Livin' la Vida Low Waste

I’m no zero waste queen by any stretch of the imagination, but I do make a conscious effort to minimize the waste coming into, and leaving our home. By now we’re all (or hopefully all) on board with taking our own grocery bags and using a keep cup for that takeaway coffee but there are many other ways to reduce waste in your day to day life. Out of the three R’s - reduce, reuse, recycle - we’ve gotten really good at the third option, and I think it’s time to focus more on the first two. Once you implement these simple little tricks you can easily cut back your individual, and families impact on the environment - and as you become more and more aware of your consumption it’s hard to go back!

Many of my tips are for the kitchen, where as a mum who does all of the cooking and loves to bake, it feels like I spend a large portion of my day! Raw chicken isn’t sexy, but baking it without using any disposable materials is! For a long time I was buying the Multix Greener baking paper - which don’t get me wrong is a great product and I’ll still keep on hand for certain uses (it’s also pretty washable and can be used multiple times before disposal!). However it’s still a ‘single use’ item that has a short lifespan before ending up in the bin. Swapping baking paper for a silicone sheet just requires a quick wash and can be used over and over. I have found it great for baking everything from vege chips to cookies! I also use silicone muffin trays so that there is no need for muffin cups, another single use item - that usually takes half the muffin with it when you peel it off!

Reducing the amount of plastic that enters your home is easy when you have reusable produce bags! I take a bunch of these with me when I do the weekly fruit n vege shop. At our local produce market many of the popular items are sold in batches in plastic bags that once you’ve ripped open go straight into landfill. I consciously avoid these - which is hard when something you frequently buy is on sale, or appears cheaper, when you buy it in these pre made up packs. But I’m voting with my wallet when I choose to select items from the loose bins and use my produce bags instead. It only takes a few more minutes over your whole shop and you’re letting the supplier know you don’t need your carrots in plastic thanks. Keep them tucked in your grocery tote bags and you’ll always have them on hand at the supermarket too. I bought these from Willow and Ash, you can shop them here.

Another easy way to reduce the amount of plastic entering your home - and a great way to save money - is to buy things in bulk. One of my favourite places to shop in New Plymouth is Vetro. Their proximity to Tartan Rose Cafe is dangerous, but the selection is worth the stop. Plus you can buy much of what you need in bulk and cheaper than at the supermarket! Their staff are friendly and accommodating for annoying people like me who order things like this, my families favourite cereal, in 1kg bags. I found we were going through the 250g bags within a week, this way I’m not using four bags a month and I don’t have to shop as frequently. Their bags are for the most part ziplock so I haven’t had to buy a glad bag in years and use these throughout our home for all kinds of storage from lunchboxes to kids puzzles.

Other items I buy in bulk are: rice, coffee, oil (these tins are great and can be cleaned out for recycling or craft projects with the kids), nuts, popcorn, flour - the list could go on and on.

I also like to buy the kids yogurt for their lunches in the big containers and decant a portion into a yogurt cup for their lunchboxes. This reduces the plastic that’s going into the recycling, or straight to landfill if it isn’t clean. The reusable yogurt pottle goes straight in the dishwasher and can be used again and again.

‘If we’re going to solve global warming it’s going to take actions at all levels, from the individual to the international and everything in between.’ – Sean Davis, research scientist NOAA

I’m no green thumb, trust me I can barely keep a house plant alive let alone plant something outdoors. I do however compost our scraps. There are many benefits to composting even if you’re not an avid gardener. 40% of household waste is compostable material. Organics such as food scraps in landfills break down anaerobically (without oxygen) to produce methane gas, a greenhouse gas 21 times more harmful than CO2. Buried organics can react with metals in the landfill to produce toxic leachate, a potential source of groundwater pollution. I compost everything from our coffee grounds and fruit and vege scraps to tissues and plant clippings. I keep a seal-able bucket under the sink so there is no smell and just empty and rinse it out every couple of days. To find out more about what and how you could be composting check out the NPDC website here.

I could go on and on about ways to lower your carbon footprint; shop local, bar soaps not bottles, cloth nappies, walk more drive less, shop second hand or ethical (fast fashion is a whole other topic) give soap nuts a go and eliminate laundry detergent… and quite honestly that can become overwhelming. If you’re just starting out on this journey (and we’re all at different stages) it can be daunting, and hard to know where to start. But if you begin by making small changes like the few I suggested above, and don’t try to change the world, or your life in a single day then it’s much more manageable, and achievable.

Like I said at the top, I’m no expert, I’m just trying to do the best I can in the increasingly consumptive world we live in. I recently listened to a podcast on climate change that stated ‘We know now definitively no point over the past 800, 000 years has atmospheric C02 been as high as it is today. ‘ That is truly terrifying. These small changes may not feel like they’re making a big impact in the grand scheme of things, but if we all start doing what we can and turning these changes into habits I truly believe we can make a different. Slow down, think before you buy. Find what works for you and your family and take the wins where you can. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

If you’re looking to learn more on how to reduce waste, here are a few accounts you might be interested in following…

Love food hate waste
Caliwoods Eco
The Ocean Cleanup
Sustainable Taranaki