What small things did you do today to reduce your environmental impact?

[OtherJen]

Walked to my polling place instead of driving.

Made a vinegar/salt/borax solution to clean the living room rug instead of using a heavily scented commercial cleaner.

[okcisok]

I put my compost scraps in a zipper bag in the freezer. When it's this hot out, I just dump the whole frozen brick in the compost when the bag gets full. When it's colder out, I let it thaw in the sink for a while before I take it out. No smell, and helps keep the freezer full and working at optimal levels.

I started a new job where I can walk/bike to work! There are 4 others who bike regularly out of about a 25 person staff, so pretty high percentage for here in the lower Midwest. I had to drive to a training today, but I made sure to carpool to our lunch portion.

I'm also still picking up cans for recycling as I walk my dog. I bring home plastic bags from work or ask friends who don't carry their own bags for their plastic bags. Haven't bought dog poop bags in almost two years!

[cats]

I have been following up my letter writing over the weekend (I heard back from one friend that they wrote too!) and have decided I need to broaden my horizons beyond elected officials.  So I wrote to the customer service contact of several of the grocery store chains we occasionally frequent and asked about food waste and what they are doing to cut back on it.  I specifically mentioned that I've read that a lot of food gets wasted before it even gets to the store because it's perfectly good but doesn't meet appearance standards (i.e. irregular shape and color) and that I've noticed the produce at these stores is quite uniform.

Anyway, I actually heard back from a real person at one chain (Sprouts, if anyone would care to join me).  They told me all about their practices with giving edible but not saleable food to hunger relief, and inedible food to composting or animal feed, but nothing about the incoming end.  So I wrote back and thanked them for the response and reiterated that I was interested in their buying practices and said I would be more inclined to shop there if I saw them promoting things like "irregular" produce.  Will be interested to see if I hear more back.

Also sniffed the dress I wore today and decided it was good for one more day instead of tossing it in the wash.  Less laundry and less wear and tear on the dress.  My husband seems to go through way less clothing than I do and I need to start taking a bigger page out of his book on this one.

[OtherJen]

I have been following up my letter writing over the weekend (I heard back from one friend that they wrote too!) and have decided I need to broaden my horizons beyond elected officials.  So I wrote to the customer service contact of several of the grocery store chains we occasionally frequent and asked about food waste and what they are doing to cut back on it.  I specifically mentioned that I've read that a lot of food gets wasted before it even gets to the store because it's perfectly good but doesn't meet appearance standards (i.e. irregular shape and color) and that I've noticed the produce at these stores is quite uniform.

Anyway, I actually heard back from a real person at one chain (Sprouts, if anyone would care to join me).  They told me all about their practices with giving edible but not saleable food to hunger relief, and inedible food to composting or animal feed, but nothing about the incoming end.  So I wrote back and thanked them for the response and reiterated that I was interested in their buying practices and said I would be more inclined to shop there if I saw them promoting things like "irregular" produce.  Will be interested to see if I hear more back.

Also sniffed the dress I wore today and decided it was good for one more day instead of tossing it in the wash.  Less laundry and less wear and tear on the dress.  My husband seems to go through way less clothing than I do and I need to start taking a bigger page out of his book on this one.

I don’t know where you live, but you might be interested in a program like Hungry Harvest, which is like a CSA for exactly the type of irregular and surplus produce you’re describing. We’ve been subscribers since it expanded to our area in early June, and we’ve been pleased with it. For about $20 per week (including a small delivery charge), we get a sturdy, reusable/recyclable cardboard box of several different types of irregular/surplus veggies delivered to our front porch every Friday (you can get mixed fruit/veg boxes too, but we tend to prefer veggies).

[cats]

I have been following up my letter writing over the weekend (I heard back from one friend that they wrote too!) and have decided I need to broaden my horizons beyond elected officials.  So I wrote to the customer service contact of several of the grocery store chains we occasionally frequent and asked about food waste and what they are doing to cut back on it.  I specifically mentioned that I've read that a lot of food gets wasted before it even gets to the store because it's perfectly good but doesn't meet appearance standards (i.e. irregular shape and color) and that I've noticed the produce at these stores is quite uniform.

