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

[chaskavitch]

Used my diva cup instead of buying tampons. 

Hung laundry.

Made pinto beans in the instapot. 

Gathered eggs from our backyard, put chicken poop from coop into an unused corner of the garden to "cool" and eventually go into garden soil.  Not the garbage can like I used to do.

Ok this might sound weird, but in my area chicken owners give away or swap their chicken poo for garden produce. It's good stuff. Likewise worm castings. Might be an option if you have more than you can deal with?

Oh yeah, I'd be happy to chuck some chicken poo in my compost! When I first got my compost bin, a colleague gave me a bucket of straw bedding/chicken poo from her chooks to get my compost bin started. I was pretty happy with that :)

DH bought chicken poo fertilizer and put it in our flower garden. After that there grew an awful lot of weeds in that garden. You might want to be careful with that product. Maybe boil it first before use.

We have chickens, and if our compost is predominantly made of chicken litter and poo, and not enough grass clippings/vegetable leftovers/coffee grounds, we get too much leafy growth in our garden.  Chicken waste is very nitrogen-rich, and nitrogen based fertilizers promote vegetative growth and overall health of plants.  Two years ago we got the biggest most beautiful tomato plants ever, and tiny tiny little fruits.

Also, you're supposed to let it sit or compost for a while before you add it, because it can kind of burn your plants if you just add it straight.

[Imma]

Didn't turn on the heating even though it's the coldest day this winter so far. It's still 16 C  / 61 F inside, no need for extra heating. We always have an extra blanket on our bed during winter, when it's freezing we have two blankets on top of our duvet.

[Astatine]

When I had a hypo (low blood sugar) this afternoon, I ate 2 black jelly beans instead of chucking them in the bin or the compost. (black jelly beans are gross :p)

[Linea_Norway]

Walked to work and will walk back again later.

This weekend I will take the train to the city on Saturday and Sunday. I will try to get up early enough to walk to the train station as well (25 minutes walking), instead of driving.

[mustachepungoeshere]

Very small thing but I had to buy envelopes and agonized for a bit over whether to buy the peel and stick ones that don't leave a horrible aftertaste but create trash or the ones you have to lick. I opted for the more eco-friendly ones.

This would never have occurred to me but I suspect it's going to be one of those things I can't unsee!

[NewConvert]

I am new to this. Just the fact that a random plastic bottle I throw away doesn't decompose for  ~450 years blows me away. Definitely not the kind of legacy I want to leave behind.

My todays work -

1. Opted out of redplum  advertising at:
https://www.redplum.com/tools/direct-mail-preferences

2. Opted out of valpak coupons (have pretty much never used it) :
https://www.valpak.com/coupons/show/mailinglistsuppression

3. Opted out of credit card solicitation mails though was initially very apprehensive about providing ssn  online - but after extensive googling it seems legit (I hope)
https://www.optoutprescreen.com

After this stumbled on the app paperkarma that does this for you. Haven't  checked it out though - has anyone else any experience using this app?
Also planning to signup at the direct marketing agency site to take me off their mailing list
https://dmachoice.thedma.org/register.php

To others out there who have done this -- does this work and stop all the junk mail?

[PKate]

Anyone have experience with stuff wilting in the refrigerator?  I bought a more expensive bunch of carrots and just threw them in the crisper.  I forgot about them for a while and found them all wilted.  The huge bag left open lasts for months??

The carrots that you buy are usually a variety of carrot that is a storage variety.  Many of the baby carrots sold with the greens attached are bred to be sweet and not for storage.   Removing the green tops ASAP will help all carrots from wilting so quickly. 

[Hirondelle]

I paid the few cents CO2 compensation premium on my bus ticket. Not sure if it's gonna make any difference, but at least I tried.

[mustachepungoeshere]

Picked up five bottles for Return and Earn walking home after my run tonight.

[HappierAtHome]

Today:

Walked to and from a visit to a local Playgroup, with the pram. I love not driving!

Used my keepcup for a rare caffeinated treat. Packed fruit for the baby in Tupperware.

As always, using hankies, cloth nappies and small terry towels in place of disposable items.

Saved food scraps for the worm farm.

Giving away items (including unwanted gifts!) away on Buy Nothing to people who can put them to good use.

Reading library books (every little bit of lowered consumption helps!).

Eating batch cooked vegan meals.

[HappierAtHome]

And I have recently ordered my first bamboo toothbrush, non-plastic bin bags* and recycled plastic razors (I'm not game for the stainless steel razors just yet!).

