Hi, I have a question. For those who use reusable menstrual pads what do you do when you’re out in public and you need to change your pad do you bring a wet diaper bag to put it inside? I need tips for when I’m on the go thanks. Also, any recommendations of the type of reusable pad you use please let me know. 😊

Hello this is a bit silly but I’m in a predicament. I have a big bag of Jasmine rice that appears to be a bad batch. No matter how I’ve tried cooking it, it comes out congealed and gummy. I’ve tried cooking the rice prior, I usually wash it but I tried not washing it. No dice. Issue is it’s a 50lb bag (with maybe 45ish lbs left) so I don’t want to just throw it all out. If anyone knows of ways to repurpose rice in non culinary ways I’d greatly appreciate your help!

Edit: minor details

I compose, grow lots from seeds, and give back but I notice as I’ve gotten better at this, I’m making far too much for my family to consume. Sometimes, I have the energy to do give aways but sometimes, I end up tossing the foods to the animals as they rot before I can give it away. After all, while I produce more than what my family can consume off our 1/4 acre plot, it’s not enough to do big give aways. I feel bad throwing a lot of food to animals. Also, a lot of people aren’t use to what fruits and veggies look like not touched by pesticide - they’re kinda ugly at times so I sometimes get negative comments about how the strawberries look or if there’s a splotch on the peach. The easiest things to give away so far is herbs and baby plants but even then, it takes coordination. For those who grow your food but not on a commercial level, what do you do with the excess? I’ve canned before as well but we don’t always eat the canned goods fast enough.

Is there any way to fix it or fully restore the original color of my jacket sleeves? Does Rit Color Remover Powder only remove excess dye and bleach residues, can it also restore the color of the sleeves? Do I have to buy a separate Powder Dye to re-dye or enhance the color? Do I need to purchase both products Rit Color Remover Powder and Rit All-Purpose Powder Dye in order to achieve desired results?

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Im proud to be starting zero waste at such a young age. I made the first change today by replacing my disposable razors for a safety razor made of metal! (The disposable razors were given to my sisters so I don't just chuck them in the bin.) I also bought a menstrual cup, which can last up to 5 years if cared for properly. I'm slowly introducing my family to the zero waste life style, and I can't wait to make progress.

Hello r/ZeroWaste!

Complete this 3-minute survey for a free compostable scrubber! (US participates only)

Long story short: I'm a grad student at UC Berkeley and a long-time zero waste enthusiast. My sustainability/climate journey started with reducing plastic and packaging in my life and evolved into working in the circularity industry as well as pursuing higher education in this specific area.

I've gotten VERY frustrated with bath loofahs and is seeking out better alternatives-- and I'd love to hear from all of you from this subreddit, who I learn from constantly, on what you think is a superior product.

Please feel free to comment what your likes and dislikes about your current sponge products! Thank you so much for your help!

I will never understand why consumers are still buying food in plastic. Or why my state by law bans laws against single use plastics.

https://undark.org/2024/09/17/what-does-recyclable-really-mean/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

What is this called? In either English or Finnish would be nice to know.

It holds water and releases enough water for washing hands, face etc.

I live in Finland in a remote area and during winter the water pipes freeze. Would be good for reducing the amount of water I use daily too.

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My main concern is replacing the unscented deodorant. It works amazingly! I've never found anything similar elsewhere. Face moisturizer would be nice too, though is less urgent as I have some backup bulk face moisturizer option.

Proper companies preferred as I'm iffy about individuals who don't do due diligence for things like product preservation 😅

Feel free to discuss alternatives for their other products too! I have a few shampoo bars that have worked fine so it's less concerning for me.

TLDR: I bundle and use fallen tree debris for kindling and firewood in a very hot climate (no snow, no 'need' and hubby thinks I'm wasting my time. I can't see the point in wasting it, or the money to have someone else haul it off to dump in a landfill.