Anyway, I actually heard back from a real person at one chain (Sprouts, if anyone would care to join me).  They told me all about their practices with giving edible but not saleable food to hunger relief, and inedible food to composting or animal feed, but nothing about the incoming end.  So I wrote back and thanked them for the response and reiterated that I was interested in their buying practices and said I would be more inclined to shop there if I saw them promoting things like "irregular" produce.  Will be interested to see if I hear more back.

Also sniffed the dress I wore today and decided it was good for one more day instead of tossing it in the wash.  Less laundry and less wear and tear on the dress.  My husband seems to go through way less clothing than I do and I need to start taking a bigger page out of his book on this one.

I don’t know where you live, but you might be interested in a program like Hungry Harvest, which is like a CSA for exactly the type of irregular and surplus produce you’re describing. We’ve been subscribers since it expanded to our area in early June, and we’ve been pleased with it. For about $20 per week (including a small delivery charge), we get a sturdy, reusable/recyclable cardboard box of several different types of irregular/surplus veggies delivered to our front porch every Friday (you can get mixed fruit/veg boxes too, but we tend to prefer veggies).

Thanks for the suggestion!  I actually buy most of our produce at a local grocery that does sell more irregular produce and it also winds up being $20-25/week for our fruit/veggies, so I have a solution that is working well for me personally.  However, that's just 2 stores whereas Sprouts is a larger chain with a much bigger customer base, so I figure it's worth writing and asking if they'd consider doing something similar and actively promoting it to customers as a good thing.  I guess I'm lately feeling that while personal action is great and necessary, it's not enough. So I'm working on reducing impact also by reaching out and asking people (i.e. elected officials) and businesses with a larger impact than I have to do more also.  There are a lot of people in the US living a very carbon intensive lifestyle and I don't think they're going to change that unless they get bigger nudges than just their crazy hippy frugal neighbor or co-worker mentioning it :)

[MoolahLula]

Tonight I bought $33 of thrift store clothes, mostly dresses, because I have discovered a great local thrift store and joined there rewards program.  I will maybe return one item and donate a bag of clothes on Saturday myself.  Reduce reuse recycle, or something like that, right.

[greengardens]

If this is the inappropriate place for this let me know and I will delete but does anyone have any environmentally friendly ways to store breast milk? Right now we’re using these one time use plastic bags, which are very convenient and easy to store, but I hate one use plastic. We’re trying to be as green as possible with baby, using cloth diapers, hand me down clothes and toys, etc... but this has me stumped

[HappierAtHome]

If this is the inappropriate place for this let me know and I will delete but does anyone have any environmentally friendly ways to store breast milk? Right now we’re using these one time use plastic bags, which are very convenient and easy to store, but I hate one use plastic. We’re trying to be as green as possible with baby, using cloth diapers, hand me down clothes and toys, etc... but this has me stumped

What about glass jars? They're freezer safe as long as you leave room at the top for the milk to expand.

[Mon€yp€nny]

I realized we were doing a lot of things that did not fit in our goals. I really want to change a number of things to get back on track.

So I went to the organic farm just a bit over a mile from my home yesterday. Due to medical issues and yes, laziness, I had not been there for at least 6 months. Unfortunately, I drove there by car. I really have to see whether I can get a bike attachment for my wheelchair so I can cycle again.
It was really nice to go again, the atmosphere there is so relaxed, I enjoyed watching she sheep a bit with the fruit trees in the background. The lady that runs the store once a week writes your receipt on scap paper. She has a calculator but hardly uses it. I pay her with my bank app, I just transfer the money.
Got bio dynamic veggies, fruit, eggs and heavenly goat's yoghurt.  The BD eggs are a bit expensive, think we will buy organic from the supermarket next week.

I'm also cooking more vegetarian and vegan meals. Found nice lookings meals on Pintrest.

Also I'm working on more minimalism and zero waste. I have no idea what to do with the plastic straws, makeup cotton pads etc etc I don't need anymore. The unopened will go to the local charity for the poor but the others? Maybe I'll put everything in a box for a year, date on it and everything that I haven't used will go to the correct recycling bin after a year.

[Hirondelle]

Went for a daytrip with a friend using the train. She's vegan so we had organic fries with vegan mayo for lunch.

