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

[pachnik]

The recycling program for my suburb doesn't take toothpaste tubes.  :(
But the suburb I work in does, so I brought my used toothpaste tube from home and put it into the blue recycling bin for someone in my work neighbourhood. 

[leonblack]

Biked 22 miles instead of driving.

[Dollar Slice]

Remembered to bring all my reusable bags to a concert tonight so I could stop for groceries on the way home. The cashier must have been very into the anti-plastic-waste movement since she made a point of telling me that she was giving me a 10 cent "bring your own bag" credit not just for my tote bag, but for each individual produce bag and my backpack.

I tried a new batch cooking recipe this week and made carbon-emissions-friendly substitutions - substituted poultry for beef and used extra vegetables to bulk it up and give the recipe a couple of extra servings without increasing the amount of animal products.

[jengod]

* I hauled three pails of water to a native tree I planted in a no man’s land near my house.

* Composted lots of food waste, dryer lint and so forth. Since recycling is ever more difficult, I plan to start shredding all paper and cardboard that comes on the property and using it for our compost bins and worm towers.

[imadandylion]

This week's batch cooking was a vegan stir fry made partly with local veg from the farmer's market.

I also ordered some reusable silicone zip-top bags since I had a gift card for Amazon I'd gotten from doing a survey. I like how versatile they are - they're dishwasher safe, you can use them to cook food, you can use them to pack snacks or meals, you can freeze food in them, they're non-toxic and BPA-free, etc. I read somewhere that you can, e.g., freeze chicken with a marinade in the bag, and then pop the bag right into simmering water and poach them without even having to remove the chicken from the bag. No more raw chicken hands/cutting board/etc. for your weeknight dinner. Pretty nice!

What kind of bags do you buy?  I'm always skeptical buying them from the internet, because I don't know how they'll work, and I don't want to fork over $$$ for one that's just ok.  So I'll just trust you, internet stranger, and your recommendations :)

Oh, I just bought some no-name brand from Amazon :-/  They had a lot of good reviews so I hope they will hold up OK. I don't even know if there are "good name brand" bags being sold anywhere, I haven't seen any. (They had some at Bed Bath & Beyond, but they were a brand I'd never heard of and were $20/bag instead of $5/bag.)

If one of us remembers in a couple months I can let you know how they're holding up!

So, for the record: not having great luck with these bags. Two of the bags turned out to have a bit of a defect and one of them tore when I was struggling with the defective part. These were the ones I purchased. They are also not 100% watertight, although I think they would be fine for most storage uses. I wouldn't use them to store liquids (like freezing stock) and I wouldn't submerge them in liquid (like for sous vide or reheating food). They held up OK as long as I didn't squeeze them, but they leaked when I did. (We have a rigorous product testing regimen here in the Slicey household... ;-) )

I have those exact ones from like 2-3 years ago. I really hate them. I recommend them to no one. Good idea in theory, but i find the bars that you slide across the top extremely hard to remove sometimes, and they don't always go all the way to the end to close them completely - always leaving at least 3/4" open. So now I relegate them to saving vegetable scraps in the freezer to make vegetable broth. But I still hate them whenever I see them.
I also find washing them cumbersome because they don't seem to open up very well (supposed to be able to have that relatively flat standing bottom instead of just being a flat pouch like those plastic ziplock style bags).

So we just go with glass containers for everything now. I don't really have a 'need' for the bags, but I thought they'd be helpful to transport fruit and nuts while being relatively compact and less heavy than glass in our work bags. Since we both commute by either public transportation or by bike, weight matters.

[TrMama]

It's been a crappy week for me in terms of environmental impact since I've been driving to work, driving kids to camp and even drove back into downtown two nights this week for a work dinner and our anniversary dinner. However, my one success was convincing the group I work with to cut one trip off the schedule in favour of a Skype conference call. That saved at least a few cross country flights and made the one person who seems to live on the road very happy.

