zero waste things i've tried
There was a time in my life when I was really into zero waste. Zero waste, as a movement, aims to reduce or fully eliminate waste. This isn't just about food waste, it's also (mainly) about reducing packaging or turning it into something that can be reused or recycled. To this day, I am still a paying member in my local zero waste organization that's aiming to reduce waste locally.
What drew me into it was obviously the good environmental impact and also having less waste in the home to have to take out. It seems like a good idea to have less plastic or aluminum directly touching food when we seem to have a problem with microplastics, leeching, PFAS and concerns around BPA, just to name a few.
So since I got into it (around 2017), I've tried a lot of things to reduce my waste impact; I failed at some, but kept some others.
no plastic bags
I usually buy my produce without putting it in plastic bags, instead keeping it loose or in nets I bring myself. I've kept this up since I see no benefit to putting it in plastic. What I didn't keep up though is not using plastic bags in my garbage bins. I tried for a few years, but in the end convenience won, I admit that. You don't always want to fully wipe out and clean the bin, and it's really disgusting with the organic waste. At some point I caved and put plastic bags in again.
packaging-free groceries
I'm lucky that supermarkets and discounters here are also interested in eliminating packaging, so a lot of produce at least is not packaged. We also used to have a zero waste shop here where you could fill up your own containers and weigh them. Admittedly, I didn't go as many times as I would have liked to, because it was further away than the supermarkets I go to, it was more expensive, and more cumbersome with your own containers. It closed when prices got really bad. When choosing groceries, I do try to go for more paper packaging or packaging-free, but it's not always possible; I think my worst offenders are meat replacement products and my oat milk by Alpro in the Tetrapak. At home, I have glass containers to keep food in.
shampoo bars or no shampoo
I used to not use shampoo at all for 8 months. It was okay; it didn't smell, my hair had volume and felt good, and I washed it every day with water. However, where I lived had very very soft water. I moved, and this method of only using water was impossible with hard water; the limestone reacts super bad with the oils in your hair. I didn't want to dump a pre-filled bottle of cold apple cider vinegar over my head every shower, so I stopped. I think this is totally doable with soft water and especially short hair, but I couldn't keep it up.
What I do keep up is that I don't buy bottles of shower stuff anymore, I just have soap/shampoo bars and usually use it for both body and hair. Works fine for me, and saves space in my toiletries bag while traveling, too.
no plastic bottles
I'm pretty good at this; I live in an area where the tap water is safe and tastes okay. The only times I will get a plastic bottle of water is if a recipe for baking calls for carbonated water, but that is rare. Other beverages I buy are usually in glass (or Tetrapaks :(). I filter my hard as hell tap water with a BRITA, though. I made the mistake of buying a plastic BRITA, should have bought the glass one instead; I don't know what I thought. The filters are a bit of a mystery.. they definitely feature plastic. I don't know how much leeches into the water. I send the used filters back to the company for free so they can recycle them. You can send them an email and they'll send you a return label. I'm not sure what the impact is of buying packs of plastic water bottles every week vs. switching out a BRITA filter every month. :( At home, I drink out of a glass bottle.
wooden toothbrush and dental tabs
Don't do this to yourself... I'm glad if it works for people, but it didn't for me. Teeth are expensive and not covered by most health insurance, and needs extra insurance. Fixing them and keeping them can be difficult. Maybe we shouldn't mess with that in the name of environmentalism; we eat too much sugar and carbs to be reckless. The wooden toothbrushes here don't have the longer or differently angled bristles I need, and the dental tabs don't spread enough in the mouth and don't really help clean. My mouth is also relatively dry in the mornings, so it's difficult to chew the tab into a paste. I don't think this combo cleaned everything well and my teeth became less white. I switched to tubed toothpaste again and bought an electronic, sonic toothbrush and that helped immensely. I think the only thing worse than wooden toothbrush and denttabs is the twigs you can chew on that some zero waste online shops sold (and might still sell). No.
laundry detergent
I haven't tried as much as I could here. It's definitely easier to get the traditional detergents in plastic bottles, especially mild detergent. For a year or so, I got my detergent from our zero waste shop, where I could refill my existing containers or buy tabs and other things, but as I said, that one doesn't exist anymore. And I don't think there is any benefit to ordering zero waste stuff online that has to be sent to me with trucks and cars and more packaging instead of walking for 10 minutes to get a container in the store. There are also laundry chestnuts; just chestnuts you put in your laundry. I haven't tried those yet.
cleaners
I think most things in the household are easily cleaned with water, vinegar, and/or baking soda. You can just buy a spray bottle and mix that up yourself. Special cleaning products are only needed with specific things like mold or extreme dirt, in my opinion. I am still occasionally swayed by the products - if they offer it, it must work better and quicker, right? But not really. Bathroom cleaners do nothing for my endless limestone the way vinegar does. I also don't really have tissues aside from the free tissues I get at the pharmacy with my orders; when I spill something, I just clean it up with a sponge or a kitchen towel.
dish soap and sponges
Now, sponges and dish soap... I tried, but I also reverted back to the plastic sponges and dish soap in a plastic bottle. I used to use loofah sponges (not the shower loofah) and a dish soap bar, but it was cumbersome. The loofahs easily fell apart after a short while and weren't cleaning as well as the black side of the plastic sponges. Rubbing the soap onto the loofah sponges for a little while before applying it to the dishes took a little longer, and you had to be extra careful in rinsing it off because otherwise, the dish soap bar would leave a film, a bit of residue on the dishes. I think it dealt exceptionally bad with black tea stains. It was a fail for me. I wouldn't be able to get these products in the store again anyway, just online. I don't have a dishwasher.
makeup, skincare, hygiene
I think this is my most successful section... I just don't really buy makeup and I use everything up or keep it (yes, even when it says it's expired after 6 months). Stuff like q-tips I buy is made of wood or bamboo. I refill my soap dispensers. Deodorants I buy are the creamy kind in glass or recycleable pan you apply with your finger, no roll-on or spray. My skincare is in glass bottles except for one plastic bottle I have since 2 years now. I have reusable cottonpads and reusable period pads and a mooncup. No complaints. Would never go back to buying pads or tampons again.
I currently cannot think of anything else; there's just lots I don't use in the first place, so I don't know how any replacement products work (like baby wipes, makeup remover, etc.). If I think of anything else, I will update the post :)
All in all, many of the zero waste things don't work as well, are not as accessible in stores, and more expensive :( Plastic also remains very versatile and the only real way to protect from germs or humidity and keep things sterile or mold-free.
The people that are idolized in that "scene" are pretty extreme usually; I remember a person who collected all her garbage of one year in a mason jar. I think that's possible if you are very healthy, with no kids or pets, but otherwise it's basically impossible. My medicines and supplements alone would overflow the mason jar.
Published 01 Dec, 2024
This is actually my second try writing this kind of post. Last time I did was almost 1.5 years ago on a different blogging platform. I had to save the unfinished post to the drafts because I noticed my dog acting weird. I didn't leave his side the entire next 8 hours or so, in which he died. After that, I couldn't get myself to touch that post draft again and I deleted it together with that blogging account. Now I'm ready for the second try and hope no one dies this time.