zero waste

[Victoria]

I suddenly realized that all the plastic I used  and then threw out is still near the city. Nothing is happening to it. And it's terrible. I want to reduce using plastic. I heard of zero waste lifestyle and I am thinking of applying its principles in my life.  What do you think? Any advice?

[Qapla]

Make sure whatever you use in place of plastic is no worse ...

 

Some years back there was a dump near us that they were discontinuing ... they dug up the refuse that had been buried to discard it elsewhere so they could reuse the land. When they did they found that the "waxed cardboard" had lasted much longer then much of the plastic.

[Victoria]

7 hours ago, Qapla said:

Make sure whatever you use in place of plastic is no worse ...

 

Some years back there was a dump near us that they were discontinuing ... they dug up the refuse that had been buried to discard it elsewhere so they could reuse the land. When they did they found that the "waxed cardboard" had lasted much longer then much of the plastic.

Thanks! I really don't know much about it because there is no recycling here. Nobody cares about waste. We have enough empty land for dumps.

[Thesauron]

It is a biblical requirement to take care of the earth. We might want to look over our means of communications, what we eat, our waste. Can we eat less meat? Is it better for us to eat locally grown fruit and vegetables? How much foodstuff do we throw away? Can we produce less waste? What do we do with the waste we produce? Instead of nothing, we can all do something.

 

Here is an interesting article from Slate on whether to buy milk in plastic, cardboard, or glass containers.

 

https://slate.com/technology/2011/03/should-i-buy-milk-in-glass-plastic-or-cardboard-containers.html

[New World Explorer]

Shops, supermarkets in Melbourne, encourage shoppers to bring plastic or fabric bags with them while buying groceries etc.

Otherwise brand new plastic bag needs to be purchased for 15 cents, not a lot but still better bring old ones.

Also we have different types of bins for recycling everywhere.

Going plastic-less is relatively easy in Melbourne.

I buy organic milk sold in the cardboard, however I would have to give up on yogurts due to all of them, sold in plastic containers.
 

Think about the environmental impact of aviation (which amounts to many many plastic bottles if you know what i mean)

From 1992 to 2005, passenger kilometers increased 5.2 percent per year. And in the European Union, greenhouse gas emissions from aviation increased by 87 percent between 1990 and 2006.

I fly on average twice a year, in 2017 and 2018 I was flying more often,  Governing Body members fly to attend Conventions ... in fact they bringing one of the largest number of missionaries etc to attend International Conventions in 2019, We are all encouraged to visit Warwick HQ...

Balance is needed as we live in this wicked system, we can minimize "our plastic footprint" but we cannot eliminate it.

[Miss Bea]

Zero waste would be ideal, but, it’s sort of the type of thing that takes a lot of time. A lot. And a lot of effort. Here, we can recycle. We have a container for the recycle stuff that is not refundable, and we have one for the refundable stuff, cardboard is set aside to recycle. Garbage is garbage. 

On a personal basis, I am trying to cut back on the single use plastics. That is hard. I bought stainless steel straws. I think those things should be outlawed. Plastic straws. 

When we buy something, my husband is always trying to keep our carbon footprint as small as possible. I’d love a leaf blower, but, I have a trusty rake.

We don’t do without, but we do try to get things back in some way of being reprocessed , if possible. 

For us, with the responsibility we have, I wouldn’t dream of zero waste, or something like that, until the new system. In the meantime, we do what we can, on a personal level. 

[Victoria]

10 hours ago, Miss Bea said:

 

For us, with the responsibility we have, I wouldn’t dream of zero waste, or something like that, until the new system. In the meantime, we do what we can, on a personal level. 

That is my question to myself: what can I do on a personal level? Must I do something or not? Can I just say: it's not my problem?

[Thesauron]

That is my question to myself: what can I do on a personal level? Must I do something or not? Can I just say: it's not my problem?