*Husband isn't ready to not use bin bags at all, and has been extremely open minded about other changes, so this is one of those areas where I won't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

[mustachepungoeshere]

My boss buys a bottle of water with her salad for lunch every day (horror).

One of my colleagues buys a can of Coke from the vending machine every day (double horror).

I've all but given up on changing their spending habits, but I have trained them to give me their bottles and cans for Return and Earn.

@marty998 and I have deposited exactly 360 bottles and cans since January 1. Our goal is 1500 for the year and we're ... resourceful. :D

[Trifle]

And I have recently ordered my first non-plastic bin bags

What's a bin bag?  Thanks

[mustachepungoeshere]

And I have recently ordered my first non-plastic bin bags

What's a bin bag?  Thanks

Apologies but this is hilarious to me.

Garbage bag. Rubbish bag. Trash bag. Bin liner.

[Trifle]

And I have recently ordered my first non-plastic bin bags

What's a bin bag?  Thanks

Apologies but this is hilarious to me.

Garbage bag. Rubbish bag. Trash bag. Bin liner.

Ha ha! Gotcha.  At first I thought you might mean a produce bag . . .  And now I'm going to ask you to educate me again.   How would it work without bin bags?  Do you live in a city, and how do they pick up your trash?  Thanks

[marty998]

My boss buys a bottle of water with her salad for lunch every day (horror).

One of my colleagues buys a can of Coke from the vending machine every day (double horror).

I've all but given up on changing their spending habits, but I have trained them to give me their bottles and cans for Return and Earn.

@marty998 and I have deposited exactly 360 bottles and cans since January 1. Our goal is 1500 for the year and we're ... resourceful. :D

Well... you are resourceful one! I picked up exactly 1 empty lemon lime bitters bottle today on my run. You picked up.... 45?

[mustachepungoeshere]

And I have recently ordered my first non-plastic bin bags

What's a bin bag?  Thanks

Apologies but this is hilarious to me.

Garbage bag. Rubbish bag. Trash bag. Bin liner.

Ha ha! Gotcha.  At first I thought you might mean a produce bag . . .  And now I'm going to ask you to educate me again.   How would it work without bin bags?  Do you live in a city, and how do they pick up your trash?  Thanks

I already drop my recycling into my building's recycling bins without bags.

I use bread bags for other garbage because they're being thrown out anyway, but without those I could just empty my kitchen bin into the garbage bins outside.

[Trifle]

And I have recently ordered my first non-plastic bin bags

What's a bin bag?  Thanks

Apologies but this is hilarious to me.

Garbage bag. Rubbish bag. Trash bag. Bin liner.

Ha ha! Gotcha.  At first I thought you might mean a produce bag . . .  And now I'm going to ask you to educate me again.   How would it work without bin bags?  Do you live in a city, and how do they pick up your trash?  Thanks

I already drop my recycling into my building's recycling bins without bags.

I use bread bags for other garbage because they're being thrown out anyway, but without those I could just empty my kitchen bin into the garbage bins outside.

Thanks!

[frooglepoodle]

Yesterday, we walked to pick up our grassfed milk in glass bottles at the drop-off point.

Built a second bokashi bucket out of 2-gallon buckets from the hardware store. Much less expensive than purchasing another branded bokashi bin, and we've found the bokashi system works well for us. We'd have a hard time hitting the critical mass for a hot compost heap to start breaking down quickly, plus we rent our house so the fact that bokashi breaks down so much faster once it's mixed with the dirt is a big plus.

Ate up a good portion of the random leftover food in the refrigerator this weekend to keep it from going to waste.

Made broth from a chicken carcass and the veggie scraps I save in the freezer.

I need to clean the house today and will be doing most of it using citrus vinegar, baking soda, and water. With reusable rags, of course!

[Astatine]

As always:

Washed clothes in cold water (reduces electricity use).

Drying clothes on the washing line in the backyard (we don't own a clothes dryer).