[Dollar Slice]

I have those exact ones from like 2-3 years ago. I really hate them. I recommend them to no one. Good idea in theory, but i find the bars that you slide across the top extremely hard to remove sometimes, and they don't always go all the way to the end to close them completely - always leaving at least 3/4" open. So now I relegate them to saving vegetable scraps in the freezer to make vegetable broth. But I still hate them whenever I see them.
I also find washing them cumbersome because they don't seem to open up very well (supposed to be able to have that relatively flat standing bottom instead of just being a flat pouch like those plastic ziplock style bags).

I'm amazed they got such good reviews on Amazon! Two out of four of mine don't open all the way so you can't use the flat/standing bottom, which is really useful on the ones that work right. I almost wanted to take a knife to it to try and cut that part open, but I'm sure I would just put a hole in it...

I'm tempted to try and get my money back from Amazon but it would be the second purchase in a row that I had to do that and I'm afraid my account will get flagged or something... (I don't order from them often but there was something in June I couldn't find locally and it arrived crushed/torn)

@TrMama - cutting out a few cross country flights is a huge impact! Nice! Just one leg of one of those flights more than offsets your extra driving.

[imadandylion]

I have those exact ones from like 2-3 years ago. I really hate them. I recommend them to no one. Good idea in theory, but i find the bars that you slide across the top extremely hard to remove sometimes, and they don't always go all the way to the end to close them completely - always leaving at least 3/4" open. So now I relegate them to saving vegetable scraps in the freezer to make vegetable broth. But I still hate them whenever I see them.
I also find washing them cumbersome because they don't seem to open up very well (supposed to be able to have that relatively flat standing bottom instead of just being a flat pouch like those plastic ziplock style bags).

I'm amazed they got such good reviews on Amazon! Two out of four of mine don't open all the way so you can't use the flat/standing bottom, which is really useful on the ones that work right. I almost wanted to take a knife to it to try and cut that part open, but I'm sure I would just put a hole in it...

I'm tempted to try and get my money back from Amazon but it would be the second purchase in a row that I had to do that and I'm afraid my account will get flagged or something... (I don't order from them often but there was something in June I couldn't find locally and it arrived crushed/torn)

Doesn't hurt to try. They have much bigger fish to fry as they say, so I'm sure it won't be flagged. A while back, when I tried to return a couple things because I made a mistake, they actually just let me keep it and refunded me the costs. Not saying they'd do that in this case, but there might still be the option to return the dissatisfactory item and receive some sort of credit? Try communicating with the seller.

I've been wondering if those 'Stashers' silicone bags were any better. Anyone know?

[jengod]

I have those exact ones from like 2-3 years ago. I really hate them. I recommend them to no one. Good idea in theory, but i find the bars that you slide across the top extremely hard to remove sometimes, and they don't always go all the way to the end to close them completely - always leaving at least 3/4" open. So now I relegate them to saving vegetable scraps in the freezer to make vegetable broth. But I still hate them whenever I see them.
I also find washing them cumbersome because they don't seem to open up very well (supposed to be able to have that relatively flat standing bottom instead of just being a flat pouch like those plastic ziplock style bags).

I'm amazed they got such good reviews on Amazon! Two out of four of mine don't open all the way so you can't use the flat/standing bottom, which is really useful on the ones that work right. I almost wanted to take a knife to it to try and cut that part open, but I'm sure I would just put a hole in it...

I'm tempted to try and get my money back from Amazon but it would be the second purchase in a row that I had to do that and I'm afraid my account will get flagged or something... (I don't order from them often but there was something in June I couldn't find locally and it arrived crushed/torn)

Doesn't hurt to try. They have much bigger fish to fry as they say, so I'm sure it won't be flagged. A while back, when I tried to return a couple things because I made a mistake, they actually just let me keep it and refunded me the costs. Not saying they'd do that in this case, but there might still be the option to return the dissatisfactory item and receive some sort of credit? Try communicating with the seller.

I've been wondering if those 'Stashers' silicone bags were any better. Anyone know?

I’ve not done rigorous product testing but we’ve had Stashers bags for about four months now. They have been great for both sending sandwiches in lunches and as freezer bags for ground turkey and so forth.

Very sturdy and seem to seal well—prying open the seal is the biggest challenge.