There are many things you can do. Don’t use plastic plates and cutlery, and decline straws when ordering drinks. Paper isn’t much better. The production is far from environmentally friendly, so use materials that allows for hundreds of uses. Eat less meat, eat less imported fish and more local fish, more local vegetables. Strive towards not throwing away any food. Buy more second hand clothes. Fly less, use trains more. Less travelling by car, more buses or bikes. Or walking.

[SUNRAY]

If you google "corn based and wheat based cutlery, plates, cups, bowls" you will find these products are biodegradable and quite practical and enjoyable to use!😉

[Thesauron]

If you google "corn based and wheat based cutlery, plates, cups, bowls" you will find these products are biodegradable and quite practical and enjoyable to use!

True. As long as you can use them many times. Production of them isn’t very eco friendly. Just like paper...

[Qapla]

So, taking time to go fishing to supply catfish for my wife is, not only loving and practical but zero waste friendly - if it were only fun and relaxing 

Edited November 27, 2018 by Qapla

[Victoria]

5 hours ago, Thesauron said:

There are many things you can do. Don’t use plastic plates and cutlery, and decline straws when ordering drinks. Paper isn’t much better. The production is far from environmentally friendly, so use materials that allows for hundreds of uses. Eat less meat, eat less imported fish and more local fish, more local vegetables. Strive towards not throwing away any food. Buy more second hand clothes. Fly less, use trains more. Less travelling by car, more buses or bikes. Or walking.

Well, I don't have to use single use plates. I think the main problem is that most of our food is packed in plastic. I don't buy big plastic bags as many people here do, but I have to use small ones for some kinds of food.

I don't know how eating meat and fish influence the environment, but we don't eat meat very often just because it's expensive.

We used to buy second hand clothes but now there are no such shops in our place. But we buy very little new clothes.

The easiest thing to do is to fly less:)

My first flight was a year ago. But if I need to go to Moscow I will prefer an 8 hour flight than 6 days by train.

No, the easiest thing is not to use a car because we just don't have it.

So my first goal is to reduce throwing away plastic. 

I will be very grateful for any ideas and advice.

[hatcheckgirl]

I guess because where I live we have recycling bins as part of our garbage pickup, we are a bit lazy when it comes to recycling.  We just pop the recyclable plastic, glass and paper in the bin, and the rubbish in the other bin.  A truck comes and takes it away.

 

But if I had to think about avoiding buying things to reduce the need for recycling, then that is much harder.  The priority is waste avoidance as the first option, and then options for reusing, then the recycling kicks in.

https://theconversation.com/we-cant-recycle-our-way-to-zero-waste-78598

 

Buy food in bulk, bringing your own containers/bags.  If you have a farmer's market, use them.  Some options if you can't buy in bulk: https://www.goingzerowaste.com/blog/2015/12/31/life-without-bulk

 

Swap high waste for zero waste reusable products.  Some ideas here: https://www.goingzerowaste.com/blog/the-ultimate-list-of-zero-waste-swaps

 

If you need more ideas on what to swap out, this site has plastic-free items to buy (but use it to get ideas and not spend ) https://lifewithoutplastic.com/

 

Other ideas include bringing your own to-go container to the restaurant, making cleaning supplies, making beauty products, carpooling more, buying experiences, buying second hand. And compost!

[Victoria]

1 hour ago, hatcheckgirl said:

I guess because where I live we have recycling bins as part of our garbage pickup, we are a bit lazy when it comes to recycling.  We just pop the recyclable plastic, glass and paper in the bin, and the rubbish in the other bin.  A truck comes and takes it away.

 

But if I had to think about avoiding buying things to reduce the need for recycling, then that is much harder.  The priority is waste avoidance as the first option, and then options for reusing, then the recycling kicks in.

https://theconversation.com/we-cant-recycle-our-way-to-zero-waste-78598

 

Buy food in bulk, bringing your own containers/bags.  If you have a farmer's market, use them.  Some options if you can't buy in bulk: https://www.goingzerowaste.com/blog/2015/12/31/life-without-bulk

 

Swap high waste for zero waste reusable products.  Some ideas here: https://www.goingzerowaste.com/blog/the-ultimate-list-of-zero-waste-swaps

 

If you need more ideas on what to swap out, this site has plastic-free items to buy (but use it to get ideas and not spend ) https://lifewithoutplastic.com/

 

Other ideas include bringing your own to-go container to the restaurant, making cleaning supplies, making beauty products, carpooling more, buying experiences, buying second hand. And compost!

