Scrolling through Instagram recently, I came across a secondhand clothing swap that @labelle_eco_life (Monique Labelle-Wheeler) had organized at the school where she teaches in Ottawa, Canada. I thought to myself, “Every school needs to do this!” I asked Monique if she’d like to write a guest blog post about the exchange, explaining how it worked […]
secondhand
Get Over the Ick Factor to Reduce Your Waste
The ick factor over dirt and germs leads us to buy stuff over and over and over rather than simply washing quality items we buy or make once an reuse over and over.
How to Equip a Kitchen When You Start Out or Start Over
When you choose kitchen tools, look for multi-purpose items. Yesterday on Instagram, two people sent me messages asking how to equip a kitchen from scratch. One was moving to a new apartment. The second? The Camp Fire had razed her home in Paradise, California. I can’t imagine losing my home in one of these mega-fires—the […]
My Home Is Filled With Discarded Stuff No One Wanted
Before I buy something new, I like to consider: How to dispose of the item at the end of its (usually short) life The type of material the item is made of—I avoid buying any new plastic The (usually excessive) packaging that accompanies the item The resources that went into manufacturing the item—water, energy, labor […]
How to Organize a Community Swap Meet and Why
Unless you’re like Gandhi and own fewer personal possessions than you do fingers, you likely have stuff cluttering your home—perfectly good stuff that someone else wants. Recent graduates, new parents, growing kids—they all have needs, perhaps for the items you no longer want. I belong to a zero-waste meetup group here in the San Francisco […]
My Zero-Waste World: The TMI Post
In recent interviews, people have asked me if I follow zero-waste practices in aspects of my life other than food. The short answer: Yes but besides food, what else is there? The long answer follows. Food I’ve got this one covered in the 145+ posts on this blog. Essentially, to go zero-waste in the kitchen: […]