As much as possible goes into our compost bin (it's more of a worm farm at this point rather than hot compost) including:
    - fruit and veggie scraps,
    - paper towel (we use one piece of paper towel to wipe out excess oil from the frying pan before it gets washed up, to save oil going in to the sewage system), '
    - cat fur,
    - emptying out the vacuum cleaner (mostly cat fur, but some dust and leaves etc traipsed in from outside),
    - uneaten wet cat food (damn cat likes to lick the gravy off but not eat the actual food - one small tin lasts her a week),
    - coffee grounds and teabags,
    - crushed egg shells (even though this doesn't break down in our bin)
    - paper with sensitive details on it (torn up small)
    - empty toilet rolls
    - small amounts of oil, meat etc
    - any food that's gone off/stale etc (but no bones, no citrus and only small amounts of dairy)
    - hair (I cut my hair at home)
    - branches from rose pruning (can't just put this on the garden beds for mulch because in my climate they turn into barbed-wire-like traps)
    - rinse out saucepans etc into the compost container on the kitchen bench (again, to reduce how much goes down the sink)     

As a result, we usually only have one bag of rubbish in the bin each week (as in, a plastic shopping bag from a supermarket) plus kitty litter/kitty poo. 

[Fresh Bread]

Today I picked up a bottle from the side of the road and took it to container recycling. I donated the 10c to Take 3 for the Sea https://www.take3.org/ (an organisation that cleans up beaches so plastic doesn't get in the ocean).

It helps that a brand new shiny machine has just been installed in a very convenient supermarket car park and I was already planning to go there today. I'm not keen on carrying/ storing other people's stinky waste for too long!

[Linea_Norway]

Yesterday I cleared the parking lot for snow using a hand shovel, instead of starting the snow blower. The snow was not so deep and light weight.

[jengod]

Remembered to bring reusable bags in everywhere I shopped today. Got a $0.10 credit at one place but mostly didn't end up with more bags!

[Astatine]

Once in a blue moon DH or I buy a bottle of water (usually we are organised and carry our own water, particularly in summer, but occasionally we are not). I re-use the bottles to dispose of my insulin pen needles. The needles are low risk (compared to syringes) and as far as we can work out, they comply with the council requirements for needle disposal. DH drops the full bottles (with closed lid) into the designated needle disposal bins.

We do occasionally buy the proper needle disposal plastic containers from the pharmacist but they are so expensive and the thickness of the plastic seems overkill for the tiny thin needles protected by plastic casings.

[Imma]

Still biking everywhere even though it was -10C last night. People think I'm crazy but actually it's quite nice: it's dry and sunny, so it doesn't really feel cold during the day. I wear thermal leggings and thick socks underneath my jeans, as well as a scarf, hat and gloves and I don't get cold at all. I'm pretty sure I will get colder waiting at the bus stop.

Knitting a new scarf from re-used wool.

Had bread for breakfast that was slightly stale but still perfectly edible.

[mustachepungoeshere]

My boss buys a bottle of water with her salad for lunch every day (horror).

One of my colleagues buys a can of Coke from the vending machine every day (double horror).

I've all but given up on changing their spending habits, but I have trained them to give me their bottles and cans for Return and Earn.

@marty998 and I have deposited exactly 360 bottles and cans since January 1. Our goal is 1500 for the year and we're ... resourceful. :D

Well... you are resourceful one! I picked up exactly 1 empty lemon lime bitters bottle today on my run. You picked up.... 45?

455!

We had a good week.

[Trifle]

DH, DD and I spent an hour cleaning up the area around a trailhead nearby.  We picked up 2 big bags of cans and bottles, and 2 big bags of garbage.  Unfortunately, there seem to be some people who regard this small trailhead parking area as their personal garbage dump.  But on the good side, we talked to some people who seemed interested in what we were doing, and hopefully we have inspired a few of them.

(Background -- we live in a very mixed area, shall we say. About half the people seem decent/responsible about not littering, and the other half throw their vodka bottles and McDonalds garbage out their car windows.)     

[Hirondelle]

Picked up some trash laying around at the bus stop while waiting for the bus. No clue why people just drop it as there's a trash bin next to the bus stop.

[Anatidae V]

We're moving house in a week. We've been eating down our stash of frozen, refrigerated and pantry foods so we hopefully won't spoil anything during the move.

I've bought a few heavy duty packing boxes new for the delicate stuff and books, but almost all of them are from various friends and family who have moved in the past 6 months or who have saved other boxes for us.

The bubblewrap we used to wrap delicates have been used for 3 other people to move house so far!

We've also been offered furniture from a relative, so.weve added that to our stuff for now and will whittle it down by donating once we've settled in and know what we like using in the new house.

As a bonus, all of these things have saved us money!