Thank you very much!

Unfortunately composting seems to be impossible. I live in a small appartement, have no garden. Our winters are long and very cold. I will try to learn more about it, but it's better to start with something simple. Like not using a car when you don't have it:-)  Seriously I think I should start with reducing buying package. That is what we throw out everyday.

[Miss Bea]

15 hours ago, Victoria said:

That is my question to myself: what can I do on a personal level? Must I do something or not? Can I just say: it's not my problem?

It’s all our problem. Jehovah gave us the earth to take care of. Start with how you live. Try to avoid single use plastics. Reuse the bags you use to get groceries. Never get a new one after you get a few sturdy ones you can keep and reuse. Keep them with you. If you can avoid even getting a bag when you just pick up a few things, do so. In my purse...When you buy vegetables or fruit, don’t bag them up. 

Dont buy cheap plastic items. 

Try to buy natural fibers. ( micro fibers have gotten into the food chain.) 

I don’t use a dryer for my clothes. We have wood heat, and four lines upstairs to hang clothes on in the winter. ( hang things such as shirts, ant kind, on hangers, to dry) Saves space! Even if it is cold outside, but not raining, , I hang out clothes outside. Get them fresh, then finish drying them upstairs. (My husband has built the house, and I dry clothes from heat from the stove pipe nearby. Second story.

Reuse evrything you can. Plastic bags, (wash and dry, unless hopeless) plastic containers. Jars. 

If given a choice, avoid anything you can’t recycle, if there is a choice. Styrofoam, for instance. Avoid.

Get a good water bottle, and use it. I have a filter that adds hydrogen, trace minerals, and alkalines the water a bit. I put that water in my stainless Steele water bottle. 

Egg cartons. We buy farm eggs, So I keep the cartons and return them to be used again. 

We buy honey from a local beekeeper. I wash the bottles and take them back to her when we buy more honey. 

We do have one of those single cup coffee makers. ( not my idea) We do buy the singles they say are recyclable. But, it is only a sophisticated set up. We empty the pods of coffee, and put it in the compost bin. Yes, we compost. Rest in garbage.

We don’t burn leaves. Last year, I took 25 fifty gallon garbage cans of leaves to the garden.

I try not to throw good water down the drain. Water plants with it. 

I bought stainless steel  straws. I saw a video of a plastic straw being pulled out of a turtles nose. Heart breaking. 

We do buy soda. ( not my idea) if it is in one of those things that are plastic rings, holes for six cans. It is a low grade plastic. Garbage. I always cut it as many times as I can, so if it does end up in a land fill, or worse yet, the ocean, no life can be damaged by it. And, those things have potential for serious damage. 

We use a butterfly net to get rid of unwanted flying creatures in our home. Mostly flies, bees, and yes bats. Sorry, mosquitos are on my hit list. Kill with impunity! We even rescue spiders. 

We rescue flying creatures that end up in the dogs wading pool. 

Sorry. Mice. They don’t get a break. It sort of hurts, but they would move in, and sit at the dinner table with us to eat if we were not hard hearted towards them. But, if we can, we do do a catch and release. If we can.

I know we could do more. I’m tired. I need to can more. This year, we canned nine cases of smoked fish. Big job...almost too big. Sid falls and bucks up trees for the stove. My husband has finally seen the value in the wood scraps up there. We now burn really funny pieces of wood. Basically, cleaning up the area where the wood is processed. Sid has a wood splitter. He stores 5 cords a year.

I reuse as much as I can. 

So, any other ideas out there? 

You see, I plan on doing this forever!

[Victoria]

Bea, you are doing great job! How do you compost? Is it possible to do it in winter?

The problem is I cannot recycle anything. Plastic, glass or paper, all are in our dump.

