, check with any local bottling plants).

You can do it!
We just took our trash can to the curb to be picked up for the first time in over a month (maybe about six weeks). It took us that long to fill the can up. It may seem cumbersome at first and it can be trying, but if you just take it one step at a time, you can significantly reduce the amount of trash your household produces.

Here are some Pinterest boards to help you find tips and tricks to reduce your trash output:

• Tips to Reduce Waste: http://www.pinterest.com/OurLittleClan/waste-less-reduce/
• Reusable items: http://www.pinterest.com/OurLittleClan/reuse-no-more-disposable/
• Composting: http://www.pinterest.com/OurLittleClan/compost-creation/
• General "green" tips: http://www.pinterest.com/OurLittleClan/greener-life/
• Canning Info (great way to keep food from being waste!): http://www.pinterest.com/OurLittleClan/canning/
• Cloth Diapering: http://www.pinterest.com/OurLittleClan/cloth-diapering-crazies/
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: http://www.pinterest.com/OurLittleClan/reduce-reuse-recycle/
• Earth Day Activities for Kids: http://www.pinterest.com/OurLittleClan/earth-day-activities/

Review: Reusable Sandwich Bags from My Outdoor Mom

Here's another option for reusable snack and sandwich bags from Etsy.com. My Outdoor Mom is a new shop to Etsy, but is already having a ton of success, and it's easy to see why! I bought my bags when I was first starting to work towards more reusable products. I got a pair of reusable bags, one snack bag and one sandwich bag, for $10 plus shipping. While this is a little expensive, I think it was worth it. You choose the pattern for each bag, and they come with a solid inside and zipper.

Here is the snack size with blueberry print. Easily holds a chopped apple.

Here is the sandwich side bag with strawberry print. This easily holds a regular sandwich, but a really hefty one might not fit too easily.

Pros: I love the zipper! The zipper keeps everything in, even peanuts and popcorn, and doesn't take up hardly any bag space. I also love the prints. Not only are they fun, but they're more "adult" than a lot of the reusable bags out there. These bags are also machine washable. I've washed them once or twice in the machine, but usually just rinse them out with dishes.

Cons: These aren't exactly airtight. The other day I brought cheese and crackers to work. I cut the cheese the night before, put it in the blue bag, and put in the fridge. Well, by the time I ate the cheese the next day, it was starting to get a wee bit hard. It was still fine, but is a downfall to those who are used to the airtight plastic bags.

Overall, I really love these bags. Budget-willing, I'll be adding more in the future.

Review: Reusable Sandwich Bags from The Green Haven

To go along with today's sustainability tip, I thought I would review some of my own reusable snack bags.

I got this pair of bags through a trade on Etsy. (Trading on Etsy is a great, "green" way to get products.) The Green Haven is a shop on Etsy.com that's been open since 2009. The shop offers a ton of great reusable bags, lunch bags, and drink cozies. I got a pair of cute snack bags in a jungle print. Had I paid for the bags, they would have been $7.00 plus shipping.

Pros: They are adorable! They have also been very easy to flip inside out and clean. At $7 for two, they were also very reasonably priced.

Cons: Probably the biggest con is the velcro. It limits the volume of the bag slightly but the bigger problem is that it doesn't seal it completely. It's great for larger items like chips or apples slices, but if you were to put something smaller, like Cheerios, they would slip out the ends.

Overall, I'm happy with the bags and they definitely serve a great purpose! These can be a great option to fill out your collection of reusable snack and sandwich bags.

1st Simple Step to Sustainability: Reusable Sandwich Bags

Our first simple step to a more sustainable life is very easy, and over time saves you money.

Buy Reusable Sandwich Bags

If you're handy with a sewing machine or needle, you could easily make some of these yourself. I prefer the zippered ones, but velcro is also an option. You can buy them off various "green" product websites, or etsy. And as you see above, they can be kind of cute.

Here's How It Helps: When you send your kid to school with apples or take a sandwich for your lunch, what do you do with the plastic bag? You throw it out. That plastic bag was made to be disposable. It will serve it's purpose once (maybe twice if you reuse it), and then it will sit in a landfill. Plastic doesn't seem to biodegrade, or at least, none of it has yet. By using cloth sandwich and snack bags, you eliminate the need to buy and throw away plastic. This saves you money and saves the landfills, not to mention the added benefit of reduced factory waste in the production of plastic.

Here's How To Do It: Buy a bag or two to start. If you tend to take snacks to work, buy a bag that would fit the size of what you need. Buy a few bags for your kid's lunch boxes. You can get plenty that are big and roomy for a nice sandwich and others that are smaller for grapes or chips. After you use the bag, you wash it and use it again. Many of these bags are machine washable, but I find that for most of the time, mine just need a quick rinse in hot water then I lay them on the dish rack to dry.

Cost: The bags vary in cost, usually about $2-3 per bag and then go up for larger bags, zippers, different patterns, etc. Unless you buy these at a craft fair or a local store, you will also need to pay shipping. However, keep in mind that once you buy these, you will only need to buy more when they wear out. I've had some of mine for months now and they look practically new. When you buy disposable plastic bags, you have to buy new ones every couple of weeks and you're throwing that money away.

So friends, that's today's simply step. Whether you live by yourself, with a family of ten, or in your mom's basement, anyone take this simple step to a more sustainable life!