Category: Wasteless Ways

Zero Waste Lifestyle Store: An Alternative to Recycling

With all this talk about China’s National Sword program and the implications for recycling in Australia, we at Wasteless Pantry (your local zero waste lifestyle store) thought it would be a good time to have a chat about waste.

Recycling is a tool to help divert resources from landfill but it is not the best answer.  So recycle, but only those materials that you couldn’t avoid buying in the first place, couldn’t minimise the need for, couldn’t reuse or repair.

Never let perfection stop you from starting, any little improvement you make is still worth making.

Try out replacing a disposable with a reusable one from our zero waste lifestyle store (in Western Australia and online), rethink your purchases to minimise waste and learn what you can about how to lessen your impact whilst still enjoying life.

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Are you punishing yourself?

Decluttering vs Wasting

The idea of less stuff, clean surfaces, and an organised home is appealing to most.  That thought that you could spend less time cleaning, that it would be so simple that your 3-year-old could do it and that you could enjoy your home is so attractive that many of us have been on and off the decluttering bandwagon for years.

But if you are also trying to be environmentally friendly and reduce your contribution to landfill, it can be a conflicted experience.  Likewise, if you are someone who is budget conscious you might be looking at your possessions in terms of the monetary investment that you are potentially throwing away.  Alternatively, you might be more a sentimental type who sees the love in the gift (wanted or not at the time) that you are now trying to disconnect from.

Personally, I struggled with all three.  I punished myself for purchasing or acquiring the thing in the first place by trying to find a use for it when clearly it was not for me.  The thing would hang around my house, then in some storage space making it difficult to get to other more useful things, then it would be relegated to the shed before I’d finally admit defeat and move it on.  I felt guilty and ashamed of my relationship with stuff and that I had been outmanoeuvred by marketing to buy things I really didn’t need.

There are two ideas that made the difference for me.

  1. I started thinking of stuff as having its own needs – a need to be used as often as possible.  Was I ever going to use this to its full potential?  Would anyone I know use it more?  Could it be recycled so that it could have a new life as something with purpose again?
  2. I also started thinking about waste more generally to do with my things.  What other waste am I creating because I am holding onto this thing when really it needs to go (even if it needs to go to landfill)?  Was it impeding my ability to use other things to their full potential – like the bowls I couldn’t get out of the cupboard because I had too many serving dishes in the way or the room that we only half used because it had a stockpile of stuff to find a use for?  Was I wasting time moving and reorganising this thing that I don’t use, instead of using that time to live more sustainably?  Was I wasting water and electricity cleaning it but never using it?

I follow the waste hierarchy pretty religiously:

Refuse – stop buying things or bringing things home unless I need them

Reduce – aim for the smallest amount of things that I serve my needs

Reuse – find a new purpose for an underused item or pass it on to someone that can use it more

Recycle – break it down into its core material and give it another life

Rot – some things can be added to a compost pile to at least build your garden on

Then if it has to go to landfill so be it.

 

We are all learning and growing.  We make mistakes.  In other areas of our lives, we have learnt to forgive ourselves, let it go and move on.  This is just one more area to practice this.  Stop punishing yourself for your past and give yourself permission to step lightly into your best future.

 


Going Zero Waste with a Naked Lunch Box

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” William Morris

We are all drawn to a life of simplicity. There are many of us that are drawn to that idea of a simple life, which is a hands on, peaceful and present one.

To me, that is what zero waste living is all about.

It’s about going back to the basics of being able to cook your own food and live a life more intentional, and less disposable.  It is not about making life harder for the sake of the environment or doing things the hard way.  It is about creating a life that fits with your values and encourages slowness in your days.  You don’t have to bake your own bread or make every meal from scratch unless you want to.  But what if doing these things not only reduce the waste you created but gave you back control of what you eat and the beauty with which you do it?

 

 

There is lots of depressing information out there about why reducing waste is so important.  The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or birds that are dying on some random island somewhere filled with our rubbish, or thousands of acres of forest that are lost every day, or the orangutans that are dying because of our love affair with cheap palm oil.  This information doesn’t help you move forward.  What helps you move forward and do the things that are going to help are finding ways to integrate good practices into your life.

