ZERO WASTE TIPS FOR BEGINNERS (or everyone!) + zero waste habits and swaps
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- čas přidán 2. 06. 2024
- Today we finally talk about low waste tips for beginners, but really, anyone can implement these eco-living tips! It took me so long to make this video because really the whole premise of my whole channel is to prove that zero waste is easy, zero waste is free, and it can be for ANYONE!
ACCESSIBILITY! Read along with the blog post version here: www.thesimpleenvironmentalist...
Check out Coco's channel: / cocobeenie
Check out Earthling Ed: / @ed.winters ]
Link to more documentaries, books, podcasts, creators, and more: www.thesimpleenvironmentalist...
Videos mentioned/recommended:
Free ways to live low waste FULL SERIES: • 25 FREE WAYS to live Z...
Coco's video on individual action: • So We Shouldn't Be Sus...
45 surprising things you cannot recycle: • 45 surprising things Y...
Animal-based meats vs plant-based meats: • PLANT-BASED MEATS VS A...
My zero waste laundry routine: • My ZERO WASTE LAUNDRY ...
My top zero waste bathroom essentials: • My top ZERO WASTE BATH...
My non-aesthetic zero waste life: • MY NON AESTHETIC ZERO ...
How to live zero waste as a teen: • HOW TO LIVE ZERO WASTE...
Shampoo bar/CONCENTR8ED review: • ECO BAR REVIEW, CONCEN...
Living zero waste on a budget: • LIVING ZERO WASTE ON A...
My favorite second-hand items: • My FAVORITE SECOND-HAN...
Why eating vegan is better for the planet: • Why eating VEGAN IS BE...
How to make money selling old technology: • How to MAKE MONEY by S...
Upcycling t-shirts! • I MADE A RUG OUT OF T-...
My top zero waste swaps: • MY TOP ZERO WASTE SWAP...
What happens to our e-waste: • WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR E-...
How to live sustainably for free: • HOW TO LIVE SUSTAINABL...
Easy ways to conserve energy: • EASY WAYS TO CONSERVE ...
How to be zero waste at school: • ZERO WASTE AT SCHOOL (...
Surprising things you actually can recycle: • SURPRISING THINGS YOU ...
What happens to our paper recycling: • WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR PA...
How to live zero waste for free: • How to live ZERO WASTE...
Easy ways to conserve water: • EASY WAYS to conserve ...
What happens to our metal recycling: • WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR ME...
Free ways to live low waste: • FREE WAYS TO LIVE LOW ...
100 things you can't recycle curbside: • 100 things that you CA...
Is glass really sustainable: • IS GLASS REALLY SUSTAI...
Free ways to live zero waste: • 25 FREE WAYS to live Z...
What happens to our plastic waste: • WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR PL...
Ways to live zero waste for free: • 25 WAYS TO LIVE ZERO W...
Why I still fly: • WHY I STILL FLY IF I'M...
Easy homemade cleaners: • EASY HOMEMADE ZERO WAS...
My eco-friendly night routine: • ECO FRIENDLY NIGHT ROU...
A chat about veganism with Dan: • A chat about veganism ...
Lacadazee recycled silver jewelry: • Video
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
1:11 - Beginner zero waste tips (but really for anyone)
12:08 - Zero waste habits and zero waste swaps I recommend
20:13 - Final thoughts
20:54 - Bloopers
For more of our travels and sustainable living check out:
I N S T A G R A M: / thesimpleenvironmentalist
T I K T O K: www.tiktok.com/@simpleenviron...
W E B S I T E: www.thesimpleenvironmentalist...
SUPPORT ME ON PATREON: / thesimpleenvironmentalist
JOIN MY FACEBOOK COMMUNITY! This is a place to talk about zero waste swaps, find other creators to collab with, and share your content: / thesimpleenvironmental...
D A N & E M M A ' S C H A N N E L (for more sustainable travel adventures): / @emmaanddan5213
FOR BUSINESS INQUIRIES (collabs, partnerships, sponsorships, etc): thesimpleenvironmentalist@gmail.com
Music is from Epidemic Sound. Use this link to subscribe and get copyright-free music: www.epidemicsound.com/referra...
Thanks so much for watching :)
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Here’s a random tip for beginners. If you still have a keurig don’t get rid of it, just buy reusable coffee pods and add your own coffee. Much more affordable, and easy to clean. WIN WIN!
For sure! Definitely use what you have first :)
@Eve82 amazing!!
I'm so glad I found your channel, my parents overconsume a lot out of convenience and I've slowly been showing them easy swaps and ways to reduce what we're using. Thank you!
