Ahhhh, coffee...

For years now, my husband and I have been pretty sustainable with our coffee drinking. Coffee preparing? Anywhoo, just trying to find the best way not to create waste from making that MUCH needed cup o' joe in the morning.

We also buy organic, fair trade coffee brands.

In the past we've done anything from having a small coffee maker with a mesh, reusable filter, to our current French Press, which creates pretty much no waste.

We've landed on the French press and have pretty much stuck with it.

I wanted to touch on some other methods we've tried, but also give information on some other options.

A lot of people have been using those Keurig style coffee makers which KILL me. Up until now, there was no option put to use those little disposable cups and add to the millions of tonz of those things existing forever on the planet. GOOD NEWS, you can still use your machines but there are a bunch of re-usable, fill-it-yourself pods!! Yay!!!

  https://www.amazon.com

I have an amazon link here, but please feel free to find the items on other sites or in stores as well. Please note, I haven't used these re-fill able ones myself, so this isn't a specific recommendation. I'm just soooooo glad the option is finally here!

There are even biodegradable options for the pods themselves!

https://www.tayst.com/products/pods-for-keurig

Previous to our French Press, we were using the individual cup, pour over funnels with filters.

At first with brown paper filters, but then we discovered reusable fabric filters for them. I'd show you a photo of our actual filters and funnels, but they are packed away. Here is a link to some on-line. I haven't ordered from this company, but I hear good things.

https://www.grove.co

Again, the GREAT news for making that all important cup of coffee is that there are a bunch of sustainable options out there. And not only will your coffee be delicious, it will be better for the planet.

Don't forget to compost those coffee grounds, too!

If you have a comment or other planet friendly ways to make your coffee, please share here!

Thanks!
Joy

To paper towel, or NOT to paper towel...?

I know, I know, most people think, "give up paper towels?!! No. Way." Well, I know it's hard to imagine, but it's possible. Even if you just limit your use, A LOT, it helps. If my husband can do it, so can you! "What does this have to do with plastic, Joy" you ask? Well, it comes wrapped in plastic! Here is some information I found:

(source: WWF - Watch the Amazon go down in paper towels. and fillgood.co)

• Paper towels are not made of plastic: of course, they are mostly made from trees but also from recycled paper. Now even bamboo!
• Paper towels are compostable: true if you have access to home compost or city compost, and if you don’t use them with chemicals like toxic cleaning products. If composting is not an option, they end up in landfills because THEY CAN’T BE RECYCLED.
• Paper towels come wrapped in plastic.
• Printed paper towels are made with nasty inks and dyes, and sometimes even chemicals scents
• People use A LOT of paper towels: 13 billion pounds each year in the US → 40 pounds, the equivalent of 80 rolls, per person, per year
• Environmental impact in the US: producing all that paper consumes a lot of resources, including 110 million trees per year and 130 billion gallons of water. On top of that, you can add the energy to manufacture the paper towels and transport them from the factory to the store to your house and finally to the landfill or the composting facility.

The easiest solution, use cloth towels and napkins, yo!

This post is mostly about how I use towels and napkins in the kitchen and for meals.




For hands

I have a collection of cute hand towels. I have a towel rack hanging from the cabinet by the sink. I wash hands then dry with on of my hand towels hanging there. I know many people already do this, right?


For clean up

Now this is where people usually have the urge to grab for a paper towel! I have another collection of towels that I keep in a bottom drawer of the kitchen. They are towels I've had for years and years. If we need to dry a pot or pan, or dry some fruits or vegetables, I grab one of these. I have some designated towels here for floor spills or messes, too. See the red towel on the floor under the open drawer? That stays on the floor to wipe up any drips of water, in particular. I just drag it over with my foot and wipe it up!

You can use old clothing, like tee-shirts, cut up for rags, too.