For dinner I ate some crackers and chutney that were about to go bad.

[jengod]

If this is the inappropriate place for this let me know and I will delete but does anyone have any environmentally friendly ways to store breast milk? Right now we’re using these one time use plastic bags, which are very convenient and easy to store, but I hate one use plastic. We’re trying to be as green as possible with baby, using cloth diapers, hand me down clothes and toys, etc... but this has me stumped

What about glass jars? They're freezer safe as long as you leave room at the top for the milk to expand.

I did this and it works, just be sure you use straight-sided jars or the jars will crack with the expansion in the freezer. Jelly jars in the 4oz or 8oz sizes work well. You can also buy reusable plastic lids if you don't want to use the metal rings and lids.

[Imma]

Also I'm working on more minimalism and zero waste. I have no idea what to do with the plastic straws, makeup cotton pads etc etc I don't need anymore. The unopened will go to the local charity for the poor but the others? Maybe I'll put everything in a box for a year, date on it and everything that I haven't used will go to the correct recycling bin after a year.

Depending on how strict you are on minimalism, I would just store them and use them up and don't buy new ones from now on. Cotton pads have many uses. If you're really certain you're never going to use them again, I would donate them to a friend / relative who doesn't mind that the packaging has been opened.

My mother always told me that we mend everything except for underwear, because we're not paupers. I bought some new pairs of underwear last week and the elastic came off one pair the very first time I washed it. I sewed it back on. I'm pretty good with mending and repurposing but this was a first for me. l also zig zagged around the edges of a towel that was starting to fray. Eventually, the towel will be cut up for cleaning rags, but I generally only do that when the first holes start to appear.

[mxmoney]

We've hardly turned the AC on all day!

[Mon€yp€nny]

@Imma, I would have returned that underwear without any shame. I'm replacing all my undies with Sloggi everlast. They come with lifetime warranty. I was so sick of low quality underwear, total waste of cotton etc.

[greengardens]

If this is the inappropriate place for this let me know and I will delete but does anyone have any environmentally friendly ways to store breast milk? Right now we’re using these one time use plastic bags, which are very convenient and easy to store, but I hate one use plastic. We’re trying to be as green as possible with baby, using cloth diapers, hand me down clothes and toys, etc... but this has me stumped

What about glass jars? They're freezer safe as long as you leave room at the top for the milk to expand.

I did this and it works, just be sure you use straight-sided jars or the jars will crack with the expansion in the freezer. Jelly jars in the 4oz or 8oz sizes work well. You can also buy reusable plastic lids if you don't want to use the metal rings and lids.

Thanks! I’ll have to check with daycare to make sure they’ll accept the glass jars but at the very least I can use them for my at home stash

[Anatidae V]

If this is the inappropriate place for this let me know and I will delete but does anyone have any environmentally friendly ways to store breast milk? Right now we’re using these one time use plastic bags, which are very convenient and easy to store, but I hate one use plastic. We’re trying to be as green as possible with baby, using cloth diapers, hand me down clothes and toys, etc... but this has me stumped

What about glass jars? They're freezer safe as long as you leave room at the top for the milk to expand.

I did this and it works, just be sure you use straight-sided jars or the jars will crack with the expansion in the freezer. Jelly jars in the 4oz or 8oz sizes work well. You can also buy reusable plastic lids if you don't want to use the metal rings and lids.

Thanks! I’ll have to check with daycare to make sure they’ll accept the glass jars but at the very least I can use them for my at home stash

I use plastic tubs that are made for my pump, unsure if you could find something similar? It means I don't have to worry about smashing something in a sleep deprived moment.
https://www.babybunting.com.au/avent-via-breast-milk-containers.html

[jengod]

Took transit and back to my first ever mammogram. Kept a car off the road and didn’t have to pay for parking ($9 minimum).

[Linda_Norway]

Walked to work and will walk back later today.

[OmahaSteph]

Packed lunch using reusable containers, including a silicone envelope in place of a plastic sandwich bag. Continue to use a metal straw at work. Lunch consisted largely of produce I grew at home without pesticides (just neem oil).