Good for you! Welcome to this eco fam :)
Make friends with other local people trying to do zero waste. It's great to have support
yessss find a community!
Another habit/tip is to contact your local politicians and companies and let them know what you want them to do to promote sustainability. Side note, be careful of vinegar and citrus on certain countertops. The acidity will damage granite and other natural stone.
YES YES YES!!! Great tip, thank you for pointing that out :)
We call ourselves reduced wasters. We're a family of 4 adults, in a small Australian rural town. We've more than halved our trash and not as much goes in the fortnightly recycling bin. Because we are rural we cannot go zero waste, just think of the gas to drive 90 minutes each way to the city. Or, postage, packaging, and fuel, to order online and have it delivered. We do drive to the city once a month to buy in bulk, but also do a load of other errands there on the same day. Plus, hubby has a spinal disability so various medical waste is non-negotiable.
that is a great name! I lived rural for 18 years, I get you! do what you can :)
I love all the tips, they're all super important!! :) I would add:
- stop consuming useless stuff
- use up all the disposable/plastic things you have before buying the eco swaps
I love that you said we shouldn't force things and feel guilty if we aren't doing things perfectly. That's motivating to know that this is not a competition and all we need to do is do our best.
These are AMAZING additions! That makes me so happy thank you Eva :)
Before buying a double-walled bottle for coffee, check your parents and grandparents - do they have a thermos? I have an old thermos stainless steel food flask that’s great for hot or cold drinks and hot and cold meals. I grew up with these in the 1970s. They come with a cup (and sometimes reuseable cutlery) and they’re so much better than insulated bottles!
That's a great tip! Always check second hand first :)
I do a different all purpose cleaning swap. I pay AUD$27 to buy a 5 litre multiple purpose cleaner. The cleaner is actually an extremely strong concentrate. Directions on the packaging say 2 tablespoons of concentrate to half litre of water. In a year I go through 1 litre of concentrate. Image how many plastic bottles I'm not throwing away over the life/usage of that original 5 litre bottle. And I never buy paper towels for cleaning, I use old tea towels and fabric cloth.
That is so cool!!
I have a question: do you ever feel like your impact isnt enough?
Like when i am seeing the ocean burning because of an exploding oil farm or hundreds of cities flooding because of general climate change made possible by big corporations, i feel so discouraged to keep going. like what is the point of me doing all this when life on earth still goes down hill?
omg YES! I have a video coming soon on how to cope with eco anxiety and what motivates me to keep going cause I feel that so much
I use the plastic peanut butter jars for my kids toys and montessori center. Just because it's a lot better to drop that then a glass pickle jar.
I love that!! Upcycling is amazing!
I have sooo many uses for an empty jar. I’m able to use them for salad dressing, or to freeze used grease - we’re not allowed to throw grease down the sink in the uk we have to put it in the food bin, to mix paint for painting or food storage.
@@katem6562 right! endless opportunities :)
I buy the huge peanut butter and coconut jars and use them for homeschool stuff
@@hspoiala i love that!
Less waste is the best to strive for. If you can reuse what you have and put less into the trash your doing good in my book. 👍 All people are different. Great video. One step at a time. I'm one small person but my little contribution helps.
100% well said! THank you so much :)
I like that you pointed out not buying canning jars. Last year everyone decided to learn how to garden and Can which was great but it created a huge shortage that we still have not recovered from.. people buying New Jars to store food in versus using recycled jars they already have cut in to that shortage or people painting the jars for wedding decorations sigh. You gave me some thoughts though on another use for my saved jars, just put the doggies biscuits in a glass jar so I can get rid of the cardboard box. We just discovered a rat is burrowing in our shed (Yuck!) so trying to make sure everything is safe in our house while we recement the hole they dug and pray they don't come in the house. 26 years in our house never seen anything like this before happened within a weeks time. Anna In Ohio.
There are already sooo many jars in circulation, let's quit recycling and just reuse!
@@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist Bought 4 jars at the thrift store today, 3 were used jelly jars with the metal clasp down I forget what those are called and a half gallon jar I can not get enough of those for my food storage (dry) I am thankful to the person who donated the preserve jars instead of putting them in the recycle bin. Right now with gardening in full swing I will need every canning jar I have today I'm canning homemade salsa with tomatoes from my garden and by Friday I should have enough green beans to Can 7 quarts. Anna In Ohio.
@@buckeyedav1 definitely great to thrift glass instead of buy new!
@@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist You inspired me to pick up my crochet hook and make a dish cloth haven't made those in a long time. Cotton but whether it's a good cotton? Probably not bought at Dollar Tree. The sponges are now all gone and won't be replaced. Anna In Ohio.