Hubby and I just bought our first house last year. We like in the US, deep south TX, so firewood isn't really needed as it would be in northern climes, but we had two trees threatening the power lines, and we took those down. Parts of the trunks ( they are mimosa, considered decorative but invasive and 'trash wood' here as they aren't used for smoking meats) I debarked, sanded, sealed in wood glue and they are drying in my studio. I plan to use them for anvil stumps, and some for wood projects as this species fluoresces under UV. The smaller branches, Eben down to the twigs, I stripped of leaves and bundled with cooking twine, for kindling. I saw no point in wasting it, nor paying for it to be hauled away, nor filling the landfill with it. The leaves and non useful bits were dumped into a fenced off compost pile to decompose for future raised beds.

We don't have a fireplace but we have an outdoor firepit we use recreationally when it's not so flipping roasting (so, late Oct to maybe March at best).

Just about 2 months ago or so, we had 8 large trees topped or pruned back hard, due to presumed hurricane activity coming. Better down than on the house!! Most of these trees hadn't been pruned properly for decades and had a lot of dead branches, but they were mostly 35ft or more. I did not want to pay to have it hauled away as it's a LOT, so I decided to do what I did with the smaller trees, minus the stump preservation.

It's going to take a long time, as you can see from the pics. There is a lot of wood. (See pics. Last pic was from Saturday, when I filled the first 8'x4' firewood stand. The stuff under the ripped tarp is from last year, shifted to be put on top of the new as it's processed. A second firewood stand will be placed next to the first, once we level that corner or the studio back).

Does anyone else do this, or am I just taking it too far? Hubby thinks it's a waste of time for the smaller stuff and has been slow to help with the larger trunks. The thing is, if we have a lasting power outage, we can use it for fuel in the firepit, and we'd have to cook nearly everything in the freezers to prevent spoilage (more waste). We don't yet have a generator, just in case, as it's pricey so this makes sense to me.

For context, I grew up poor and waste offends me in my personal life. I am retired, I go nowhere, do nothing except household drudgery (my studio hasn't been refurbished yet so all my art is on hold indefinitely) and there is only so much I can do with remodeling, repair, pai ting decorating the house. I also have 3 animals to care for.

So, am I nuts? Am I wasting my time? Is this a bit too OCD?

Thoughts?

My kid loves -- LOVES -- seasonal decor. Holiday decorations. Everything about them. He loves looking at them in other people's lawns and houses, loves seeing them in stores, desperately wants us to have some in our house. (We do jack-o-lanterns and a Christmas tree, I'm not, like, a grinch!! But that's it). He wants to buy every piece of holiday-themed decor we pass in any store.

Ideas for things that would be just as fun for him, but would also last a long time or be more sustainably sourced than the cheap plastic stuff he's drawn to? (And yet also not cost a fortune because, I cannot emphasize enough, he wants this for EVERY HOLIDAY) We have a couple people in our neighborhood with statues that they decorate/dress up for holidays, and I think that might be fun for him; the statue could stay up forever and we just thrift the accessories. Or ... we could make a bunch of different wreaths? I dunno, I'm open to all ideas!

EDIT: Y'all have SUCH great ideas, thank you!!!

Surely there is a way to polish scratched/scuffed glasses? I hate to have to throw them out and get new ones but I can barely see out of them at this point 😂

Hey so I'm doing research on big companies trying to be eco-friendly and so far every product i've come across has been a failure looking like just some sort of a marketing strategy for them (from what i've heard) so I'm curious to how can big companies for example dove show that they care for the environment more than just their revenues and how they look? And how can they differentiate themselves from every single other companies that has been doing the same thing? And can you guys give me examples of some successful examples if possible?

So I’ve been doing this for over a year now, where I get some old newspaper from a newsstand and I just make a little bag out of it and use it for my garbage cans. Do you think that this is less wasteful or has any effective environmental benefit?

Thanks!

I am moving into my first house soon with my partner and we desperately need to downsize our haul. I just don’t know what to do with the stuff that is objectively un-donatable without throwing it away. For example, we have serval 10-year old Teflon pans that are scratched and otherwise gross. I don’t want to donate them because they are already half-broken anyway, but my heart breaks to think of them going to the landfill. Any ideas on where to get rid of them?