Of course there are other options for wiping up spills and cleaning. I really like environmentally friendly products from a company called NORWEX. Here is their website:

https://norwex.biz/en_US/


There are microfiber clothes from them that are amazing, plus other products as well. Check out all the products they carry when you can! I use their microfiber EnviroCloth to clean in my kitchen. You don't need or use cleaning sprays with this product! I'll talk more about them in later posts.

At the table

Again, napkins aren't plastic, but usually they come wrapped in it. Plus, they are just wasteful. If we need napkins, I have some cloth ones available. The husband and I just wash our hands after dinner, as does our son, but during dinner there is bound to be mess. Often for him, I'll have one of his small wash clothes from when he was a baby, at his place. This often helps to avoid having him wipe his hands on his pants or shirt...sometimes, sometimes not (eye roll). If you don't have cloth napkins already, a fun thing to do is look for mismatch, fun patterns in thrift stores or antique stores if you have any around. Or, make your own!

Did I mention, it will save you money!

Ok, to be honest, we do still have paper towels in the house. We are still hung up on being able to use them for gross clean ups like dog pee and other bodily messes. I plan on doing more designated towels or rags for that. Plus I need to try the cooling rack over a backing sheet for our turkey bacon. But, we are limiting our use and I'm trying to find a paper towel supply that doesn't come wrapped in plastic. Unfortunately, it will probably be something online I'll have to have delivered. I'm avoiding Amazon as well. That will be yet another post!

Once I move into the bathroom with my posts (now it's been kitchen) I'll share about a site called Who Gives a Crap where we get our plastic free toilet paper!

If you have any other ideas to replace plastic wrapped paper towels or napkins,  or have a question, please share in the comments!

Thanks!
-Joy

Grocery, and produce and sandwich bags, OH MY!

A mom friend at school this morning asked me what she could use instead of plastic bags. I'm glad she asked! There are so many options. Be it for groceries, produce, packed lunches or shopping. Here is what I do.

Grocery bags: I've been using my reusable grocery bags for years. You can get them from your grocery store or heck, you probably already have bags you can use. A tote bag or anything with straps and that are easy to handle. This isn't meant to be a Trader Joe's add or anything, it's just these are the bags I use for groceries. They sometimes have a great cooler bag for transporting your refrigerator/freezer items, too. It's brilliant.

If you're handy with the sewing machine, you could even make your own grocery bags!

Produce bags: For fruits and veggies, I use a variety of things. I have mesh bags with drawstrings, but I also wash and re-use my plastic produce bags. If you have them already, use them. It's better than throwing them out. Just try avoiding bringing in or using newly acquired plastic bags. I've created a little "clothes line" with string tied between two kitchen cabinet knobs. I clip the cleaned bags upside down and inside out, with little clothes pins for them to dry 😊. These mesh bags can be found in lots of places, in stores or online.

Here is a bag drying rack you can even buy that sits on your counter. https://mightynest.com/shop/lunch-gear/snack-sandwich-bags/bag-drying-rack

Ziploc sandwich and storage bags: I don't use them. I've read recently that they are now recyclable, but it's not necessarily easy. Most curb side recycling from your home doesn't recycle. Some grocery stores have a bin inside you can turn them in. They are a form of what is called film plastic. We had a teacher who used them CONSTANTLY. Drove me nuts. I have them in the house because of this teacher. Grrr.

Here is a good article to read about it if you're interested about recycling Ziplocs. It also has links to figure out where to recycle them.
https://recyclenation.com/2014/10/recycle-ziploc-bags/

There are sooooooo many options out there to replacing using plastic baggies. I have storage containers I use for my son's lunches. He is very conscious of bringing them all home at the end of the school day, too! There are bees wax baggies, silicone storage bags, special fabric bags with Velcro or zippers, recycle unbleached paper bags. Here is a great site that sells all of these:

https://mightynest.com/shop/lunch-gear/snack-sandwich-bags  

Shopping bags: I've been using these for YEARS! I love them, envirosax. They roll up and are so easy to carry with you or in your purse.