I’ve been on this journey for a few years now and at the beginning, it was completely overwhelming.  There was so much to change and it felt as if it was too much to add to an already full life.  But what I have found over that time is that by going back to basics and reducing the waste, it has saved me time and has given me a better appreciation for how I live my life.

I’m hoping for this blog post to inspire some sort of change, but that might just be a change of mindset.  It might be a growing awareness of the little changes that you can make.  Changing to a slower and more intentional life, especially around this issue of waste.  As we like to involve our children in our growth, our first step might be around the naked lunch box.

A naked lunch box simply refers to packing a lunch without disposable packaging, and instead using reusable containers.  Those of you new to this idea should know that each school-aged child packed a disposable lunch creates 30kg of waste per year with their lunch alone (Australian statistics).  Just changing this one thing can have a significant impact!

There are lots of ideas for lunchboxes and what to fill them with available – so many Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram photos out there to inspire!

For those of you who have been packing a reusable lunchbox for some time and want to take your waste reduction skills to the next level, I encourage you to step it up a level and try to source your ingredients without packaging.  This might be taking a cloth bag to the bakery and asking for unwrapped bread.  Or it might be going to a bulk food store and buying your goods there.  Or it might mean taking produce bags to buy your fruit and vegetables (little reusable mesh bags instead of the disposable plastic ones).  Or maybe it is going to the farmers market and simply filling a box to take home.

This is just one way to get started.  It might sound like another thing to add to the to-do list that is a mile long or another challenge in an otherwise overwhelmed life, but what you might find is that by living this way you cultivate a skill.  You get to have an intimate and caring relationship with the food that you put into your children’s and your own body; as well as saving time and money.

 

 

Photo credits

Photo by Michał Grosicki on Unsplash

Photo by Jenn Evelyn-Ann on Unsplash

Photo by Litterfree Living


More Than Another Bulk Food Store

You want to reduce your waste and you make the effort to bring your own containers and bags for refilling.  Maybe you want to know that the places you shop at are doing all they can to avoid waste too.

Our mission statement:

Supporting the local community and providing education to cultivate and encourage a “zero waste” community as well as role modelling best practice food retail waste management.

We really care about this stuff!  Just recently we submitted an application to the Waste Authority of WA Infinity Awards and we had this to say for ourselves:

Wasteless Pantry is assisting the wider community to reduce the amount of waste that is generated, increase the proportion of materials recovered that would otherwise end up in the waste stream as well as reducing the amount of waste going to landfill. It actively communicates messages for behaviour change and promotes their adoption through a wide range of initiatives aimed at mainstream consumers. 

At its simplest, Wasteless Pantry is a zero waste and bulk food store. However, dig a little deeper and you’ll find that Wasteless Pantry is a unique store that was built entirely around this idea of being able to minimise waste and single-use plastics. We make it easy and achievable to reduce waste, you get to buy just what you need, and we enable you to turn waste reduction values into tangible actions. The rate of waste generation in the average household is growing rapidly and whilst many are alarmed by the statistics, the average person still feels that taking the actions required to reduce the figures is beyond their capabilities. Wasteless Pantry is an example of ‘the how’, providing education and role modelling of just how achievable it is to change behaviours in a sustainable way.

As a business model, it is also demonstrating best practice in waste management in the food retail sector, creating just 1.39kg of landfill waste in May 2017. This is less than 0.5% of what the average Western Australian household creates each month. 100% of recyclable waste created by the store was recycled (much higher than the 47% average for food retail stores) and a range of recyclable waste from the community was also diverted from landfill. 95% of organic waste generated by the store was composted. The food retail sector in Australia produces on average 1660kg of landfill per effective full-time employee per year. Wasteless Pantry generates less than 1% of this average, including very few resources that could otherwise be recovered.

What do you think?  Are we are doing okay?   Does it matter what waste we create?


Plastic Free July: Should You Bother?

Absolutely, YES!

I hear the same thing over and over.  “What I do doesn’t make a difference, there are so many people/government bodies/businesses/others that waste more than me, so why bother?”