[Fresh Bread]

We were going to a picnic and were asked to bring disposable plates and a cake from the supermarket (packaged in a plastic box). Instead we brought reusable picnic plates and cups, our own cutlery and got a cake from a bakery so that it came in a card box. There was minimal rubbish to chuck out at the end, it was pretty good.

[Dollar Slice]

A friend was going to throw away a plastic water bottle while we were downtown, and I offered to put it in my bag to take it home and recycle it. I guess that's technically reducing someone else's environmental impact, but I'll take it where I can get it :-)

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

Walked my kids to their new school! So happy it's in walking distance of our new house.

[Hirondelle]

Not really reducing my own impact, but I picked up some pieces of trash during my morning walk in the park.

[chaskavitch]

I just moved 10 miles away from work (and daycare, and the grocery store) instead of 2, so that's definitely NOT reducing my environmental impact, unfortunately.

However - there's this kid's book called Be Kind that we got from the library recently.  It's obviously about what it means to be kind to other people, but one of the pages starts off "Being kind should be easy, like throwing away a wrapper or recycling a bottle, or saying 'thank you!' or 'bless you!'".  One of the examples of being kind is also donating your clothes, or passing along things that you've grown out of.

I love that reusing/recycling are just presented as Things People Do. 

[BuffaloStache]

My family moved to a new house and challenged ourselves to recycle and compost more, throwing out less waste. To solidify the challenge, we even called and had the town waste service give us a smaller garbage bin.

[Imma]

We have company for breakfast and I'm using up some very overripe bananas to make banana pancakes

We were gifted a whole load of fruit from a neighbour's tree that was going to go to waste otherwise because she's single and can't eat it all.

[Raenia]

Testing out my new pair of Thinx today, if they work out I'll buy a few more and not need to use pads anymore.  Already replaced tampons with a cup, so this would put me to 100% reusable period supplies.

[Imma]

We have company for breakfast and I'm using up some very overripe bananas to make banana pancakes

We were gifted a whole load of fruit from a neighbour's tree that was going to go to waste otherwise because she's single and can't eat it all.

Overripe bananas make a great substitute for ice cream.  Cut them into dices and freeze them.  Dump them into a good blender of food processor with a dash of vanilla extract or cocoa powder and a milk substitute.  Blend them up into a soft serve consistency.  Serve with some fresh fruit and chocolate chips.

This sounds good, I'll save it for next time! Normally I make banana bread from leftover bananas but I'm looking for a little bit of variation.

I've used a similar recipe for breakfast iced drinks in the past when I got load of overripe peaches in the summer and I still had a huge freezer. I would cut them all up, freeze them and blend two peaches with some yoghurt - my s/o loves really really cold drinks and doesn't eat much in the morning.

Our current freezer is dying, but still working. We are eating the contents and then unplugging it. We've only had used freezers so far, but this time we're looking for new due to the energy savings. We don't feel completely comfortable buying brand new so we'll hold out without a freezer until we can find a (nearly) new freezer with cosmetic damage or without a box or something.

We have so far always used our appliances until they stopped working, but I took our meter readings recently and they were much higher than they were, so that was the final straw. I still feel bad about throwing away a functional appliance but there's no point in keeping it. At some point I guess the high energy consumption doesn't weigh up against the environmental impact of making new machine.

[okisok]

Picked up an entire carrier bag's worth of recyclables on my walk this morning.

Sold some more items on FB Marketplace, to keep the used market lively!

The plastic bag holder I sewed from scrap fabric and attached to the dog's leash is working great. I've completely switched over to used bags, no more bags purchased specifically for poop. I don't generate any of the bags, I get them all from family & friends who haven't made the switch to reusables.

I used my sewn-from-scraps produce bags at Aldi, and the cashier didn't even blink. Just opened the drawstring to see what I had, and rang em up! Now to try them out at Winco, Whole Foods, etc, where you are supposed to write the code number on the wired paper twist to close a plastic bag. Any solutions that doesn't involve the paper twist tie attached to my reusable bag?

[MonkeyJenga]

I used my sewn-from-scraps produce bags at Aldi, and the cashier didn't even blink. Just opened the drawstring to see what I had, and rang em up! Now to try them out at Winco, Whole Foods, etc, where you are supposed to write the code number on the wired paper twist to close a plastic bag. Any solutions that doesn't involve the paper twist tie attached to my reusable bag?

