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low-waste holidays

Zero-Waste Basics

Low-Waste Holiday Gift Wrap

Posted on December 2, 2020December 6, 2020by The Zero-Waste Chef

homemade fabric bento bags and gift wrapping for zero waste and plastic free shopping and gift giving

Beautifully wrapped gifts need not produce a pile of waste. Choose fabric or recycled paper that you secure with homemade paper tape.

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This week is shaping up to be a good one for the d

This week is shaping up to be a good one for the doling out of justice.
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Yesterday, former Governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, was charged with two counts of willful neglect of duty in his role in the Flint water crisis, which began in 2014. More city and state officials await trial.

Yesterday, after I posted a picture of a wine cork

Yesterday, after I posted a picture of a wine cork recycling bin in my stories, a couple of you asked for more information…
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But first…I know I sound like someone with a problem, but…these corks belong to a friend…honest! They aren’t mine! We can’t refill wine bottles where I live. I think it’s possible up in Napa. I would drink more wine if I could refill wine bottles. At least the bottles and corks are recyclable. We need refill schemes for drinks and any company launching today would be very wise to work that model into its business plan. But this post is about cork…
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Cork is not only recyclable, it’s also renewable and biodegradable. Cork comes from oak trees—some up to 300 years old—most of which grow in forests in Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Tunisia and France. Highly skilled, well-paid local workers harvest cork from the trees without chopping them down. These still-standing trees are then left undisturbed until the next harvest, 9 to 12 years later.
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According to a WWF report, these forests host up to 135 different species per 0.1 hectare or about a quarter acre, which is the size of a house lot. The trees provide shade for the ecosystem, they retain water in the soil and they draw down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
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Cork recycling companies harvest cork from wine stores—in the form of cork drop-off bins. During Covid, some stores may have shut down their drop boxes temporarily but you can always hold onto the corks in the meantime. My daughter spotted a bin at Whole Foods yesterday (swipe for pic) from The Cork Forest Conservation Alliance. I’ve dropped off corks in the past at a Bevmo near me and at Rainbow in San Francisco. Both of those bins belong to @recorkofficial (you can check the website for a map of drop-off locations). As I said, PLEASE CONTACT THE STORE near you before dropping off your corks in case the bin has temporarily closed. These corks go on to have a second life as shoes, yoga blocks and other goods.
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Depending on where you live, natural wine corks can go in your municipality’s green bin. Contact yours for more information.
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Cheers 🍷🥂

I planted some of my sprouting vegetable scraps ou

I planted some of my sprouting vegetable scraps outside this weekend: a parsnip top, a carrot top, all the green onions, the root end of a celery stalk and a few rosemary sprigs, stripped of their leaves at the bottom. These had been sitting in the windowsill in water, some for over a month.
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I hope 🤞 the parsnip and carrot tops go to seed, bringing some volunteer vegetables in the spring. The green onion ends will continue to grow outside. We’ll see what happens with the celery top (I kept one inside for insurance and started sprouting another celery end last week). Rosemary, one of my favorite herbs, is a perennial that I put in many dishes.
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If none of these take, at the very least, these vegetable scraps will return to the soil. Whether you subscribe to scrappy gardening like this or you grow all your own food or you tend gorgeous flower gardens, planting anything shows you have hope for the future. Our very long, very difficult winter will eventually give way to spring and renewal. Hang in there.

We may never reach the zero in “zero waste” bu

We may never reach the zero in “zero waste” but that’s no reason to take zero action.
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I posted this a couple of years ago but I think it’s worth repeating, especially at the beginning of a new year when many people are trying to stick to resolutions or intentions (zero-waste or otherwise).
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Don’t let the zero in zero waste intimidate you. The zero merely represents a goal and reducing waste isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition. If you prefer, call the lifestyle “low waste” or “less waste” or don’t label it at all.

Overnight steel-cut oats. . Ordinarily, steel-cut

First farmers’ market haul of 2021. You have to

My hand-cranked grain mill in action (and sped up)

After I posted this soap dish in my stories on the

After I posted this soap dish in my stories on the weekend, many of you responded 🤯 so I thought I’d post more info here.
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When @labelle_eco_life sent me a pic of her rubber band soap dish a couple of years ago, I understood at a glance—MY CHERISHED BLOCKS OF DISH SOAP AND SHAMPOO BARS WILL NO LONGER TURN TO MUSH 🤯 @labelle_eco_life said her aunt Anne-Marie (good name...) had used this trick for years.
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Today I pull rubber bands off of vegetables bundled together at the farmers’ market (like asparagus) and hand them back to the vendors. They always seem happy to get these back (it saves them money). But before I cut the waste, I hoarded rubber bands (I now hoard jars...one stores the rubber bands...). So I have a lifetime supply of them. If you don’t have rubber bands, you may have elastics on hand from worn-out masks. How life has changed since I last posted this 😬 You might be able to tie the ends of those together to make a loop for your soap dish (thinking out loud here if you don’t have rubber bands...but most people have rubber bands...).
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Over the years, people have asked me what to do with their twist ties and rubber bands. I think if you have reduced your waste to the point at which twist ties and rubber bands present your biggest waste dilemmas, you should pat yourself on the back for an excellent job. We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly and all that...
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A few of you told me you use thrift shop dishes for your rubber band soap dish. So cute! This is the perfect use for that one mismatched dish on your shelf. I needed something larger so I grabbed this giant jar lid out of the cupboard. And speaking of frugal, the jar came from a restaurant (a great source of free, large jars), the wine crate came from the side of the road and I stained it with homemade stain I made out of, well, trash—homemade apple scrap vinegar and steel wool 😊 Anne-Maries are a frugal bunch.
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I hope everyone’s week—and year—are off to a good start.

Today, the first year of 2021, is very similar to

Today, the first year of 2021, is very similar to yesterday, the last day of horrid 2020. But we have reason to be cautiously optimistic about the environment this year.
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I'd like to both wish you all a much happier 2021 and thank you for following along here ☮️💕

More fun with time-lapse photography. . This video

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