And then I hear the reply, “Be the change you wish to see in the world”.

It’s not enough to want a better planet if that isn’t going to inspire you to not only think differently but also to ACT differently.

That is why Plastic Free July works.  It gets you to do something different.  It’s as small or as big a challenge as you think you can manage.  Many go into it thinking it will be easy.  I love these people. I was one of them.  The ones that think it will be easy are usually the ones most profoundly changed by it.  We find out that once you are truly aware of the issue on a personal level there is no going back.  You come face to face with the reality of just how much plastic waste is embedded in our everyday lives.  The blindfold of the daily routine is removed and you get to start seeing the world clearly via the multitude of decisions that we have to remake to succeed at the challenge.

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You do it as a community.  At this stage, it is a global community with individuals in more than 130 countries participating last year.  If you have questions, there will be answers.  If you have struggles, there will be support.  If you succeed, we will all cheer you on and delight in what you have achieved.  It is no small feat.

You’re family or housemates don’t have to be on board for you to join the challenge.  This is about the choices you make.  Encourage, support and share your experiences; be a role model of the change.  You never know who you will inspire!

With the media sharing more and more about the problems in the world around waste and unnecessary plastics, this is an actual solution.  It is a guide to get you started on a meaningful journey to solving the problem.  When enough people are involved, aware and conscious of just what is going on with our disposable culture and how to address it, the effect will be amazing.  But in the meantime, the changes you are making are leading to a real quality of life that is missing with a disposable lifestyle.  You can try telling me that you love drinking out of a disposable plastic straw, and I will smile at you whilst I savour sipping from the glass without a straw knowing that tomorrow someone else will be able to enjoy the same experience. Whilst 50 plus years from now someone else will still be trying to figure out why you thought that straw was so instrumental to your happiness.

Alone we still make a difference.

It’s only one day, one week, one month… how hard could it be?

Find out more about the challenge and join us by registering via http://www.plasticfreejuly.org/

If you have done the challenge before, share your experiences below to inspire newbies to give it a go!


Eco Friendly Easter Guide

Our Eco-Friendly Easter Guide is just the thing if you are aiming toward a zero-waste Easter this year.

This time of year is for celebrating and unfortunately also seems to be about generating waste.  An article by Pre-Waste on 6 April 2012 indicates:

Since their development in early 19th century France and Germany, chocolate Easter eggs have quickly become seasonal bestsellers. In Italy, 40 million eggs equalling 6.848 tons of chocolate were consumed in 2010. As the chocolate egg has since its first appearance developed from the simple type wrapped in paper to the beribboned variety wrapped in brightest foil and packed in a box or basket, it leads to vast amounts of packaging waste. Approximately 4.370 tonnes of card and 160 tonnes of foil waste are generated in the UK during the holiday every year. Most of the plastic packaging used is not recyclable yet, which means it ends up in landfills.

That’s a lot of waste and whilst there have been improvements in the recyclability of packaging since the article was written, it is fair to say that just because packaging can be recycled does not mean that it is being recycled.

With a little creativity, you can turn this Easter into a low or no-waste event!

Eco Friendly Easter Gift Idea Guide

How about a refillable reusable Easter egg jar?

Repurposed jars such as the ones offered free at Wasteless Pantry are a blank canvas waiting to be decorated!  Fill with lollies, chocolates, flavored almonds, sweet Easter wishes, or money.  Pinterest has a great inspiration page to get your creativity flowing.

Make your own felt egg-shaped gift bag or what about a fabric bunny basket?

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Make your own chocolate Easter treats!

Grab an Easter mold, and chocolate buttons (white, milk, or dark depending on your preference) from Wasteless Pantry ready to be melted into your own handmade Easter treats.  Or try your hand at making your own chocolates from scratch, we have those ingredients on hand too.