When I buy from bulk bins, I note the #'s on my phone.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

I used my sewn-from-scraps produce bags at Aldi, and the cashier didn't even blink. Just opened the drawstring to see what I had, and rang em up! Now to try them out at Winco, Whole Foods, etc, where you are supposed to write the code number on the wired paper twist to close a plastic bag. Any solutions that doesn't involve the paper twist tie attached to my reusable bag?

When I buy from bulk bins, I note the #'s on my phone.

I have done this. I have grand plans to write the bin numbers of my most commonly-purchased items on the bags with a fabric marker, but in the meantime I have used the picture.

Last night I stashed leftovers in a washed-out yogurt carton (bought as starter for the homemade stuff, although I did treat myself to a larger carton of Fage) instead of purchasing yet more reusable dishes.

This morning I finished off some blueberries and saved the paper towel I had wrapped them in (lining the carton with a paper towel makes them last longer). I will use it next time I rub oil in my cast iron pan.

[MonkeyJenga]

I've been using handkerchiefs (from a ripped secondhand pillowcase) and hand towels in place of TP/paper towels.

[TrMama]

Managed to reuse enough school supplies that I only had to buy about half the items on my kids school supply lists. This ended up being both an environmental and financial win since I only had to spend $40 to kit out 2 middle schoolers. I also biked to the office supply store to buy all the stuff.

The supply lists also called for 3 ring pencil pouches (the ones that can be snapped into a 3 ring binder). I know from experience the ones sold at office supply stores only last a week before falling apart. So I made 4 pouches out of fabric scraps. Kids are thrilled and I'm thrilled that they won't fall apart next week.

Now to try them out at Winco, Whole Foods, etc, where you are supposed to write the code number on the wired paper twist to close a plastic bag. Any solutions that doesn't involve the paper twist tie attached to my reusable bag?

You should be able to write on the fabric bag with a kids washable marker. You can then either wash the bag with your laundry or rinse the number off in the sink.

[chaskavitch]

I used my sewn-from-scraps produce bags at Aldi, and the cashier didn't even blink. Just opened the drawstring to see what I had, and rang em up! Now to try them out at Winco, Whole Foods, etc, where you are supposed to write the code number on the wired paper twist to close a plastic bag. Any solutions that doesn't involve the paper twist tie attached to my reusable bag?

When I buy from bulk bins, I note the #'s on my phone.

I just write them on my hand.  Can't lose them that way!

[MonkeyJenga]

I used my sewn-from-scraps produce bags at Aldi, and the cashier didn't even blink. Just opened the drawstring to see what I had, and rang em up! Now to try them out at Winco, Whole Foods, etc, where you are supposed to write the code number on the wired paper twist to close a plastic bag. Any solutions that doesn't involve the paper twist tie attached to my reusable bag?

When I buy from bulk bins, I note the #'s on my phone.

I just write them on my hand.  Can't lose them that way!

I've got too many bulk bin codes, not enough hand space.

[Tyson]

I used my sewn-from-scraps produce bags at Aldi, and the cashier didn't even blink. Just opened the drawstring to see what I had, and rang em up! Now to try them out at Winco, Whole Foods, etc, where you are supposed to write the code number on the wired paper twist to close a plastic bag. Any solutions that doesn't involve the paper twist tie attached to my reusable bag?

When I buy from bulk bins, I note the #'s on my phone.

I just write them on my hand.  Can't lose them that way!

I've got too many bulk bin codes, not enough hand space.

Couldn't you just the same cloth bags for the same bulk items every time and just write the code on the cloth bag itself (along with the name of the item, too, I guess).

[MonkeyJenga]

I used my sewn-from-scraps produce bags at Aldi, and the cashier didn't even blink. Just opened the drawstring to see what I had, and rang em up! Now to try them out at Winco, Whole Foods, etc, where you are supposed to write the code number on the wired paper twist to close a plastic bag. Any solutions that doesn't involve the paper twist tie attached to my reusable bag?

