text: So here we are at the end of the Zero Waste Challenge and nearly a month has gone by since it ‘officially’ finished, allowing me time to reflect upon the experience.
  Week One
  The first week was a learning curve, realising just how much non-recyclable plastic waste my local supermarkets (Sainsburys and Waitrose, I’m looking at you) use. I emptied out a glass jar from my pantry and assigned it to collect all the non-recyclable and non-compostable garbage we would use in a month. With one exception to this rule being the dirty nappies from my toddler. No way I’m saving those up for a month! (Although we use cloth nappies, we also use biodegradable nappies for night, but because they contain human waste after use, they have to go into the garbage rather than the compost bin…according to my friend’s bin man). At least they will have decomposed in 4-5 years rather than 500 years like regular disposable nappies.
  Week Two
  Week two was more about changing my practices as a consumer and being more confident in demanding that my purchases create less waste. I just started finding the whole experience less…well…less embarrassing to be honest. So I now make sure that the fishmonger and butcher just wrap my purchases in paper (which they do anyway) but I ask them not to put them in a plastic bag afterwards and instead I place them in a washable bag. I found that the most cost effective way of shopping with less packaging was by making a menu plan, creating a list and then going to the local village shops. We are fortunate to have a local organic green grocers which also sells a lot of Middle Eastern foods, a fishmongers, a butchers and if you like wine, there is a shop which sells wines on tap from barrels and you can bring your own bottles to fill up. I like using the local shops too because you don’t need to buy big packs of food and can order just as much as you need for your menu plan. This helps reduce food waste.
  Week Three
  By week three I noticed that we were creating a lot more recycling, compost waste and bits of paper to go into the fire basket. I guess this was a by-product of me making sure that any packaged goods I did buy were in recyclable packaging. I think we’ll have to deal with that at some point, as even creating lots of recyclable waste still isn’t ideal. I was also finding it really frustrating to realise that there actually weren’t any bulk food stores around to get dry goods. I am from Canada and most of the supermarkets in my home country have a bulk foods section and there is even a great chain of bulk food stores that have been around since I was a kid, called the Bulk Barn. I don’t think I ever really appreciated it that much…until now when I realised that the only bulk food shops around here are the big Whole Foods in Kensington (where I used to do my bulk food shopping when I worked around there), Unpackaged at Planet Organic in Muswell Hill and The Dry Goods Store in Maida Vale.
  You also have to remember that even the most self righteous of zero waste shoppers can never be truly zero waste. Even those bulk foods come packaged somehow. So if, like me, there isn’t a local bulk food store in your area, there is a good argument for getting a bunch of likeminded local friends together and doing some bulk ordering of some pantry staples you use a lot of in your kitchen. You’ll just need someone who is a bit organised to pull it all together and you’ll need a good set of scales for dividing the order up fairly!
  Week Four
  I got really DIY-ey this week. Throughout the month I had been making the zero waste baby wipes for my toddler, but at this point I needed to replace some of my own personal care items and made a batch of my homemade deodorant (recipe coming soon!), as well as making my foaming hand soap with a new essential oil blend of lemongrass and ginger for summer. I really love doing DIY personal care items, but for me, they do have to work. Especially the deodorant! Unfortunately I haven’t found a homemade shampoo recipe that works well so at the moment I’m still using a commercial brand of shampoo which I like. (If you know of an amazing DIY shampoo which actually works…tell me about it!)
  At this point I also ran out of bamboo toothbrushes, so I made a new order on Amazon. I don’t know why more people don’t buy these. The bristles are made from nylon and they are exactly the same as the bristles on a normal toothbrush. They just have handles made from bamboo rather than the mixed plastic handles of normal toothbrushes which end up in landfill because most recyclers won’t go to the trouble of separating the plastics. I do appreciate the fact that ordering a toothbrush to come in a large cardboard Amazon box is not the most ‘zero waste’, however right now nowhere local carries the environmentally friendly toothbrushes and I do buy in bulk so at least I won’t have to buy them again until later in the year. Also, for my toddler I get these little Jack N’ Jill compostable toothbrushes for babies with cute little animals on them.
  Conclusion
  So, I have to say that my husband wasn’t the most co-operative partner in this Zero Waste Challenge and I did see a bit of non-recyclable packaging make it into the garbage can, so in addition to the night time nappy waste, over the month in total we produced a loosely filled 40 litre bag of garbage. So as a household we were not entirely zero waste this month. However, excluding my husband and baby’s contributions to landfill…I do feel proud that my personal contribution to landfill from the whole of the month of June fit into the space of a Kilner jar.
  Now, going forward will I chop my garbage up into small pieces and store it in a glass jar every month? No, probably not. Will I keep up the additional zero waste practices I’ve adopted over the course of the month? Absolutely. And I will continue to add to them as I can. I’ve equipped our household with a few additional zero waste necessities, like pyrex glass and stainless steel water bottles to ensure we can take enough water on our outings and day trips and also some extra mason jars for food storage, snacks, layered salads and the like. I already have my favourite glass standard barista size Keep Cup which my husband bought me last year and which I carry with me everywhere so I can get coffee on the go.