I carry at least a couple of these in my purse. They are stylish and compact and you can use them to carry anything. There are many pretty patterns to choose from and even some solid color ones. They're for the gentlemen as well. Here is the link to their site:

https://envirosax.com/

This brand or even other similar bags can be found in some stores. DIASO sells a less expensive brand of their own. I'd say look on Amazon, but they would just send it to you in some big ol' plastic, puffy envelope, grrrr.

This is a big post! I really want to hear from people and what they use to replace plastic bags. If this was a helpful post, I want to hear about that too. Leave a comment if you can.

Thanks!
-Joy

"None of your bee's wax!"

I actually never understood that saying "None of your bee's wax." Is it just me?

Anyways, when I need an alternative to plastic wrap, I do have some of those bees wax sheets. When I first bought them, they worked great! Be sure you follow the care directions though. I think I used hot water on mine, which caused the wax to wear faster. Here are some that I like. Some additional nice things about them is they are made with organic fabric, from a small business (on Amazon), and super cute fabric pattern!

There are a lot of places that sell them. Trader Joe's is one. Probably Whole Foods. Online stores like https://zerowastecartel.com/ carry them, even though I think they are sold out currently on their site. I know you can make these yourself as well! I hope to try that some time.

Another alternative to plastic is aluminum foil. It's recyclable if you clean it after using it. I buy 100% recycled aluminum foil.

I think I found it at Target. Otherwise, just try and use glass storage containers when you can! I actually haven't used plastic wrap for YEARS, so I know it's possible.

Let me know if you've tried this sort of product, or what you use as an alternative to plastic wrap. I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks!

-Joy

More for the kitchen!

Here are a few more things I do in the kitchen to cut out plastic.

This is my kitchen sink. Anyone who knows me and has seen my kitchen, knows there are dishes piled up just outside of the camera lens here. HA!

One way I have "cleaned up my act" in the kitchen is that I found this dish soap bar! No more plastic bottle of liquid dish soap! This one I bought online at a site I really like called Zero Waste Cartel. Here is their website

https://zerowastecartel.com/collections/all

I also use bars of soap to wash hands. No more liquid soap that comes in plastic pouches to refill my soap dispensers! So, invest in good soap dishes. I recommend to minimize mess, ones that have a tray that collects the water underneath. That way you can empty whatever water and soap collected instead of having it all over your sink. Just use a small scrub brush once in a while to clean up the soap that collects on the ridges of the soap dish. I use a small nail brush.

EXTRA TIP for water conservation: I have that little watering can next to the sink to collect any un-drunken (un-drank ?) water that otherwise may end up down the drain. If there is water left in a glass that didn't get drunk, I pour it in there! Then use it to water plants.

Let us know if you've tried this product or another to replace dish soap from a plastic bottle. Please share ideas as well! Thanks!

-Joy Steuerwald

My first post! And it's about dishwasher detergent, YA!

I decided to do my first post on a dishwasher detergent I found and really like. It's from a company called Dropps. Here is their website:

https://www.dropps.com/

They are detergent pods that are completely non-toxic and come in a recycled cardboard box. I'm using the unscented version right now, but plan on trying the lemon scent next. I haven't had to use any rinse agent and dishes come out great! This is a keeper for sure. You can order a 10 count box to try them out, which I did first. Now I have a subscription. You can figure out how many loads you do a week and go from there as far as when they are delivered.

I keep them in my bottom kitchen drawer. They are nice and compact little boxes.

They're super easy to use. Just drop (punny, hehe) the little pod into the sliddy drawer of your dishwasher.

If you decide to try them out, you can use my name (Joy Steuerwald) as a referral and I think get 10% off! Once you sign up, you can refer people and earn points as well for discounts. Oh, did I mention they have free shipping?! Always a plus.

So, if you've tried these let everyone here know how you liked them. If you have another plastic free detergent you use and like, tell us about it in the comment section, too!