Dark chocolate recipe:

Makes approximately 200 grams

  • 100g cacao butter (also called cocoa butter)

  • 6 tablespoons cocoa/cacao powder

  • 1-2 tablespoons icing sugar

  • 1/4 cup almonds or 1 Tbsp chia seeds (optional)

Step 1: Melt cacao butter in a double boiler

Step 2: Mix melted butter with sifted cacao powder and icing sugar, incorporating other fillings if used.  Place in mold and allow to set in the fridge. Done!  Plus it is dairy free (making it vegan friendly) and gluten-free chocolate!

Sit back and indulge in a heartfelt and personal Easter celebration befitting the spirit of this time of year while all the rest are cleaning up the commercialized rubbish.


5 Easy Tips to Motivate Eco Change in Others

How do you make others change their ways to less wasteful living?

The simple answer is: You can’t.

You can’t make others change their ways.  You can encourage, guide, support, educate but you can’t force sustainable change on others.

We all come to these ideas with our own baggage of previous experiences, beliefs, levels and sources of knowledge, priorities and capabilities.  We all have our ways of doing things and habits that are more or less difficult to change.  Some of us are just thinking about things, some are preparing themselves for change, others are making changes slow and steady or all at once, and yet others are maintaining their momentum.  You must always be respectful of where people are.

However….

There are things that you can do to motivate others to get on board with a life with less waste.

5 Easy Tips to Motivate Change:

  1. Be a good role model – seeing you make waste less living look as enjoyable and satisfying as it is will intrigue others to find out more!
  2. Don’t give detailed explanations of why you do what you do, but feel free to give a quick statement if someone is curious.  “I’m trying to reduce my waste” is enough for now, you will be asked for more if the person is contemplating the issue.
  3. Make it as easy as possible for others to make the change – have the shopping bags readily available, send them to the shops with one container to be refilled by a retailer you know will guide them through, or have containers for leftovers ready to go (hide the cling wrap!).
  4. Just try addressing one source of waste at a time so that the change doesn’t feel onerous.  Maybe it is taking a reusable drink bottle rather than buying bottled drinks.  Maybe it is making packed lunches using containers rather than cling wrap.  Maybe it is remembering the shopping bags when you are out and about. One change at a time until it becomes a habit.
  5. Always be supportive of any attempts in the right direction.  We all want to feel good about ourselves.  Berating someone when they make mistakes will likely demotivate them so stick with the positive reinforcement and be grateful for whatever change they are trying to make for the better.

Plastic Free July is here!!

I love this time of year!  I get to feel great about doing something for the planet and challenge myself to learn new things.

Have you joined Plastic Free July yet?

It really is very simple.  Just pledge to give up disposable plastic bags, water bottles, straws and take away coffee cups.  You can do it for a day, a week or the whole month.  If your a bit more along the plastic free journey you might consider giving up disposable plastic packaging too.

You probably don’t need to go out and buy anything as most of us have all the tools we need right now.  Just say no to straws when you order out, remember to take your reusable shopping and produce bags with you, and keep your BYO coffee cup nearby if you like a take away cuppa.

I’ve been doing Plastic Free July since 2013 and every year I stretch myself to reduce one more thing.  My family aren’t as wasteless as me but that doesn’t mean I can’t still give it a go.  I can make decisions that are good for me and encourage them to make changes but I never want them to feel pressured into something.  Plastic Free July isn’t just about waste, it’s also about enjoying life.  I love that because of this challenge I now know how to make my own yoghurt, bread, soft cheese, pasta, granola and a bunch of other things.  I love that I have found a community of others who are doing good things for the environment (rather than just talking about how bad things are getting).  I love that I can shop quickly and easily, just buy what I need and spend more time enjoying life rather than dealing with stuff.  I love all that I have gained by getting rid of the rubbish in my life.

Over the month of July we will be giving you lots of suggestions via Instagram and Facebook on simple changes that you can make, but we would love to hear from you.  What are your disposable plastic dilemmas?  What are your disposable plastic solutions?

To make it just a bit easier and give you a little incentive to try reducing your plastic packaging – how about a 5% discount on any items bought during July where you have refilled your own container!  As always you can drop off your containers and we will do your shopping for you if you prefer.  It doesn’t get much easier to do the right thing!!

I dream of a day when no one’s green bin is full to the brim on rubbish collection day!

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