[cats]

Got hungry at work, contemplated buying a snack, but after reading about China turning away more and more “recycling” from the US I decided I could stand not to add another piece of packaging to the trash. Ate some oatmeal (purchased in bulk) that I keep at my desk for such occasions  instead.

[Linda_Norway]

Walk to work again. Will not walk back, as my DH will come over here with the car for a repair.

[dashuk]

At work I am working on 3 initiatives - EV charging, hand dryers over paper towels and eliminating bottled water.  They each have challenges but I plan to be successful with every one of them.

Interested by this one, because it doesn't appear as clear cut either way as, say, drinking tapwater. Fair amount of embodied energy in making a hand dryer, plus a kW or so of power when it's running. Paper towels could be made from pretty low-grade recycled paper, and will biodegrade pretty quickly. But then you're going to need a lot of them over the lifetime of the hand-dryer, they probably come wrapped in plastic, etc. Have you seen any sort of whole-life analysis of this?

In the spirit of the thread, while I was pondering this, rather than use the bathroom on my floor of the office, I walked downstairs to the changing rooms, because I've got a towel there for showering after the cycle commute anyway. No paper towels or hand dryers involved!

[cats]

At work I am working on 3 initiatives - EV charging, hand dryers over paper towels and eliminating bottled water.  They each have challenges but I plan to be successful with every one of them.

Interested by this one, because it doesn't appear as clear cut either way as, say, drinking tapwater. Fair amount of embodied energy in making a hand dryer, plus a kW or so of power when it's running. Paper towels could be made from pretty low-grade recycled paper, and will biodegrade pretty quickly. But then you're going to need a lot of them over the lifetime of the hand-dryer, they probably come wrapped in plastic, etc. Have you seen any sort of whole-life analysis of this?

In the spirit of the thread, while I was pondering this, rather than use the bathroom on my floor of the office, I walked downstairs to the changing rooms, because I've got a towel there for showering after the cycle commute anyway. No paper towels or hand dryers involved!

There is life cycle analysis of this, the hand dryers appear to win: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969715001424.  From the abstract, it looks like the major impact of the hand dryer is the power it uses.  If your office building is powered by renewables, I imagine that might help to make the dryer even more attractive.

My dad used to tell us to just shake off our hands or wipe them on our pants rather than using a paper towel or dryer and I think I need to start doing that more often.  There's no real NEED for either paper towel or a dryer for me personally in most instances.

[RetiredAt63]

My dad used to tell us to just shake off our hands or wipe them on our pants rather than using a paper towel or dryer and I think I need to start doing that more often.  There's no real NEED for either paper towel or a dryer for me personally in most instances.

Aah, yes, the old "Be modern, drip dry" approach.   ;-)

[dashuk]

There is life cycle analysis of this, the hand dryers appear to win: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969715001424.  From the abstract, it looks like the major impact of the hand dryer is the power it uses.  If your office building is powered by renewables, I imagine that might help to make the dryer even more attractive.

My dad used to tell us to just shake off our hands or wipe them on our pants rather than using a paper towel or dryer and I think I need to start doing that more often.  There's no real NEED for either paper towel or a dryer for me personally in most instances.

Interesting, thanks @cats! Would be even more interesting to see the working, but I must admit, my devotion to the subject doesn't extend to buying access to paywalled journals. ;-)

Child #1 has a bit of a thing about the noise of hand dryers, so we do a fair amount of drying hands on clothes when we're out and about.

[cats]

I have resolved to be less lazy and fully power down my workstation at the office before leaving each evening, resulting in less power use overnight.  Have done it every day this week so far.  I am actually finding it's good for me in another way--knowing I will have to shut everything down seems to also be nudging me to take 5-10 minutes to figure out where I am with all my tasks and what I need to prioritize doing the next day, rather than just leaving stuff open as a "reminder" to work on it.

Discovered that my city is proposing adding a 25 cent charge to all disposable food containers at restaurants (due to China turning away more US plastics).  Wrote my councilperson saying I thought this was a great idea.  Then wrote my state legislature representative and asked that they consider introducing similar legislation at the state level.  I am actually quite enjoying my new ongoing project of contacting elected officials as it is causing me to research a bit more about what rules/legislation are already being proposed.  For example, I discovered that not one, but two carbon taxes have actually been introduced in the US house, although neither of them are expected to pass or really even get out of committee.  However, I did write to my US representative and asked her to consider adding her support or co-sponsorship to the carbon tax that legislation that has been endorsed by the NRDC (the other one is not expected to result in as large a reduction in emissions and would pretty much gut the Clean Air Act).