Yesssss. I love this channel so much. I love the focus on small changes leading to big changes over time. I constantly bring this up to my family and friends and I feel like it really sticks with them. We're still meat eaters, BUT we eat it maybe once or twice a month and it's bought from a butcher we're lucky to have access to that has really close ties to small farms with good practices in our area. I very firmly believe in putting my money into systems I want to thrive. It's local, not factory farmed, and not wrapped in plastic. Small changes, but they add up.
I appreciate your approach to low waste living. Your videos always feel very informative and refreshing. Thanks for tips!
Aww, thanks Carley!! I'm so glad you're spreading the word to your family too :) Those small changes are seriously huge when you think about it! Thanks :)
Love this 😍😍🥰!
Water filter to use tap and helps with not having to buy bottled water
An ice making machine instead of buying bags of ice
Live in an apartment so we use a portable washer/dryer machine and put the clothes on a clothes line (huge long term savings especially with kids)
We did some other things that I didn’t realiZe are great swaps for the environment!
for sure!! these are awesome :)
Saying no to be sustainable for yourself is what I needed to hear, thank you !
Happy this helped :)
I was so excited at Krogers last week.. they had little brown paper bags with handles and had peaches in each one like 4 or 5 and I was happy as I had forgot to bring in my produce bags (cloth that I made) and I made a point of getting a manager to tell him how happy I was with the paper bags. He said "Honestly, the only reason we have them is we couldn't get plastic bags" sigh. Krogers is supposed to be the leader on trying to go Zero Sustainable in our area but as I look around all I can do is sigh. I needed Half and Half Creamer Kroger brand was in plastic bottles, major brand which was double the price was in a cardboard box. I didn't buy either went to Aldi's where it was in a box for 6 cents more than Krogers plastic bottle. After watching your videos I purposely look for single banana's instead of bunches and use my cloth produce bags. Another challenge is we like donuts from their deli.. plastic bags are provided to put them in along with wax paper to pick them up. With so many ways for them to be touched or pick up bacteria (conveyer belt) I'm not sure what to use as a alternative. It has to be see through for them to count them maybe bring a plastic freezer bag that I can wash and reuse each time? Anna In Ohio.
I bring ziplocks bags to buy stuff in bulk that I reuse and wash! My boyfriend’s and my moms always give me food in ziplock bags so i always have a ton. Sounds like a good idea to me :)
how interesting!
I do that too! It's easier than weighing jars!
Cut out my big 4 for a few years now, suuuper easy because of covid, but going beyond that on the food front for example, is hard due to accessibility. However, this is what i’ve been up to :
- e-mailing my commonly used products to improve their packaging.
- Although I can’t be vegan (very valid medical reasons don’t fight me) I don’t eat ham every day for breakfast anymore. I eat plant based ice cream, plant based butter, swapped some meals from red to pink or fish.
- transitioning to soap bars if all goes well. Excited.
- no new clothes!
- I care about recycling much more! And reuse single use plastic (done the trash thing since birth, very common in norway!)
- Asking staff in store if i’m looking for something and leaving if they don’t have the 1 item i came for. No consolation purchases!!
- bath water = plant water. (Dw i dont use soap, also i’m only plant sitting so if it’s bad lmk)
- if i’m gonna buy something new I have to think longer about it, I take packaging, the brand, reusability into account. Only bought swaps lately. Better than buying clothes, not ideal yet. Also bought eco friendly swaps as christmas gifts! W upsycled packaging ;)
Ok, bragging over ig 😂. I feel so restless and empty when i’m not doing these things. I become obsessed when i get a new hobby but this one is hard to invest all my time in since it’s a habit, passive, not active. Not an actual hobby! It’s more a lifestyle. I just want to pour everything into something you know? Aaah!
❤
omg thanks for sharing! I am also so sorry the vegan community has treated you so poorly, you never have to validate your food needs on my channel, I understand no everyone can be 100% vegan just like not everyone can be 100% zero waste! it's about small steps in the right direction :) i'm not even 100% vegan lol
@@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist This is so sweet, thank you 💖 The majority of the vegan community is awesome and kind people, and even the more «aggressive» ones, I know they mean well. (My brother in law) It has just made me prefer to be on the defense, especially on the internet. It demotivated me a long time to even try anything sustainable because it would never be «perfect». Impostor syndrome and all. But i’m getting over that roadblock. The zero waste community is so much less scary than I thought. It was just right time, right place. My mind was open enough to let it sneak in and affect me this time. Thank you for being a source of inspiration and comfort 💖
@@drodlaren the ZW movement has become so welcoming recently!!