[PMG]

I just ran across these organic cotton fabric, washable pour over filters and thought of this thread.  I may make some of these as Christmas gifts in the future. How did I not think of it sooner?

https://www.etsy.com/listing/196090126/100-organic-cotton-reusable-coffee?utm_source=OpenGraph&utm_medium=PageTools&utm_campaign=Share

[Frugal Lizard]

Slept beautifully in my line dried sheets last night.

[Linea_Norway]

Working at home tomorrow, as well as DH, as we have a meeting halfway the day at our home. We both want use our cars tomorrow.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

I drained bacon on a cut-up flour bag instead of paper towels.

[Primm]

When I had a hypo (low blood sugar) this afternoon, I ate 2 black jelly beans instead of chucking them in the bin or the compost. (black jelly beans are gross :p)

Send them to me! Black jelly beans are my favourite. Yes, I'm the person who celebrated when they started making bags of only black with no colour jelly beans.

Hope you're on top of your sugars now.

[frooglepoodle]

Bought some packaged snacks for my husband’s upcoming work trip - not ideal but it’s less waste than fast food.

Made portabella mushroom fajitas for meatless Monday, served with rice and beans cooked from dried.

Composting all our fruit and veggie scraps, plus whatever other food scraps the bokashi bucket seems able to handle.

[mustachepungoeshere]

I made zero waste popcorn for the first time. Kernels from the bulk section made in a glass bowl in the microwave. No butter or oil made it a 25 cent, 120 calorie, zero waste snack

I find this very inspiring, both in terms of something to strive for and that this is still possible.

[Urchina]

Ate vegan today, with the exception of the single butter cookie I had for dessert.

[mustachepungoeshere]

Walking home tonight, there was a single empty can in the middle of the footpath.

It was like an offering from the recycling gods.

@marty998, our good works have pleased them!

[marty998]

Yeah I found a few too! @mustachepungoeshere

I wonder if we are both bordering on obsession with this though :D

[thegeebees]

I made zero waste popcorn for the first time. Kernels from the bulk section made in a glass bowl in the microwave. No butter or oil made it a 25 cent, 120 calorie, zero waste snack

We just started doing this with a 20 year-old popcorn popper that my in-laws had sitting in their garage! I've been making 1-2 batches per week with bulk popping corn and the kids take them for snacks at school.

I love this thread idea! Today I realized my wallet had finally bitten the dust but rather than buy a new one (heaven forbid) or even get one from a thrift store, I checked to see if any of my sisters had a spare they didn't want. Score! I got a free one, saving it from the garbage dump and saving me from having to pay.

[jengod]

* Grocery run by cargo bike today.
* Brought own grocery bags
* Brought own wine carrier so bottles don't get multiple bags from earnest, well-meaning grocery baggers trying to protect them from breakage
* Bought milk in reusable glass bottles

[Anatidae V]

My plastic pegs are breaking down and I need new ones. Any recommendations for wooden or metal pegs?

[Fresh Bread]

My plastic pegs are breaking down and I need new ones. Any recommendations for wooden or metal pegs?

I have heard rave reviews about the metal ones eg on the flora and fauna site. Plastic ones just can't stand up to our UV and I've had wooden ones go mouldy or leave marks. The only thing about metal ones is imagine how hot they'll be in full sun!

[Hirondelle]

I did not turn on the heat in my room plus turned the heat down in the hallway (from 21 to 18).

Brought my seperated trash (batteries, paper, glass and "other") to the containers they're supposed to go in.

[PMG]

I’m trying to find the lesser or two evils. The country I’m living in has no recycling.  Many things that come in glass also come in plastic pouches.  Jam is one we buy pretty often. Soy sauce is another.  We initially bought the glass jar, but now we can buy a plastic packet and refill the jar.  For a while I was thinking the pouches were the more responsible option, but neither glass or plastic are going to disappear.  WWYD?

It’s really eye opening when I can’t even appease my guilt by recycling. 

——
The upside is that we’ve found quite a few very local products. The pouches of jam are made just a few hours away by train.  I haven’t found a loose leaf mint tea, but the bagged one is grown and packaged in country as well.  It’s tricky compromising. 

[Anatidae V]

My plastic pegs are breaking down and I need new ones. Any recommendations for wooden or metal pegs?

I have heard rave reviews about the metal ones eg on the flora and fauna site. Plastic ones just can't stand up to our UV and I've had wooden ones go mouldy or leave marks. The only thing about metal ones is imagine how hot they'll be in full sun!

yeah, that's mainly why I haven't tried them yet. I will buy some and use them indoors to start with.

