Tag: zero waste

Resolutions for Eating

Reducing food waste is SO important!

Melissa Clark is an extraordinaire food writer for the New York Times. She has set her food resolutions for 2025.

She is missing the most important food resolution: REDUCE your food waste! Food waste is an enormous waste of energy. time and water. Food waste is an enormous contributor to our climate crisis. Read about it here:

Tips to fight food waste
https://www.ecowatch.com/holiday-food-waste-reduction-tips.html

And then read Melissa’s resolutions below:

3 resolutions for eating and drinking in 2025

New Year’s resolutions are fast upon us, and chances are that your list will include some version of trying to eat better. I’m here to help.

Food is both my profession and my obsession, which means it’s my job to consume delicious things every single day, reveling in each bite of tangy arugula salad, silky roasted salmon or gooey blackout cake. The key for me is to maximize the pleasure while also leaning into moderation, and to generally eat more sustainably.

I want to share this balancing act with you. Here’s my approach, broken down into easily digestible morsels.

1. Learn to cook something — or something new.

If you’re just starting out in the kitchen, make 2025 the year you learn to cook. The recipe columnists and editors at New York Times Cooking have compiled a recipe collection for absolute beginners, and in the course of 10 dishes you’ll acquire basic skills to bolster your confidence.

Start with Eric Kim’s tuna mayo rice bowl, which doesn’t even require turning on the stove if you have leftover rice or a rice cooker. Genevieve Ko’s cheesy eggs on toast is equally good for breakfast as it is for dinner. And my lemony chicken with potatoes and oregano is easy to make on a sheet pan, and it’s just the thing to slather with your favorite condiment, be it chile sauce, mayonnaise, mustard or all three.

Keeping your pantry well stocked will get you halfway there — and here are some tips on how to do just that. Even on nights when I don’t have time to plan or run to the store, I know I’ll still be able to cook something incredibly satisfying that’s often faster and cheaper than getting takeout.

If you’re a seasoned cook but feel tapped out for inspiration, commit to making one new recipe per month. You get bonus points if it includes ingredients or techniques you’ve never tried before. Dishes like one-pot mushroom and ginger rice (which calls for velveting the mushrooms) and crunchy scrunched cabbage salad with fried almonds are just waiting to help you get back in your groove. You can also sign up for our What to Cook newsletter for even more suggestions.

2. Eat less meat.

Cutting back on meat gets easier for me as the years go by. As it turns out, the less meat I eat, the less of it I crave. (That is sadly untrue of cookies, though.) And replacing animal-based foods with whole grains, legumes and nuts has been linked to a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Now, I mostly use meat as seasoning for vegetables, beans or pasta. A little prosciutto, a sprinkle of bacon or a few ounces of ground turkey go a long way.

Maple-roasted tofu with butternut squash and bacon, spicy tomato white bean stew, and one-pot tortellini with prosciutto and peas all keep the meat minimal and the satisfaction high. (For some meatless recipe ideas, subscribe to my colleague Tanya Sichynsky’s vegetarian newsletter, The Veggie.)

3. Drink less alcohol.

Drinking more moderately is about emphasis in my book. I’ve come to realize that drinking more low- or no-alcohol cocktails and mocktails is just as satisfying as drinking alcohol.

I’ve also discovered that the ceremony of having a drink is just as important as what’s in the glass, if not more so. Give me something with a deep bittersweet tang in a fancy coupe as a gateway to a congenial evening, and I won’t ever miss the hangover.

A sweet and citrusy nonalcoholic French 75, an olive filled nonalcoholic dirty lemon tonic and a ruby-hued hibiscus fizz are fit for festive toasting or quiet imbibing, whatever the occasion.

2025 is looking delicious, indeed.

Buy LESS Stuff!

The world is facing a trash crisis a climate crisis and a plastic crisis and they are all related to our overconsumption.

So few people connect the climate crisis to the purchases they make. Overconsumption is harmful to our air, to our water and to our health. Landfills and incinerators harm our health. We need to stop competing to be just like everyone else. When we shop purchase items that are of high quality and items that will last a long time. None of us need more junk!

Instead of a season of overconsumption and waste, make it a season of friendship, love and community. That doesn’t mean buy me a gift!

Whether it’s choosing to shop secondhand rather than buy new or simply pausing before you hit the checkout button, we can all rethink the way we consume.