I just found your channel and have been binge watching your videos! I just wanted to say you are a breath of fresh air! Thank you so much for all the time you put into this! You have reignited my zero waste journey! Oh and good luck with the move, I hope you like Vegas 😊
That makes me sooo happy welcome to the eco fam! So far I'm loving vegas :)
Classico sauce has really nice jars
yes they do!
The cleaning before recycling rule doesn't work everywhere. In my city they explicitly say that we don't have to clean/rinse our recycling
Same thing where I live! :)
interesting but that also makes me aprehensive if they are actually recycling it or not...
@@evaastoul8160 weird!
I don’t think the city usually has to
deal with the actual recycling, most recycling ends up being shipped to other countries and if they have a mold contaminated cargo container from one dirty food container they might toss out the entire thing... that’s the reasoning I heard at least
@@misspeaches1144 yupppp citites just sort. I have a whole series on where our waste actually ends up and it's sad :/
Habit- don’t wet the toothbrush before you brush 🤷🏽♀️ I’ve been working on that because I’m so used to it, but the water stinks where I live so I stopped, I have a jar of filtered water I use to rinse
But yeah that little bit of water on the brush before brushing adds up when you brush at least 14 times a week
that is so true wow I never thought of that!
I watch one or two videos of yours a day. I just need to finish a bottle of shampoo and I'm shifting to shampoo bars and organic soaps too. ☺️
awwww thank you for your support it means a lot!!! yayyyy for using your products all the way first :)
I love this! I wish there were more bulk stores near me, I keep all my jam jars 😭
I just now got a bulk store and I've been zero waste for 4 years! There are still sooo many uses for jars :)
My biggest guilt always comes from how much red meat I eat, we all know that industry is the worst behind oil! But damn does my food disorder not let me eat much else xD
do what you gotta do! you got this! Make changes in your life elsewhere if you want :)
Water bulls don't exist in my country (Northern Ireland, one of the only positives of 'the troubles') but we obviously pay for hot water, the only issue is, in my house the water can take up to a full minute to actually get warm. We keep back any disposable water bottles we have and catch the water in them to use for drinking and cleaning water. We will run it through a filter because our water tastes absolutely disgusting and smells like bleach, but we may as well use the cold water that is running anyways. We use concentrated cleaners since vinegar isn't compatible with us (it sets off my asthma) and by that, I mean buying the larger bottles of cleaning products marketed as floor cleaner and diluting it. You'd dilute it to use on floors anyways and the ingredients are the same as the spray kind you'd buy anyways. Bonus is that its cheaper than the 'eco refill' brands that are popping up right now. In the UK there is a popular disinfectant brand called 'zoflora' which comes in a concentrated liquid format that you can dilute to disinfect with (I actually add some to the multipurpose cleaner to do double duty as my mum's a domiciliary care worker and her training said that disinfectants do not remove dirt, just disinfect it, whilst multi purpose cleaners do the opposite. More and more 'multipurpose cleaners plus anti bac' have been popping up since covid so it makes the same kind of thing) we also heavily dilute dish soap to clean glass with as there's no fumes or streaks (and its what a lot of our local window cleaners use as its dirt cheap if you use a store brand) so the water comes in handy for that as well.
I've discovered recently that you can turn bar soap/ shampoo etc into liquid by melting it down with water and adding a bit of glycerine to it and it's not only cheaper, but one bar makes more than one 'bottle' of soap (say you bought 'pears' soap, which comes in both bars and liquids, you can get more than one bottle of liquid out of a bar of the stuff) when I work my way through the liquid soap we have I'm going to try it as we're in a really hard water area and bar soap (even 'natural' soap) dries out your skin really badly so we can't really use it, but we don't have that issue with liquid soap and it would be so much cheaper. We also don't have any racks etc in our shower and no suction or adhesive caddies stick to the tiles (and we can't hang anything due to the fact that it would break the tiles) so we have to use caddies that sit on the floor of the shower, which are not ideal for bar products, it would allow me to actually try shampoo and conditioner bars and see if they co-operate with my hair, so when we actually have shower wall storage (be it through a new bathroom or through moving) I can maybe opt for the kind that would work with a bar. At present I use really cheap supermarket brand shampoo and conditioner and even the cheapest brand of shampoo or conditioner bar is more expensive than three bottles of each (especially as nowhere in my area sells it so I have to add in delivery costs) but if that ever changes it would be nice to have the option to use it in whatever format works for me.
love all of that!
I love your point of you, I really try to be ecofriendly. It is dificult. In Argentina but ir is not imposible.
It's hard for sure but still possible :) you got this!!
A lot of the labels will come off easy after sending it through the dishwasher
true but then the paper gets in the drain in clogs it...