[Trying2bFrugal]

I'm looking for ideas, inspiration and positive reinforcement as I work to reduce my impact on the environment and use of finite..

1. Water bottles
AVOID plastic at any cost. We use Zero pitcher filter for drinking needs. They offer $5 for each filter you send then back for recycling.

2. Cook your food
I have spent two times in last 8 months on  outside lunches since we didn't cooked that day. Other than business compulsory or meetings i lunch at desk. Buying lunch not only cost wattage of money, time and the extra napkin, plastic, etc., we cook for guests when they are less in numbers.

3. Carry bags
Try to use reusable bags. If you can't, at east use same bags. It costs a most nothing to produce them but it cost many generations. I use a nice reusable bag for shopping and the carry bags are used as trash bags.

4. Bikes
Although I am new bee doing biking, you should avoid short trips in car

5. Drive sensibly
I know not everyone goes hybrid or electric or used old ones, but to the least drive sensibly so you consume less oil footage. Try share riding.

6. Wastage
The only time I ever got a slap on my face from my father is when I left drops of food. It wasn't even handful, but we grew on it. When you see the starving people, you know the meaning of drops of food. So eat what you need. This goes to possessions as well. If you have more give it to people.
I buy stuff from goodwill and donate back to them if it was read or no more useful to me.

7. Donate
There is a saying in my country. Things you want it to grow, then you got to donate them. Name it, it could be knowledge, wisdom, money, habits. At the least donate some of your time for charity work.

8. Plan
Most times wastage of time, money, resources happen due to poor planning. So plan ahead. When I bought a used Prius, I had enough cash to buy a BMW, on buying a bed, we gone for bed with high raise with no need for box, so we got storage space and ease of movement and less wastage. These are just examples. You can plan your purchases.

9. Reuse
For most people, buying new stuff if inevitable for pure pleasure of their mind. Once they get in a situation they will let it go. Desire is the creator and destructor yet desire the right is key. So reuse stuff more you can.
We didn't used the paper plates so long unless the crowd is more than 12 (12 corolle plates).

 

[Trying2bFrugal]

I’m trying to find the lesser or two evils. The country I’m living in has no recycling.  Many things that come in glass also come in plastic pouches.  Jam is one we buy pretty often. Soy sauce is another.  We initially bought the glass jar, but now we can buy a plastic packet and refill the jar.  For a while I was thinking the pouches were the more responsible option, but neither glass or plastic are going to disappear.  WWYD?

It’s really eye opening when I can’t even appease my guilt by recycling. 

——
The upside is that we’ve found quite a few very local products. The pouches of jam are made just a few hours away by train.  I haven’t found a loose leaf mint tea, but the bagged one is grown and packaged in country as well.  It’s tricky compromising.

My mom prepare jam from fruits without any preservatives. Agreed they dont last THAT long and taste fancy.
But you could help your family on health (most bottled ones need preservatives). May be something you can think about it?

[Anatidae V]

I’m trying to find the lesser or two evils. The country I’m living in has no recycling.  Many things that come in glass also come in plastic pouches.  Jam is one we buy pretty often. Soy sauce is another.  We initially bought the glass jar, but now we can buy a plastic packet and refill the jar.  For a while I was thinking the pouches were the more responsible option, but neither glass or plastic are going to disappear.  WWYD?

It’s really eye opening when I can’t even appease my guilt by recycling. 

——
The upside is that we’ve found quite a few very local products. The pouches of jam are made just a few hours away by train.  I haven’t found a loose leaf mint tea, but the bagged one is grown and packaged in country as well.  It’s tricky compromising.

My mom prepare jam from fruits without any preservatives. Agreed they dont last THAT long and taste fancy.
But you could help your family on health (most bottled ones need preservatives). May be something you can think about it?

Or even use pureed fruit instead of jam, depending on what you're using it for? It keeps in the fridge in a glass jar for a few days, or in the freezer for a while (a few months?)

[Fresh Bread]

I'm thinking the issue is not a particular food but the whole gamut of essential purchases. I think I'd focus on reducing air miles and also consider which natural resource it is less worse to deplete - oil or sand (is that what glass is made from??).

Also - if plastic gets washed away from rubbish piles it is a worse outcome for all life than if glass ends up in the ecosystem. Glass will break down quicker and make nice sea glass pebbles, whereas with plastic we'll end up eating it.