This is from the Story of Stuff:

Here’s how you can take action with us:

  1. Commit to creative reuse: Opt to gift thrifted or refurbished items instead of new. We have the power to slow down the take-make-waste cycle by adding some creativity to holiday shopping. Share your story for a chance to get featured on our social channels.
  2. Support reuse legislation: Our culture of overconsumption fuels a wasteful, disposable system that corporations like McDonald’s claim to tackle—but their actions tell a different story. Let’s mobilize to pass policies that shift us from single-use waste to a future centered on reusables.
  3. Unsubscribe from sales communication and unfollow brands on social media: We all get those pesky marketing emails, physical mail, and texts, not to mention an onslaught of social media sales messaging, around the holidays. We encourage you to ditch the noise – join over 2 million people who did here. Catalog Choice is a free, online service that will help you save trees, prevent fraud, and fight junk mail. What’s not to love?

The holiday season doesn’t have to be about more Stuff. Together, we can turn the tide against corporate-driven overconsumption and reclaim the real joy of the holiday season.

Will you join us in reimagining the future?

Less Waste for the Holidays

Ghana becomes dumping ground for the world’s unwanted used clothes | PBS News

https://www.buynothingday.co.uk/

A Plastic-Free Holiday

I love this from Beyond Plastic!

6 Steps to a Plastic-Free Holiday Dinner

1. Choose Scratch Over Store-Bought

Most store-bought dishes from supermarkets and restaurants will be packaged in plastic or other disposable containers. To avoid the unnecessary plastic, focus on cooking from scratch. Ingredients like vegetables, flour, butter, and nuts can be commonly found in non-plastic packaging. For items like nuts and dried fruits, see if your local market, co-op or health food store has a bulk section and bring your own bags to fill up! When faced with a choice of packaging, choose glass or paper over plastic. If you’re looking for inspiration, see our (newly updated and expanded) recipe suggestions below. As long as you plan ahead, there should be plenty of time to make things from scratch.

2. Shop Local

Shopping locally reduces your meal’s carbon footprint and helps support local small businesses which need our business more than ever thanks to the growth of online grocery ordering from Amazon and other etailers. Show your community your thanks by supporting local businesses!

If you don’t have the time or inclination to make pumpkin, pecan, or apple pie from scratch, check your local bakery.  While you’re there, pick up the bread you’ll need to make your stuffing and bring it all home in your own reusable bags. Visit your local farmers market to pick up potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, greens, leeks, parsnips, and more. If your farmers market is closed for the season, many CSAs (community supported agriculture) also offer a special one-time Thanksgiving share of goodies to anyone, even if you’re not a subscriber. 

3. Use Sustainable Decor

Forget the dollar store, you can make beautiful fall decor for your table setting and dining room with things from your backyard and local farm stand. Pressed leaves, squash, and pumpkins make for great wall and table adornments. Check out some good DIY ideas here. And don’t forget to get the kids involved!

4. Serve on Reusable Dishes & Dinnerware 

Plastic utensils and cups end up in landfills, incinerators, or waterways where they can pose a threat to wildlife. Set your table with a beautiful tablecloth, ceramic or metal plates, cups, serving platters, metal utensils (got a set of silverware from your parents or grandparents you can bust out?), and cloth napkins. If you’re hosting a big gathering and don’t have enough plates, glasses, serving dishes, or cutlery, take a trip to your closest thrift shop, ReStore or Salvation Army to pick up more on the cheap (there’s often some real gems and some actual silverware mixed in with the cheaper stuff.) You can serve your drinks in glass pitchers or bottles. If your family likes seltzer, consider investing in a machine to carbonate your own “bubbly water”. Tip: choose the model that comes with glass bottles over the plastic ones. If you have kids, assign them the task of polishing silver—they may find it deeply satisfying. Sticking to reusable tableware will not only reduce your waste but also save you money. Get your family or friends to help you wash anything delicate that can’t go in the dishwasher and toss all your cloth items in the washing machine afterwards. No muss, no fuss, and, more importantly, no WASTE.