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

Hand dryers: ewww. Am I the only one who read that article about them spreading fecal bacteria? I prefer to wipe my hands on my gym towel or my pants.

I had too many flyers printed for a library program. I just cut up a bunch of them to use as scratch paper. (We use a lot of little pieces of paper for writing Dewey numbers on, tagging items for transit, etc.).

[chaskavitch]

Sad news: Sprouts will no longer let you use reusable bags for bulk items :( 

The cashier told me yesterday when I was checking out.  I'm assuming it is a liability thing, where they want to make sure that you don't get sick because your bags are filthy and then blame it on the store.  I'm so bummed.  I try to not even buy bulk items unless I have my bags with me, I hate using the stupid plastic bags.  Even if you reuse them, they don't last nearly as long as mesh bags.

[cats]

How are they going to enforce that? Refuse to ring you up? Station people in the bulk section to put your items in plastic?

[chaskavitch]

How are they going to enforce that? Refuse to ring you up? Station people in the bulk section to put your items in plastic?

I have no idea, that's a good question.  If it really is a liability issue, it's not like they can put the bulk food back once it's in your reusable bags, and it would just get ridiculous making people transfer their goods from a reusable bag to a plastic one.

[cats]

Honestly, I would wait for them to actually post in writing that it’s not allowed.  It seems like something rather out of sync with the image they try to project.

[BuffaloStache]

Posting mostly to follow, but I haven't yet read all of the great ideas in this thread.

[Bracken_Joy]

-Biked for our first grocery trip, walked for our second. (2.5 miles each way and 1.5mi each way, respectively).
-At the first store, knew I would use the bell pepper I was buying that day, so I bought one that was softening- seemed likely it'd get thrown out if no one bought it today, and it's being cooked anyway.
-Reusable grocery bags or paneers for the trips.

[pancakes]

I purchased rice at the bulk food store. Eye wateringly expensive and I didn’t BYO container so used a paper bag BUT since we are living in a small space we have been buying small quantities of pantry goods at a time which means so much plastic waste.

I have also been doing my BYO coffee cup and walking to my local cafes while we work out how to repair our machine. It has been nice to get out and walk around different areas of the neighbourhood to try different cafes but I am keen to start making my own coffee again soon for the cost factor.

[Linda_Norway]

Yesterday I took the train to an event in another town. That was a very good idea as it was parking chaos where I had to be. I also walked to the train station, half an hour each way.

Today I walked to work and will walk back again.

In the weekend I made an apple cake from leftover apples from work. Otherwise someone will throw them away.

In the freezer I had another 3 bags of cut-up leftover apples from work. Yesterday I cooked them with sugar and cinnamon and put it in glass jars. It can be used as a part of dinner. And now it doesn't fill up the freezer that I need for storing cheap bread on sale.

In the weekend we ate fish soup from self-caught fish that we had in the freezer, on Saturday a trout and on Sunday a cod.

[magnet18]

I took a cup of coffee in a travel mug to work, instead of leaving the last of the pot to go cold and drinking the free coffee at work

[Mon€yp€nny]

Bought bio cotton shirts where I wouldn't expect it. I read an article about C&A (Dutch chain, referred to by my husband as 'Cheap & Awful'), they sell a cradle to cradle gold certificate jeans. They are the first in Europe or the world I believe. I still have enough jeans but I did need long sleeved shirts.

