HOW TO BECOME LOW WASTE

happy earth day everyone! today I’m making a quick post on how you can become low or zero waste. it doesn’t take much time or money to live consciously. keep in mind that zero waste is a goal but every little step does matter. now, here are the ways I changed my family over to low waste!

SHOP BULK

this is the easiest one! you don’t need to run to the container store & drop hundreds of dollars on pretty bulk storage… according to Nick that is. I’m still dying to get cute jumbo jars for everything but in the mean time repurposed jars are working just fine for us. we’re lucky enough to have a local grocery chain with a bulk section, as well as quiet a few options downtown. living in a hippy dippy city like KC really helps but you never know! I didn’t think we had any bulk stores in south side Chicago but then I actually found one right before we moved!

SHOP LOCAL

again, this may just be a perk of living in Kansas City because we never found a locally grown section at our grocery stores in Chicago buuuut you don’t always have to go to a Farmers Market to shop local. sometimes you luck out with a local grocery store selling locally grown produce, like we do here with Hy-Vee & Hen House.

either way I still highly recommend you shop at farmers market. they’re lots of fun, very cheap & you get to meet the farmers face to face! just try to shop locally & small the best you can.

SHOP SMALL

I won’t drag on too long here. it’s a pretty simple concept, lots of small businesses are popping up on Instagram now adays! simply search the hashtags ‘smallshop’ ‘shopsmall’ or ‘smallbusiness’ on Instagram & your golden. personally I like to switch to ‘most recent’ instead of ‘most popular’ to support the smallest shops when it comes to whatever item I’m looking for.

look for local, small shops in your area when you want to go out on shopping sprees with friends.

COMPOST

now that it’s warming up I’ll be getting to work on crafting a compost in the backyard. there’s tons of Pinterest posts already but if you don’t mind waiting a month or two then go ahead & subscribe below this post. you’ll get notified when I make my own How-To-Compost… post.

composting is a great way to reduce your waste and give nourishment back to the earth’s soil.

FIX IT, MEND IT, BURROW IT, MAKE IT

you get the gyst of this one! just ask yourself, “does this really need to be replaced?” or “do I really need this?” when making a purchase. can you make it yourself? can you fix the one you already have? can you borrow it from someone? it’s as simple as that.

MAKE THE SWAP

I’m still in the process of switching all my single use items over. I’ve always used a refillable water bottle, it’s actually kinda sad how many I’ve collected over the years but I’m switching those over to more stainless steel ones. I’ve been using reusable shopping bags since before I even knew zero waste was a thing but you can make any bag into a grocery bag honestly. we use rags and old cloth diaper inserts instead of paper towels. I make our cleaning supplies. I try, emphasis on try, to remember to take my own silverware & to-go box when going out. you don’t need the fancy $20 bento box & bamboo utensils off amazon, I just use silverware & a ziploc box. we use bamboo toothbrushes, but are still trying to find a better toothpaste option. I actually just ordered this refillable deodorant stick as well! the list goes on & on. just think about the items you regularly use that get tossed out after one or a few uses, that are plastic and/or not necessary. it’ll seem like a lot but there’s a lot of alternatives out there!

I’ll be making a whole entire video on my YouTube channel once I feel like I’m far enough along on my low waste journey to preach to others. for now, I’ll leave the conversation at this but I would love to hear how you try to live a waste free life. I hope you have an amazing day today!!