5. Provide or Remind People to Reusable Containers for Leftovers

Going to family or friend’s home for dinner? Bring your own glass or metal containers to cart home some delicious leftovers. There are also some great beeswax-coated fabric wraps out there these days that can take the place of plastic wrap or tinfoil. If you are hosting the dinner, remind guests to bring reusable containers with them. If you have extras to spare (say from all those take-out containers you saved during COVID lockdown), you can offer them to guests who’ve forgotten to bring their own. If you haven’t yet invested in glass or metal containers, don’t let that stop you – just bring plastic tupperware or clean yogurt containers, etc., but make sure not to heat anything up in those containers later to avoid the chemical leaching that occurs when hot food comes into contact with plastic. If you do use aluminum foil, when you’re done, don’t forget to gently clean and dry it and save it to use again.

6. Compost Your Food Scraps and Decorations!

Compost any scraps from cooking or leftovers that aren’t being saved, as well as any compostable decor you’ve put up or used on the table once you tire of it. Reminder, if your Thanksgiving dinner includes a turkey, you can make delicious, nourishing stock out of the carcass before you compost it. You can then make an excellent, very flavorful turkey soup or freeze the stock for several months. If you’re not sure what can and can’t be composted, check out this helpful list. If you don’t have a backyard compost, see if your city or town has a local composting system. If they don’t have one yet, look into how to start one. HINT: This could be a great project for a Beyond Plastics Local Group or Affiliate to take on.

RECIPE SUGGESTIONS (updated and expanded for 2024!)

Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes

Regionally and Globally-Inspired Recipes

Overshoot Day

WE consume too much stuff, use too much plastic, and create too much garbage. Our consumerism fuels Overshoot Day, but also all our driving around and wasting more fossil fuels than what we need.

Consuming less is good for our air and our water, and over consumption contributes to our climate crisis. We all need to be responsible for the trash we create, but the producers of so much packaging also needs to be held responsible.

Consuming and wasting less is the key!

Today is the day after Earth Overshoot Day. But what does that mean for you?

Earth Overshoot Day is the date when humanity depletes all the natural resources that the Earth can regenerate in the year. So as of today August 2, we are living at a deficit. We are consuming more resources than we can replace.

This metric from the Global Footprint Network is a striking reminder of the importance of taking care of the planet and using resources responsibly. However, it can also serve as inspiration to take action. Individual actions can make a difference to help #MoveTheDate!

What YOU can do to help?

Buy less and reuse instead of purchasing something new.

Reduce your food waste.

Have SMALL families.

Reuse, Reuse, Reuse! A good place to start is by trying to reduce unnecessary purchases, opt for sustainable products, and reuse items whenever possible.

peace on earth

We all need to waste less, and work together to lift up our Earth.

Reading List:

Aug 1, Overshoot Day

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/earth-overshoot-day-2024-how-to-make-the-best-of-this-important-benchmark/ar-BB1qUlt6?ocid=BingNewsSerp

A Plastic-Free Future

Plastic is everywhere. It is hazardous to our health and our environment. Lets work together every day to end the Age of Plastic

These outstanding ideas are from Eureka Recycling!

Practical Tips for Going Plastic-Free 

The most powerful zero waste action we can take is not creating waste in the first place. So how do we go about reducing consumption. Here are some helpful tips: 

  1. Start with the Basics: Swap out single-use plastic bags for reusable ones. Keep a stash in your car or by the door so they’re always handy.
  2. Choose Reusables & Say NO to Single-Use Plastic: Carry your own refillable stainless-steel water bottle and use glass containers for food storage. Repurposing glass pasta jars for food storage can be a good option 
  3. Shop Mindfully: When grocery shopping, opt for products with minimal or recyclable packaging. Choose loose fruits and vegetables over those wrapped in plastic and items in glass or cardboard containers over plastic whenever possible. When shopping for clothes, try to choose used clothes and clothing made of cotton or hemp, which can help reduce microfiber pollution Many clothing, especially synthetic fibers like polyester, nylon, and acrylic, are made from plastic polymers. When these synthetic fabrics are washed, they release tiny plastic fibers known as microfibers into the wastewater. These microfibers are too small to be caught by wastewater treatment plants and ultimately end up in rivers, lakes, and oceans. 
  4. Evaluate Necessity vs. Want: Before making a purchase, ask yourself if the item is something you truly need or if it’s just a want. Delaying non-essential purchases can often lead to realizing you don’t need them at all.
  5. Borrow or Share: Borrow or share items that you only need temporarily or infrequently, such as tools, books, or recreational equipment, rather than buying them outright. 
  6. Support Plastic-Free Initiatives: Encourage businesses and local governments to adopt plastic reduction initiatives. When possible, support companies that prioritize sustainable packaging and products. 
  7. Make Your Voice Heard: As we work to advance zero waste legislation at the state and federal levels, we know we cannot recycle our way out of the plastic production and pollution crisis. Let’s work together to hold petrochemical companies accountable and change systems to better support reduction and reuse. 

