Getting started

Now that we had decided to give zero waste a go I scoured the house for things we already had that could serve a new purpose and thought up ways we could reduce waste further.

Out'n'About

Tissues

Colm had bought some handkerchiefs to use as pocket squares which were just sitting in the closet so I took them out to become our new tissue box.

Create a to-go bag

I always try to carry around a water bottle (even if empty you can find fountains to fill up if you're thirsty) - and bring a set of utensils wrapped in a napkin for when you are out and about. Also bring your own takeout container if you are going to a restaurant in case you want a doggy bag.

Keep cup

The next time you're buying a coffee, check to see if they have the option to buy a reusable keep cup. Bring this with you and get a discount off coffee in a wide variety of shops.

In the Bathroom

Toilet roll

We are still using toilet roll but I saw a travel bidet on a guide to stop using toilet roll and I happened to just be finishing up a ketchup squirt bottle which I washed out and filled with water. I use this to rinse myself and then I dry off with toilet roll, this uses up less toilet roll at least. When we get into the new house I will look at installing a bidet seat with dryer or maybe use cloth diaper inserts to dry off.

In the Kitchen

Storage

Any glass jars I finish using the contents of (spaghetti sauce, gherkins etc) I wash out the jar, soak it in water to remove the label and re-use it for things like nuts and seeds. My corner cupboard is slowly becoming much less cluttered and I can actually see what we have so I don't waste food by letting it go out of date or buying more when I already have some.

Meal Planning

This is one I used to do but got lazy with, before going shopping we look at what we have and build meals around that. We make out a list of dinners on a message board and add what we need to a shopping app called ShopShop - it's really handy as it can be synced to both your and your partners phones using Dropbox so you can both add to is as you run out of stuff during the week and if one of you picks something up on the way home you can cross it off the list and the other person knows not to get it. Meal planning has added bonuses in that it takes the guess work out of what to make for dinner, you just look at the board when you get home and pick what you feel like. Shopping with a list also reduces food waste as you only get what you need.

Listing out Freezer Contents

Another black hole for us is that we never really know what's in our freezer. I went through it the other day and listed all the contents and quantities out on the message board. This should help us to use up what we have and stop buying duplicates.

Recycling

We are currently in an apartment with refuse included in the rent. We separate our recycling but I'm fairly certain it all goes in the same landfill bin as they couldn't get people to separate recycling properly. Even in the new house I hope to separate our recycling a bit better and bring it to the recycling facility ourselves - it's only 2€ per car load and will be a learning process as to what is actually recyclable or not so we can make more informed decision on what we buy. If we were staying in the apartment I would do up a flyer to post at the elevator asking if people wanted to pool together to alternate weekly trips to the recycling centre. I would contact the landlord and ask if they could get people to reduce their waste that they could get a reduction on rent. Details on the Cork recycling facilities here and here.

Research

Join a local Facebook group or online forum

I spent a few hours doing research on things I could do, but one things that would have been very hard was to find where to buy things locally. I searched for local zero waste Facebook groups and found one for my city and 1 for Ireland. It's a really supportive network of like minded people and is a great starting place to find out where you can get zero waste items in your community. They also have meet-ups if you're into that kind of thing.

There's even a local event coming up with a pop-up market which I've bought tickets to.

Research

There are a lot of people that have been doing this for a while. I spent a few hours watching tedtalks and youtube videos and reading blogs to get my own ideas. Local bloggers are most helpful as you can get a better idea of what's doable in your community.

Shopping

Shopping bags/containers

I went through our cupboards and matched up all the take-out containers with their lids, I gathered all our tote/produce and reusable shopping bags and put them together for when we go shopping. Now instead of just taking my shopping bags I'm bringing all the containers I can use for loose produce and meats as well.

Source reusable items

As I'm using up the last of my pre-zero waste items I'm looking for re-usable alternatives. I'll do another post on all the things I'm ordering to make the transition to zero-waste. I first try to source things second hand (but the nature of things that last is that people are still using them) or locally (but it's amazing when I walk through shop aisles now and all I see is disposable products meant to keep the consumer buying, only specialty shops will offer things that last). When ordering online I make a note in the order comments to please not use plastic or styrofoam in the packaging, and that I don't care about presentation. Unfortunately this doesn't always work but it's worth a shot.

Buy second hand

Whenever I go to buy something I first check second hand sites like adverts.ie or donedeal.ie or buy/sell groups on Facebook. This contributes to a circular economy rather than a linear one and saves money. I'm not a big clothes shopper but I will start going to second hand shops when I need something new.

In the Garden

Compost

I'm in an apartment now so don't have an easy option to compost but when we get to the new house it will one of the first things I setup. In the meantime I'm researching how to do it. If the house takes another while to go through I may look into gathering my compost and bringing it to the recycling centre myself - it only costs 2€ for a 12L bin or 4€ for a 24L bin but that will be messy so hoping I the house comes through soon. Also I can't compost the cat litter at the facility so will need a yard for that. Once we get composting I will post on my progress.

That's all I have for now but I will keep adding to this list as I discover new ways to reduce using things we already have.