My 8 yr daughter had seen a TV show where a headband was made from scraps of fabric and metal wire. She asked for fabric so I told her to look in the fabric recycle bag. I found metal wire in my grandfather's old toolbox and my daughter found a blouse with dirty spots. A bit of sewing and sewing lesson and she is thrilled. Ready for school. Grandpa is smiling from.heaven and probably looking slightly smug at my grandma 'see, I told you it was worth saving!'
She also got a new piece of clothing at the thrift store yesterday and is really happy with it.(Nothing in my size that I was looking for unfortunately). Saves new fabric too.
I don't have many clothes but I still found 'double bought items', planning to sell what's still very nice/ new, donate what's still good.
One of those items is a white blouse, I de-stained the short and long sleeved other two I had.
I needed something for an unexpected funeral and just bought something that matched, it was a emotionally and physically draining fortnight. I shopped for a wedding and the funeral in one day for the whole family and shopped for husband and the kids first and myself as last when I was tired. I also had a similar, but too warm, blazer at home. That one is going too.
And I learned to make sure we have something dark and nice in our closets to prevent blind last minute shopping. Something eco preferably

[Linda_Norway]

Walked to work this morning. I need to pick up a car from the repair shop in another town. I will probably get to sit with a colleague who drives in that direction. Or I will take the train.

[pancakes]

We decided to sit at a cafe and drink coffee today so left without our reusable cups (except the baby took hers). To our surprise our cafe choice serves all their coffee in takeaway cups even though they have a huge dine-in area. We kept walking and found somewhere using normal cups.

As a bonus the baby ordered a babyccino (we might be those people but I can’t bring myself to actually order it using that word) and we got the 50c reusable cup discount off a $1 drink because she brought her own cup.

[Linda_Norway]

Taking the train to the city. Meeting a friend who will cycle. Going to a festival where they encourage you to bring a reusable cup.

[Anatidae V]

We walked to the local shops to get our handful of required groceries. I've also been buying most of our meat from the local butcher, and trying to get more from the local greengrocer who stocks locally grown food.

[Mon€yp€nny]

Went to the organic farm nearby for our vegetables.

Collected rainwater. I'll be honest, cause I needed rainwater for a recipe to make dark laundry detergent with woodash and hedera.
I also use our rainbarrel for tapwater that I save from the kitchen so I needed fresh rainwater.
 When the new roof is on the shed, we can collect the biggest portion of rainwater from our roofs.

Will make dish detergent and start the laundry detergent tomorrow hopefully, from ash from our fireplace and leaves from hedera we have loads of in the garden.
I also have to take cutlings from the hedera and plant those in pots. We want a green privacy fence. Growing our own plants will save some co2 and petrol.

[jengod]

My two-old-old has been on a nice streak of signaling “potty” during the day thanks to lots of messaging from Signing Time’s Potty Time video. She’s even able to wear underwear a few hours at a time. This is a nice part-time upgrade from either disposables or all the laundry of cloth.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gaja]

I haven't flown privately for years, but business travels are harder to cut. Before the summer, I tested the night train on a journey where it wouldn't be a problem to arrive a bit tired or late, and it worked quite well. So this past week, I got a return ticket with the night train, rather than going by plane. It is a bit more costly for my employer, but since the travel policy does emphazise environmental choices, they can't really protest. I did choose to give up some of my per diem, since the train took so much more time.

Only got 3-4 hour sleep on the trip north, but going home I was used to the starts and stops, and slept through 90% of the night. The extra hours in town was used registering at the local library, so I could use their free wifi and get access to the library outside opening hours.

If this is the inappropriate place for this let me know and I will delete but does anyone have any environmentally friendly ways to store breast milk? Right now we’re using these one time use plastic bags, which are very convenient and easy to store, but I hate one use plastic. We’re trying to be as green as possible with baby, using cloth diapers, hand me down clothes and toys, etc... but this has me stumped

I used multiuse plastic containers, or froze directly in the bottle. I seem to remember that you could get lids that fit the bottles? We got the bottles second hand, and re-sold them afterwards, so it wasn't really a big expense. Glass jars sounds like a good choice for hygiene, but less so for practicality.

Don't know why that would be an inappropriate subject?

[greengardens]

If this is the inappropriate place for this let me know and I will delete but does anyone have any environmentally friendly ways to store breast milk? Right now we’re using these one time use plastic bags, which are very convenient and easy to store, but I hate one use plastic. We’re trying to be as green as possible with baby, using cloth diapers, hand me down clothes and toys, etc... but this has me stumped

I used multiuse plastic containers, or froze directly in the bottle. I seem to remember that you could get lids that fit the bottles? We got the bottles second hand, and re-sold them afterwards, so it wasn't really a big expense. Glass jars sounds like a good choice for hygiene, but less so for practicality.