[Miss Bea]

4 hours ago, Victoria said:

Bea, you are doing great job! How do you compost? Is it possible to do it in winter?

The problem is I cannot recycle anything. Plastic, glass or paper, all are in our dump.

That’s ugly. Why Jehovah is going to take care of uncaring people. Not recycling. 

We have a compost bin the tribe gave us. It’s like a plastic barrel with a place near the bottom, on the side, you shovel the compost out there. It’s wonderful black soil-like stuff. 

They have better ones. Like a barrel on its side, that you can turn. This we have, has to be turned with a shovel. I think with a little  ingenuity, one could be made easily. We buy worms to hurry it along. 

Actually, a good friend of mine just puts her compost in a pile by the garden. That’s it. No meat products, grease, bones, etc. 

Your winters, I sort of think may be harsher then ours. We get snow, just once in a while. 

My theory is, if the weather isn’t at refrigerator temperature all the time,  It is breaking down! In the summer, we add water. 

We are not experts at it, by any means. The tribe has had classes about it, and gave out the compost barrels, but it was some time ago. We limp along...managing.

(It can get gross. If flies get in there. Which they do. Sometimes I feed them to the birds! The maggots)

You'd be surprised at what you can quietly do on your own. It amounts to what you bring into your home. And, how you use it. 

Victoria, in this system, we can only do so much. Do what you can, as little as it may be. Jehovah knows how much you love the earth he has given us, and what the potential is for you in the new system. Don’t fret over what you can’t do anything about. 

Just do your best to enjoy the life He has given you. Today. If you do that, tomorrow will take care of itself! And, we will recycle, and just do things we never imagined we could do. As a gift from Jehovah! 

Edited November 28, 2018 by Miss Bea
‘Scuse me!

[Qapla]

We haven't been able to do much composting with our kitchen food waste ... by the time the pigs have eaten their share, there is nothing left to compost

[Myew]

13 hours ago, Victoria said:

How do you compost? Is it possible to do it in winter?

Some people living in tiny homes build vermicompost bins under their sinks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermicompost
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/composting/vermicomposting/vermiculture-under-sinks.htm
https://heavy.com/garden/2018/10/kitchen-compost-bin/

[Victoria]

6 hours ago, Myew said:

Some people living in tiny homes build vermicompost bins under their sinks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermicompost
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/composting/vermicomposting/vermiculture-under-sinks.htm
https://heavy.com/garden/2018/10/kitchen-compost-bin/

I can ask my husband to make it but we have to wait for the spring to get some worms, at least 5 months. I would prefer to buy a small pig but my husband will never let me do it.

[Victoria]

I feel frustrated. I don't think I can change anything in my life to reduce my garbage. All I can do is to persuade myself that I am doing enough. No car, no flying, almost no cosmetics. I don't use single use plates and cutlery because there is no need to do it. But I have to eat something and cook for my husband. The only thing that comes to my mind is to buy canned food because metal is the only thing I can sell for recycling. But it's not cheap and not healthy in my opinion.

[Victoria]

I think I can start with dairy products. I will try to reduce buying them and maybe find a farmer.

[carlos]

One thing we used to do (until they began charging for plastic bags) was reusing plastic bags as gargabe bags. That way we didn't have to buy specific garbage bags and the amount of plastic we put in the garbage container was lesser.

[Miss Bea]

13 minutes ago, carlos said:

One thing we used to do (until they began charging for plastic bags) was reusing plastic bags as gargabe bags. That way we didn't have to buy specific garbage bags and the amount of plastic we put in the garbage container was lesser.

We have a bag hanging in the pantry. For plastic bags, and everything plastic we can recycle. There’s a store in town, and we put it in a big container they have there. Sometimes we will give them to a second hand store. I don’t like that much. I think some of them end up waving at me from the trees! 

[Thesauron]

I think I can start with dairy products. I will try to reduce buying them and maybe find a farmer.

Yes, that’s a good start. Take a look at what you eat, and see if you could make any changes there. And, when you buy food things, is it possible to bring your own container?