When I buy from bulk bins, I note the #'s on my phone.

I just write them on my hand.  Can't lose them that way!

I've got too many bulk bin codes, not enough hand space.

Couldn't you just the same cloth bags for the same bulk items every time and just write the code on the cloth bag itself (along with the name of the item, too, I guess).

This would not work for me. I'm happy with my current methods.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

I rode my bike to work even though it is eleventy-one degrees outside. Also, lately I have been bring home my orange peels and apple cores to put in my home compost instead of in the work landfill-destined trash bins.

[diapasoun]

Ate another person's leftovers even though I was not super enthused about them (perfectly edible, just subpar -- probably why they were left at my house).

Posted some furniture we need to get rid of (moving to a smaller space) on Buy Nothing.

Turned a beloved broken mug into a plant holder instead of tossing it.

[MonkeyJenga]

I got a ton of scavenged food. I also made room in my freezer for said food by giving other food away to a friend. (Alternative would've been tossing the freezer food, I really didn't like it.)

[cari8285]

I've been vegan for about a year now so that's a small thing I do for the environment everyday. Breakfast is usually oats, and my other meals usually consist of rice, beans, potatoes, etc.

I've been riding my bike to work and today will be the first time riding my bike to the grocery store!

I've started to save all glass jars in place of getting more tupperware, and that's been working out great!

I use a menstrual cup (and have been using it for the past few years).

I use a safety razor so no more plastic/disposable razors.

I want to invest in a sprayer and transition over to cloth toilet paper and I really need to do a better job of bringing bags with me to do the grocery store so I no longer use plastic or paper bags (which will be easier to remember now that I am starting to bike more - I ride with a backpack). I've been looking into composting, and in general I've done a really good job of reducing my waste lately and recycling more. I also most likely won't have kids (unless I adopt or foster) but that's a long term BIG way to reduce environmental impact, lol.

[gatortator]

I can't find the post to quote it...  but I have been successfully using the water from our dehumidifier in our washing machine since it the topic was first posted here..  so cool!  we have a load sensing machine so it's been working great.

my spouse chuckled a little when I mentioned my excitement at starting to do this.  apparently, this was a standard operating procedure in his old childhood home.  i guess on some things, we are just reinventing the wheel / relearning from the past.

[Dollar Slice]

I successfully transitioned my company away from selling single use plastic water bottles, as well as large office style refillable water bottles.  It was a long road filled with a lot of discussion but the consensus has been overwhelmingly positive.

That's awesome! :-)

It used to drive me crazy at my old office that we had both tap water and bottled water (from the five-gallon refillable bottles that we would get delivered) and half the people in the office would still go out to buy drinks in SUP bottles. Imagine how much money they're wasting, how much plastic waste they produce, just to consume a ton of sugar. :-/

[TrMama]

I successfully transitioned my company away from selling single use plastic water bottles, as well as large office style refillable water bottles.  It was a long road filled with a lot of discussion but the consensus has been overwhelmingly positive.  I've heard all the counter arguments about steering people to buy sugary drinks instead but we've removed every possible obstacle to tap water by providing bottle filling stations and selling re-usable bottles in place of plastic. 

Next up I want to eliminate the other plastic beverage containers in favour of glass or aluminum. 

On the home front I have one season of gardening under my belt.  I converted a small grassy area to wildflowers and now I'm considering growing more food in that area (squash, zucchini etc.).  I was amazed by how many moths, butterflies and bees that have visited.  "If you build it they will come." ;)

That's fantastic about the  water bottles!

My win this week is that I accepted my coworker's offer of her daughter's old clarinet. My youngest daughter is starting band this year and wants to play clarinet. We stopped a the music store this afternoon for reeds and a couple maintenance items and now it feels like a bigger financial win than environmental. The cheapest new clarinet in the store was $600.

Biked to work every day this week. I also biked to school with the kids for their first time. It's a 7km trek over some pretty busy roads so that was a big deal. Not sure if it's become a regular thing, but I'm super proud of them for tackling it.

[jengod]

No driving today.

Picked up 8 recyclable bottles and cans on the way home.

