Bulk BarnMy family in the past few months have changed our grocery habits to going to bulk barn, a bulk food franchise nearby. We found no matter how hard you try at local grocery stores it is impossible to buy zero waste. When we buy bulk, we bring in our own jars and fill them with dry foods. As a family we work hard to eat healthy and organically and the bulk barn has allowed us to become even healthier by only buying whole, simplistic foods. Although we are still far from zero waste as we try to eat organic produce which is hard to come by without plastic packaging ridiculously, we have definitely lowered our plastic use significantly. Bulk barn is also far cheaper than the regular grocery stores. We appear to spend almost half the amount of money we would usually for these dry foods and things like peanut butter and oils. It is amazing! We leave feeling environmentally friendly and like we struck a deal! We also, slowly but surely are making our kitchen far more ascetically pleasing, which we know is not important, but sure makes us happy! We will show the progress of our jar collection growing more and more as we slowly but surely reduce our plastic intake. You can too!
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Coffee MakerFor many years, we have been using Tassimo pods as our coffee source at home. reasons. It is said that 29,000 coffee capsules are dumped in landfills around the world each minute. These pods are usually non-recyclable and go straight to the landfill after only five minutes of use. Now, we are back to using our old coffee machine that has a single use option and doesn’t even use a filter! Try returning to an old-fashion coffee maker with a compostable filter instead and coffee grinds from bulk barn.
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Reusable Ziplock Bags
Using reusable bags are another little change we have made. The everyday ziplock bag is not recyclable, posing many threats. They can harm aquatic species when littered in our water ways or spend 200-1000 years degrading in landfills - never fully disappearing. Reusable bags have just the same function, yet they are more durable, compostable and reusable! They seal perfectly and are easy to wash. We got a 12 pack for 14 dollars on Amazon and we think we will get our money’s worth if nothing else as we no longer need to buy ziplocks! While these bags are compostable, some green bin programs actually won’t take them as they take longer to compose than regular food waste.
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Biodegrable Dish Washing Tabs
When at the bulk barn we came across these biodegradable dishwasher tabs by Unscented Company. They contain no harmful toxins so sea life won’t have to suffer from our clean dishes! They are also not tested on animals and are fragrance and dye free! The container is made of paper again reducing our plastic waste!
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Bees Wax Instead of Saran Plastic Wrap
Swapping Saran Plastic Wrap for Reusable and Compostable Beeswax Food Wrap can save a ordinary family 400 Metres of plastic annually! They keep all your food just as fresh without the unnessesary waste. They are said to last for a good year before you can throw them in the compost! No waste what so ever! We just bought ours from zero waste store (An excellent store to check out, with many amazing waste free items), and we are loving them already. They are easy to use and best of all plastic free. Even the packaging and shipping packaging was in recycled paper! Amazing Amazing Amazing! Go zero waste! Another alternative is to cover food with another plate, put in a jar or tupperware container or cover with a cloth!
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Dish Soap Bar
We bought a dish soap bar, to replace the excessive bottles we used to buy. These plastic bottles are not necessary and can easily be swapped for natural and toxic free dish soap bars. Dish soap goes onto the cutlery and dishes we use to eat and the excess water goes straight into the oceans. Buying dish soap bars will decrease toxins in your life and the marine life.
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Laundry Strips |
Tru Earth eco Laundry Strips are one of the easiest and best things we have done to greatly reduce waste. They are $19.95 for a pack with 32 loads. In comparison to laundry pods they are only $6 more! So far the #truearthmovement has eliminated 45920 plastic jugs since April 2019. Only 19.2% of laundry detergent bottles are recycled and the rest go straight into landfill, taking 1000 years to decompose. You can buy these on the Tru Earth website. Please convince your families to try this ridiculously easy swap today!
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