While Plastic Free July lasts for just one month, the habits we cultivate and policies we advocate for can have a lasting impact. By reducing our plastic consumption, we conserve valuable resources, minimize pollution, and protect wildlife. Moreover, we contribute to a shift in societal norms towards more sustainable living practices. 

Join the movement this Plastic-Free July and let’s make every month an opportunity to support a zero waste future. 

And some ways to reduce your exposure to microplastics

Less Waste for the Holidays

We are in a climate crisis, a waste crisis, and a plastic crisis. The last thing we need is for people to purchase more landfill junk. Everyone has a right to clean water and clean air. Buying less stuff, and producing less waste helps keep our water and air clean.

Purchase items of quality and things you really need this holiday. Also, become aware of the plastic that you send to the landfill.

Zero Waste is moving from our throw-away and overconsumption culture to a more sustainable way of reusing and refusing.

Food waste in landfills produces harmful methane gas.

The EPA reports that garbage increases 25% between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. Here are new ways to reduce your waste.

Zero Waste for the Holidays Webinar

Gifting with less waste

Buy less, give more  

Wrapping with less waste

Tell Amazon: It’s time to move beyond wasteful single-use plastic packaging 

Refurbished gifts

Fixed for the Holidays 

Tell Amazon: We need repair scores

Reduce food waste

How to reduce food waste and save money this holiday season 

Tell Congress: Pass this bill to combat the worst kind of food waste
Federal food donation protections info
Calculator to figure out how much food to serve
Leftover ideas

How Can You Reduce Holiday Waste?

Zero Waste

Today is the first International Day of Zero Waste!

Buy less, reuse and refuse!

What is zero waste? https://health4earth.com/2022/01/21/what-is-zero-waste/

Refill your own containers in the bulk section of food co-ops.

Reduce your plastic consumption!

“Zero-waste initiatives can foster sound waste management and minimize and prevent waste. This contributes to reducing pollution, mitigating the climate crisis, conserving biodiversity, enhancing food security and improving human health. The International Day of Zero Waste aims to promote sustainable consumption and production patterns and raise awareness about how zero-waste initiatives contribute to the advancement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Humanity generates an estimated 2.24 billion tons of municipal solid waste annually, of which only 55 per cent is managed in controlled facilities. By 2050, this could rise to 3.88 billion tons per year. The waste sector is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in urban settings and biodiversity loss. Around 931 million tons of food is wasted each year, and up to 37 million tons of plastic waste is expected to enter the ocean annually by 2040.

The United Nations General Assembly formally recognized the importance of zero-waste initiatives and proclaimed 30 March as the International Day of Zero Waste, to be observed annually beginning in 2023.

Zero-waste initiatives can foster sound waste management and minimize and prevent waste. This contributes to reducing pollution, mitigating the climate crisis, conserving biodiversity, enhancing food security and improving human health.

The United Nations Environment Programme and UN-Habitat will facilitate the observance of the Day. All Member States, organizations of the United Nations system and relevant stakeholders are encouraged to implement zero-waste initiatives at local, regional, subnational and national levels.” The United Nations

Zero Waste Wednesday

https://upstreamsolutions.org/why-we-cant-recycle-our-way-out-of-the-problem

Zero Waste Gifts

These ideas are from Beyond Plastic https://beyondplastic.net/

1. Choose Plastic-Free Gifts That Prevent Waste

Looking for the perfect practical gift? Reusable metal, glass, or ceramic water bottles and travel mugs are plastic-free gifts that will also help the recipient to reduce future waste! Other zero-waste gifts include bamboo utensil sets, stainless steel straws, loose tea and tea strainers, beeswax food wrap, Swedish reusable cloths, a stainless steel tiffin (perfect for bringing lunch or keeping in your car to have handy if you go out to eat to bring leftovers home in), reusable bowl covers, reusable cotton tote bags, stainless steel or ceramic compost bins for your kitchen, and so much more.