We had a whole-house fan installed today; it should hopefully reduce our electricity use for air conditioning in the hottest months when our living room and kitchen are almost unbearably hot in the late afternoon.

[imadandylion]

What are people doing about condiments? I tried a couple of brands of ketchup in a glass jar and didn't like the way they taste (whatever recipe they used definitely isn't what I'm used to!).  Most stores only sell the typical brands like Heinz or other condiments in thick plastic containers. Anyone had success making their own tasty ketchup? Besides the environmental impact, just thinking about the consumption of microplastics make me disgusted.

[pachnik]

I'm buying stuff like body lotion, skin care products from Lush.  They have their own recycling program - take back 5 of their plastic containers and they give you a free skin cream.  Then they recycle the containers and use them again.  Some of their products are also sold without packaging. 

[cari8285]

I'm buying stuff like body lotion, skin care products from Lush.  They have their own recycling program - take back 5 of their plastic containers and they give you a free skin cream.  Then they recycle the containers and use them again.  Some of their products are also sold without packaging.

I get my skin care products from them as well! I have a few body washes (not from Lush) to finish up, but I plan on getting bar soap from them when I'm done with the body washes to avoid packaging. I'm not crazy about their prices but I just stick to essentials. I went through a period of trying every new product they came out with, but it killed me financially, lol.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

The babysitter was confused and made the children wash their hair with my shampoo, which she fetched from my bathroom. She did not know that I have taught them to wash their hair with Dove soap and she didn't think it smelled clean enough, I guess. Environmental Mustachian MPPs!

(I am personally considering switching to bar shampoo when this runs out... but it lasts me a VERY long time.)

[Loretta]

I have been taking more random stuff to my building’s recycling area that I used to just throw don th olde trash chute.  I’m also trying to Freecycle more objects vice hauling them to my favorite thrift store.

[diapasoun]

We've gotten rid of 15+ pieces of furniture through the local "curb economy" instead of dumping it.

[Dollar Slice]

I got a $50 off $99 grocery delivery coupon in the mail, and I was pretty sick for the past week and very tempted to use it, but decided in the end that it wasn't worth the environmental costs - I ordered from them one time before and the amount of overpackaging was outrageous. Plastic in boxes in plastic in boxes ad nauseam. I had to go to the pharmacy today so I picked up a few groceries while I was out. Brought my reusable bags and turned down a bag at the pharmacy. (Although I am annoyed at the amount of trash generated at the pharmacy anyway - for a total of four fricking pills, there's a plastic-and-foil blister pack, in a ziploc plastic bag, in a paper bag with informational papers stapled to it, plus a paper receipt, and then they want to put that in yet another plastic bag! Plastic in plastic in paper in plastic. For four pills.)

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

This weekend was the big semi-annual consignment sale, where I got most the kids' winter things second hand AND let them get out their urge to buy stupid plastic crap by spending their allowance on secondhand toys, so at least it's stupid plastic crap that was already out there in the world. (Bonus: They got a great deal.)

This morning I started a batch of yogurt in the Instant Pot using milk that came in a reusable carton and I bought ground turkey in a three-pound package to save packaging and a few bucks.

[jengod]

* Took the e-bike to get my big kid from school
* Line dried a load of towels
* Composted food waste
* Maintained the yard with manual tools
* Breastfed and cloth diapered the baby
* Didn't purchase any beef, pork or mutton

[Frugal Lizard]

I used up some cabbage before it went yucky, lined dried two loads of laundry and swept the floors instead of vacuuming.

[StarBright]

I used up some cabbage before it went yucky, lined dried two loads of laundry and swept the floors instead of vacuuming.

I need to get back to line drying laundry! Ironing was taking so much time that I slowly switched to back to washer and dryer. We are doing really well on continuing to eat low meat. Kids are even starting to get used to it.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

On my lunch walk, there was an empty grocery sack stuck to the side of a bridge. I retrieved the sack and filled it with some of the other garbage I came across.

[Frugal Lizard]

I rode my bike to the climate strike downtown.

[jengod]

I rode my bike to a doctor's appointment.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dollar Slice]

I didn't ride in a car of any kind for the entire month of September.