Don't know why that would be an inappropriate subject?

doesn't look like daycare will accept glass jars. They seem to prefer the plastic bags, but will accept bottles so I'll have to find some more. Hopefully I can source them secondhand. I wasn't sure if this thread was strictly "share what you've done to be environmentally friendly" or if an occasional off topic question was allowed. Some threads seem to be more strict than others.

I'm slowly removing plastic from my beauty routine (emphasis on slowly). I've ordered plastic free dental floss, deodorant and facial moisturizer. These products are quite a bit more expensive than my normal products, which hurts the mustachian part of my brain. My goal is to eventually replace the "big offenders" such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo/conditioner, but I'm having a harder time making that jump.

[Linda_Norway]

<...>

I'm slowly removing plastic from my beauty routine (emphasis on slowly). I've ordered plastic free dental floss, deodorant and facial moisturizer. These products are quite a bit more expensive than my normal products, which hurts the mustachian part of my brain. My goal is to eventually replace the "big offenders" such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo/conditioner, but I'm having a harder time making that jump.

Buying plastic free toothbrushes cannot be easy and cheap.
For shampoo, I have reduced the number of times I wash my hair. I think I now often go 5 days without a wash, while earlier I washed almost every other day.

Today I walked to work again and will walk back as well.

[Bracken_Joy]

If this is the inappropriate place for this let me know and I will delete but does anyone have any environmentally friendly ways to store breast milk? Right now we’re using these one time use plastic bags, which are very convenient and easy to store, but I hate one use plastic. We’re trying to be as green as possible with baby, using cloth diapers, hand me down clothes and toys, etc... but this has me stumped

I used multiuse plastic containers, or froze directly in the bottle. I seem to remember that you could get lids that fit the bottles? We got the bottles second hand, and re-sold them afterwards, so it wasn't really a big expense. Glass jars sounds like a good choice for hygiene, but less so for practicality.

Don't know why that would be an inappropriate subject?

doesn't look like daycare will accept glass jars. They seem to prefer the plastic bags, but will accept bottles so I'll have to find some more. Hopefully I can source them secondhand. I wasn't sure if this thread was strictly "share what you've done to be environmentally friendly" or if an occasional off topic question was allowed. Some threads seem to be more strict than others.

I'm slowly removing plastic from my beauty routine (emphasis on slowly). I've ordered plastic free dental floss, deodorant and facial moisturizer. These products are quite a bit more expensive than my normal products, which hurts the mustachian part of my brain. My goal is to eventually replace the "big offenders" such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo/conditioner, but I'm having a harder time making that jump.

Have you tried shampoo bars? I haven't yet (I use very small amounts of product and only wash my hair twice a week at most, so shampoo/conditioner routine has been a lower priority to address than other items), but I know a friend who really likes it. You can get it in the paper soap wrappers.

[greengardens]

Have you tried shampoo bars? I haven't yet (I use very small amounts of product and only wash my hair twice a week at most, so shampoo/conditioner routine has been a lower priority to address than other items), but I know a friend who really likes it. You can get it in the paper soap wrappers.

I’ve thought about it but am leery to try them. It’s taken me years to find a product that works well with my hair but if I want to realize my plastic free beauty routine I will have to get over my misgivings

[Bracken_Joy]

Have you tried shampoo bars? I haven't yet (I use very small amounts of product and only wash my hair twice a week at most, so shampoo/conditioner routine has been a lower priority to address than other items), but I know a friend who really likes it. You can get it in the paper soap wrappers.

I’ve thought about it but am leery to try them. It’s taken me years to find a product that works well with my hair but if I want to realize my plastic free beauty routine I will have to get over my misgivings

I definitely relate to this! I just try to give myself permission to go slow, and not try and change everything at once, so that I don't get frustrated and give up. Every change helps, even if you aren't being "perfect". Some changes that last forever have a much bigger impact than ALL the changes that only last a short time.

[jengod]

* Cargo biked to groceries yesterday and cargo biked the school run today

* Line dried a load of clothes

* Lots of composting of fall leaves and vacuum-cleaner guts and the unrecoverable leftover bits from school lunches