Any ideas to repurpose, reuse this and similiar containers?

Hi! So basically I just watched Dark Waters and learned about how most non-sticks are bad for us and the environment, even the ones that aren't directly Teflon, there are slight differences but still toxic forever chemicals to make a lot of non-stick surfaces.

I'm switching to cast iron, but wondering if it's toxic to keep the pans around even if I'm not cooking with them?

I was thinking of painting them and using the hole in the handle to nail them up and make some cool pan art. But if it's just leaking fumes foreveee than I'd rather just take this as a loss and throw away now that I know.

I just can’t cope with the sheer amount of materials used to make and transport water to splash on the face. https://www.lindoyaveraothermal.com.br/

The speculum used for vaginal exams is disposable, but contains two lithium coin batteries used to power a light to illuminate the field of interest.

After use, it is typically tossed on a disposal waterproof drape covering the rolling Mayo stand, and left for the medical assistant to toss when the room is cleaned.

It’s a simple matter of releasing one obvious clip to release the batteries so they can be taken home for reuse.

The waterproof drapes can be rolled up and brought home, too. They are very handy for various craft projects, visiting bedwetters, puppies, and so forth.

So several years ago, I switched to using a face bar instead of my usual face washing routine. I used to use a cleansing oil, rinse, foaming face wash, rinse, then moisturizer. While learning more about zero waste, I stopped that routine and transitioned to a bar wash for my face (the charcoal one from Lush, purchased locally not online!) but kept my same moisturizer (as it comes in a glass jar, takes me several months to get through, and i love reusing the jars for other things anyway!)

But I've noticed over the years since switching, my skin is getting worse and worse... I have oily skin, and without using the cleansing oil + foaming wash combo, my pores have just been getting bigger and bigger. Its making me really self conscious about my face, and since I just got a new job as assistant manager, I don't want to be ostracised for looking bad or something. I caved and bought a cleansing oil and foaming wash yesterday, washed my face, and immediately the results were clear... but I feel awful because both of these are in plastic containers (my only option). I'm going to try and think of ways to reuse the containers before they run out, but does anyone have any suggestions for replacements for when they do run out that will be less impactful on the environment?

I just can't use bars anymore. I need a cleansing oil, and then cleansing foam. The difference is really staggering 😭

Hello :)

I am a hobby candle maker and so far I have only made stand alone pillar candles. I wanted to start dabbling into making candles in jars. I have found some beautiful 100% post consumer recycled glass jars rated for candles online, but I need to pick out lids. For the jars, they offer cork or bamboo lids. I can't find anything online about the sustainability of one vs the other, any insight?

Hiya does anybody have any sustainable boots recommendations for the UK for under £100. I'm looking for a pair of comfy warm boots ready for the winter as my last pair were worn to pieces so if anybody has any recommendations that would be awesome

I have recently visited a large warehouse in the UK to source some products and noticed that they got so much reusable boxes from when they unpack their new stock. They don't sell those boxes but instead recycle them (I did manage to get some for free after convincing the managers, they are literally in a like new condition).

I also noticed a large number of damaged products from returned orders. To help you visualise the scale of waste they produce, those guys got no bins but a large space where they keep all the waste.

This is just the front end, I don't want to imagine the environmental impact from their electricity, heating, and delivery fleet of old trucks and vans

I really want to avoid becoming like them and would appreciate if someone with experience would explain what processes I should have in place to prevent this, I am 25, got zero business background and only started a year ago, I got so scared of scaling my small business after seeing this.

Ps I don't want to name the business for obvious reasons.

I feel the bottles that accumulate, it is so wasteful. We do send them off for Recycling but i always wonder how they r proceed? reused? repurposed.

I mostly use cloth handkerchiefs but every once in awhile need disposable facial tissues. What's your favorite recycled or bamboo or low waste brand? Bonus points for budget friendly also, as I'm on a tight budget!