  I’ve also started doing a bit more “from scratch” in the kitchen like cooking up dry pulses in slow cooker (avoiding tinned and boxed black beans and chick peas) and making my own cashew milk and storing it in glass bottles, thus saving on the high cost of nut milks and also the packaging they come in.
  I could feel like a failure and just give up entirely thinking “oh that zero waste thing didn’t work out for me”, but I think that actually we’ve made some great steps this month towards living a reduced waste lifestyle in the long-term and that will have significantly more environmental impact than one zero waste month experiment would have. And I’m happy with that. And even my husband is now getting into the swing of things…even though he still thinks some of it is pretty weird.
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  This entry was posted in Zero Waste and tagged #zerowastechallenge, baby wipes, bamboo toothbrush, bulk barn, compost, foaming handsoap, garbage, jack n jill toothbrush, keep up, mason jar, organic, recycling, the dry goods store, unpackaged, waste, Zero Waste, zero waste challenge on July 28, 2016 by Our Little Organic Life.	
  Zero Waste Shopping
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  So its 9 days into my Zero Waste Challenge and I’m feeling uncomfortably close to having filled up the jar where I’ve been keeping all the non-recyclable and non-compostable household waste. (With the exception of the biodegradable nappies we use for overnights on our baby…I’m not storing those up until the end of the month.) Regardless of the outcome, I promise to be honest and to share with you how much garbage our household produces this month.
  It has become very clear over the last week what the main culprit is for us: the non-recyclable plastic film that the big supermarkets like Sainsburys and Waitrose use to package EVERYTHING. There is no reason that this film cannot be made from a recyclable material and indeed sometimes its not even necessary at all. Ideally as a zero waste family would make the time to go to a bulk food store or join a food co-op, but its been a slightly difficult week or so for us as my husband has put his back out and I’ve been running the entire household on my own. So time has been precious, meaning quick trips to the supermarket have been the reality of the situation when it comes to shopping for food. But that’s fine because most people shop at supermarkets and it means I’ve been having to try to figure out ways of acquiring less garbage with my food while shopping in this type of environment.
  Check the label:
  I know, I know. You’re already checking the label to make sure the stuff is GMO-free, organic, yadda yadda yadda, and now on top of all that, you have to check whether the packaging is recyclable. To be entirely honest with you, if I have to choose between some kind of GMO, canola oil, glucose-fructose filled piece of junk food in recyclable packaging and something organic and healthy in non-recyclable packaging, I am probably going to opt for the latter, with some amount of accompanying guilt. But usually it doesn’t come down to that. Just check the packaging for what you’re buying and if it isn’t recyclable, just try to keep it to a minimum. And obviously, buying ‘real food’ from the bulk aisle helps a lot.
  Take your own produce & bulk food bags:
  These little produce bags are great and you can shove them inside your main shopping tote, or even stash a couple in your handbag in case you need to do some unexpected shopping while you’re out. They’re light, so they roughly match the weight of the plastic bags provided by the store, and can be used for any type of fresh produce. They’re also great in the bulk section of the supermarket because they just as easily hold dried grains, beans & pulses, nuts, flours and even dried fruits (as long as they’re not too sticky). Finally, they’re also useful in the baked goods section as they will hold loaves of bread or bread rolls and will store them nicely at home too. You will want to throw them in the washing machine for a short cycle after each use to avoid any cross-contamination. I liked these organic cotton, linen and silk ones which I found on Etsy and I’ve included the links in the photo credits at the bottom of this article:
  Take your own shopping totes:
  Since the introduction of the 5p per bag charge here in the UK, I think we are all getting better at doing this. I always keep a foldaway shopping bag in my handbag as well, in case I end up buying something on the hoof while I’m out. Here’s an article I found on realsimple.com road testing the various brands reusable shopping bags.
  When you get home:
  At this point you may wonder “Okay lady, I’ve brought home my bulk food packaged in its organic, reusable packaging…now what?” Well, now you need something to put your stuff in to store it.
  Its up to you at this point, but for dry goods I recommend opting for glass storage jars for your family’s health and wellbeing for these reasons. The easiest solution for a really slick look is head on over to Ikea, choose a design you like which is going to be practical and air tight, as well as something that comes in a variety of sizes from little jars for peanut butter to mahoosive jars for flour…and then stock up. But if you are on more of a budget, you can use recycled jam jars (I love empty Bonne Maman jam jars and use them for everything) and mason jars are great too! You may find larger jars at vintage shops. I would recommend investing in a wide mouth funnel to avoid the frustration of spillage when transferring from the bags to the jars.
  Fresh fruits and vegetables can be placed in the fridge, the fruit bowl or in a wicker storage basket lined with a clean linen cloth, as appropriate for each item.
  Photo Credits: Pexels (header) Kootsac (silk bags), OhHelloHenry (linen bread bag) and TheLandofWishes (organic cotton bags), Ikea and Mason (jars)
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  This entry was posted in Uncategorized, Zero Waste and tagged #zerowastechallenge, compost, etsy, food, food in jars, ikea, organic, recyclable, shopping, storage, waste, Zero Waste on June 10, 2016 by Our Little Organic Life.	
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