@Eve82 I have never had a problem with them clogging the drain the just peel off easily when I take them out of the dishwasher
Your channel is seriously a treasure trove of info!!! I would love more product reviews (like with the period panties) sharing and comparing different zero waste companies.
You are SO sweet thank you so much! I have sunscreen, laundry detergent, and toilet paper all coming this summer/fall :)
Thank you for another great video ❤️
Thank you for the support :)
I really love that your videos are scripted! With my kids (and the neighbors kids lol) running amok it’s hard to listen and reading is easier most of the time!!! Have a wonderful day 🙏🤟🏽
Thank you for this! I honestly got so burnt out writing but now I'm going to keep at it for all different needs :)
I love this, thank you . i've been aiming for a low waste lifestyle for 1 1/2 years and find this super useful! Can't wait to see more x:)!
That makes me so happy! Best of luck on your journey :)
Really hoping to do this. Thanks!
yay! hope you have a great start to your zero waste journey, let me know if you have any questions!
@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist thank you!! Will do!!
:)@@maliahjoy2959
Thank you for this. Your advice is really helpful. Particularly like that you reuse Plastic instead of swapping it out straight away
i am sooo glad! thank you!!
Emma, this message is AMAZING! I do not want to label myself. It scares me and I’m not ready to be judged yet you know. This helped me a TON!
Thank you so much! You got this!!
I have been buying bulk Gatorade powder it has less packaging and they don't have to ship the water and I can have a picture of water for both plain and Gatorade
The packaging is mostly cardboard and metal with a plastic scoop and lid
that's a great idea!!
@@dinosaur3126 just be sure to separate the materials before recycling :)
Love it
aww thank you!!
Thank you for the great swaps! I appreciate the time and effort put into this video to help the world become a better place :) Any recommendations for good shampoo/conditioner bars brands?
i don't like conditioner bars but my fav shampoo bar is from a small business in Las Vegas called The Coconut Crush!
@@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist Noted! Thank you!!
learn basic hand sewing skills! ie sewing a button, fixing a hem, resewing a belt loop etc. mending can vastly increase the lifespan of your clothes but it doesnt ever seem to be lumped in with these sorts of videos because sewing is considered a hobby, not a life skill. no you dont need to know how to sew clothes from scratch or anything, just the bare minimum to be able to make those quick fixes
soooo true!! sewing is so easy and so helpful :)
Zero waste at my company has an asterisk, and in the disclaimer states that the target “zero waste” is defined as becoming 90% zero waste
hmmm intersting!
Question! What do you use in place of plastic shower curtain liners? I have been looking everywhere but "plastic free shower curtain" just brings up organic replacements for the exterior curtian, NOT the waterproof liner. Is everyone just using fabric and not worying about how long it takes to dry?
I havent heard any zero/low waste/sustainability people talking about this one & it is one of like 2 plastic items still in my bathroom.
Right now, I use a plastic one that came with our RV and just wash it by hand to make it last as long as possible. But we did buy a sturdier plastic liner that again we just cleaned regularly! It lasted us 3 years in Japan!
YES Ecosia! Why wouldn’t you do it?
it's too easy!
I just found your videos today and am currently binging them. I can’t help but love something you mentioned. “Don’t give up what you love. A sustainable life means sustainable for the earth but it also needs to be sustainable for you.” I think that was such an important and powerful message to spread. Instantly subscribed to bring you along my low waste journey and to join yours! 🤍
omg that means so much thank youuuuuu Anne!! My fav message I constantly spread and remind myself :)
I m really happy I found your channel. Unfortunately the link to your blog with this post does not work
this post is quite old so that makes sense why it doesn't work. my blog is always linked in my description if you want to check it out that way :) thanks for being here!
I got an Amazon ad at the end of this vid bahaha
oh gosh I wish I could control ads hahahaha
Thanks for the great video! I like that you mentioned sometimes we can't control everything- such as when you don't have a lot of money you often have to buy items in plastic. Or when you only buy organic produce and the grocery stores now wrap all organic produce in plastic. Regarding eating vegan, don't forget that it is the healthiest way to eat too. So go vegan for your health. It's the only diet to have been proven to reverse heart disease.
Vegan for health is still a good reason to go vegan, but i feel like it's hard to stick to a "diet" instead of a way of life such as going vegan for the earth and animals. Regardless, I still agree it's healthy when eating whole foods :)
Starting a low waste living…Can you tell me what is better milk in plastic or in a carton?
plastic is easier to recycle than cartons. Cartons are a mixed materials
I ask family if th have extras before I buy
a great idea!
Ecosia plants 1 tree for every 45 searches
thanks!
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