Hellobee Boards

This is really hard for us. We used to live in Europe in a fairly Eco-conscious country, and it was easier to make smart choices. Now, we live in a developing country and it just doesn't seem to be on the radar. We have recycling bins in our building, but I don't think things are actually recycled. Plastic is my huge battle. The use of plastic at the grocery store or when getting food is INSANE. Everything seems to be wrapped in multiple layers of plastic wrap or plastic trays or plastic bags, it makes me crazy! Even if you buy something off of a street vendor, they immediately stick it in a plastic bag, or multiple wrappings. So I do what I can to refuse as much excess plastic as possible. A big thing everyone can do is refuse plastic straws. They are a single use item that wind up on beaches and oceans, and they are just terrible. I also want to start buying wood/bamboo/biodegradable toothbrushes, but I've only seen them in one place and haven't gone back to buy them.

Other things we do: I have been using my own grocery bags for over a decade. We don't have a dryer so we air dry everything. I buy local and local organic when I can. We have fans in every room so we try to run those to cut down on our A/C use. We don't eat a lot of meat.

We've moved to fully electric cars. We have tried to get solar panels installed on our roof, but no solar company will do the install because we don't use enough electricity to make it worth their while.

We have LED bulbs in the entire house, we use a no chemical solution for lawn care and we recycle. I would like to start composting, but my husband isn't on board yet.

My big three lately are straw, food, and clothes. I try to refuse straws and disposable cups when possible (it’s hard at places where part of the recipe for the drink is the disposable cup, like at Starbucks).

Over the last two years I’ve been moving my family towards a more plant based diet. From like $20/week on meat (plus $15/week on dairy), im down to $5/month on meat and ($10 on dairy). I try to buy local when possible but our budget is about a stretched as possible right now.

And with clothes I try to buy absolutely as much as possible second hand.

We use reusable shopping and produce bags, rags instead of paper towels, cloth napkins, cloth diapers, cloth wipes, we recycle and compost. DH takes public transit to work as we only have one car. We don’t use any plastic - DS (2.5) had glass bottles, then used stainless steel bowls, plates and cups and now uses a glass jelly jar for cups and uses our regular plates. He has a stainless steel water bottle for the car or when we are out. He literally refuses to eat off plastic at friends houses. He says that’s for babies hahaha We use glass Pyrex for all leftovers and don’t use plastic wrap or aluminum foil. We also barely use ziploc bags. We use a cloth shower liner rather than a plastic one. That’s all I can think of right now, but it’s actually been pretty easy to implement these changes

@mrsbubbletea: this is timely, National Geographic posted this on their IG page yesterday. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/plasticpledge/?beta=true

My DH and I had cocktails last night and there was a little sign posted to each table saying they weren’t using straws for cocktails anymore! So it’s baby steps. Another thing is Q-tips, I’m going. to start buying Q-tips with a cardboard paper stem. For those of you cutting back on paper towels, I have a few packs of IKEA dish cloths and use those for everything. I still keep a roll of paper towels around, but only use them for really gross things like puke or cooking oil.

@jennlin821: thanks for these links!

A few things we do:
- recycle! Even though it's harder now that we live in a small town, we make one big recycling trip every month to the center and whatever they don't take, we take with us to work to recycle there.
- no disposable tableware (except straws, but I'm working to get rid of them)
- dishcloths and washcloths instead of paper towels. I do keep a roll of paper towels for gross stuff like cat vomit.
- paper bags for yard clippings. Our old city stopped accepting plastic bags for yard waste (it is picked up separately and used for compost) and we carried that with us to our new city.
- we don't have or use a garbage disposal.
- we compost or toss food scraps outside for the squirrels.

I also wanted to add since you mentioned pumping, with DD2 I didn’t use the milk storage bags but rather stored milk in Mason jars in the fridge. My supply was pretty low so I didn’t have much to freeze but when I did freeze I used ice cube trays and then stored it all in a freezer bag (plastic of course). It was so much easier to heat up the milk in the Mason jars. I didn’t have glass bottles because there weren’t any that seemed worth it on the market when DD1 was born and I didn’t want to replace everything (landfill!) when DD2 came around. To tote all the supplies I used just regular cloth bags we had on hand and would wash them pretty frequently (they were free from Urban Outfitters back in college—I’m all about not buying it when I don’t have to). Also we use glass or metal cups for the kids, and all glass storage (that was for health—I couldn’t convince my husband and our families to stop heating food in plastic Tupperware eek!).

@mrsbubbletea: along with most of what other people were saying (no paper towels, using cloth, LED lightbulbs etc.) we also compost (we have one outside) and I hope to get a rain barrel soon! Our city reimburses for those two items.

When we buy meat it is from a CSA (community supported agriculture) so it is from a local farm, and they are committed to less waste as well! We also grow some of our own veggies

I really want to get a bamboo toothbrush and a safety razor (just have to convince DH) you can even send in your old razor blades to this company and they will recycle them for you https://albatrossdesigns.it/products/plastic-free-safety-razor-shaving?variant=11447816454

I try not to buy a lot of stuff, but if I do, I try to buy from resale or consignment shops or second hand.

I make some my own all-purpose cleaners with vinegar and essential oil. Nothing too fancy and I still use store-bought cleaners for the bathrooms!

I like to hang our laundry on the clothesline when it is nice outside!

I try to remember I don’t have to be perfect right away at zero waste and it really can be a lot of small steps over time. I have so much to learn too!!

@mrsbubbletea: I filled a container of water and I dipped my dry cloth in it once for a wet wipe.
I cut up receiving blankets.

@honeybear: I suspect that's because those big things are hard to implement. As an example, it's really difficult for me to say I am eliminating air travel because half of my family lives on another continent. I am not able to replace my lawn because it is cost prohibitive to do so, even though I would love nothing more than a gravel landscape.

Change is very difficult in this space and I think people like to still feel they are doing something so they fill the space with a lot of smaller things. I read somewhere that one big thing people can do is to not have pets because it's an additional mouth that needs to be fed, creates waste, uses resources, etc. Try telling that to pet lovers.