2. Give a Gift Subscription or Certificate To A Zero-Waste Service

Purchasing a gift certificate or subscription to one of the many excellent zero-plastic and low or zero-waste products, stores, and services out there can be a great way to bring a family member or friend into the fold. A few to consider include Plaine Products, Blueland, HumanKind, Package-Free Shop, Superzero, and Loop Store but there are more and more out there to choose from and you might enjoy the research.

3. Support a Local Farm & Feed a Loved One

Consider buying a friend or family member a share (or a half share) in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Are you new to the concept of a CSA? Click here for more info on what a CSA is and how it works. You can look for farms that offer winter CSA shares or purchase one that begins in the spring. This is a great way to support a local farm while also helping the lucky recipient feed themselves and their family with fresh, nutritious goodies. Consider providing some of your favorite recipes along with the CSA share to round out the package. If you don’t know where to start, you can do a search for CSAs through Local Harvest or the USDA’s database.

4. Support Democracy & Your Community With A Newspaper Subscription

Independent media is crucial to a functioning democracy. Whether it is online or paper, for you or for a friend, subscribe to your local newspaper whether it’s a monthly, weekly, or daily.

5. Give an Experience

Gifting experiences is a great way to reduce waste and create lasting memories. Whether it’s a membership to a nature preserve or a local museum or a lift ticket for a near by ski mountain that can be used now or the promise of a long-anticipated trip to Paris, this could be a hit. 

6. Choose Plastic-Free Clothing

Everyone loves a comfy pair of PJs or some new socks for the holidays. Unfortunately, most of our clothing is made from synthetic materials like polyester and nylon which contain plastic fibers. But there are plenty of fun and affordable brands that use materials like recycled cotton, linen, and wool. Need somewhere to get started? The free app GoodOnYou can help you find the best brands to buy from this season. Or consider buying a gently used item of clothing from thredUp, Poshmark, or good old eBay.

7. Give the Gift of Giving to Others in Need

For that person who already “has it all,” the gift of giving could be a great choice. Make a donation in their honor to a charity you think they’d appreciate (hint: Beyond Plastics is a great option!) and send them a card sharing the gift. Or, if you think they’d prefer to be more hands-on, consider setting them up with a pre-paid micro-lender account through an organization like Kiva to allow them to choose the recipients of their microloans. This could be a particularly good way to help a young person experience philanthropy directly. Other places with great meaningful virtual gifts that give back include Oxfam America and Heifer International and many environmental nonprofits offer symbolic wildlife adoption programs.

8. Make Your Own Gifts

Homemade items are the way to go for truly unique and special presents. DIY candles, baked goods, bath salts, tea mixes, brownie mix, vanilla extract, spices, and even games can be easy and customizable gifts! Click here for some DIY gift ideas. 

9. Buy From Your Local Bookstore

Resist the temptation to buy from Amazon and visit your local bookstore. Wear your mask and spend some time browsing the shelves to see what books might delight a loved one. Many bookstores also sell toys and cards if you’re looking for more than books.

10. Entertain With an Online or Streaming Subscription

Winter is long and entertainment really helps. A subscription or gift certificate to a streaming platform, an audiobook platform, an online music service, or an online newspaper or magazine could help your loved ones stay entertained and informed without requiring any new plastic or disposable items.

11. Choose Plastic-Free Gift Cards Only! Gift cards can be a handy, popular, and sustainable choice if you opt for either an electronic or paper gift card. Gift cards made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic must be avoided at all costs. Learn more in our fact sheet and opt for a digital or paper card when you shop.

12. Give An Old Item New Life

Re-gifting is great! If you own an item that you’re ready to part with and think someone else would enjoy, wrap it up (see tips below), and pass it along. Vintage and used items also make excellent holiday gifts. There are so many wonderful books, household items, pieces of clothing and jewelry, tools, and more that deserve a second (or third or fourth) chance to be useful and provide joy waiting to be discovered. You can browse eBay or Etsy to find special gifts. Or grab your mask and visit your local antiques shop, second-hand bookstore, thrift store, or auction to look for finds.

13. Wrap It Up Right

Much wrapping paper is non-recyclable (anything glittery, sparkly, etc, won’t be accepted). The good thing is that wrapping paper is not a necessity. This year, look around your home for alternatives. Newspapers and paper grocery bags work really well. If you have kids, drawing, painting or stamping a pattern on a used grocery bag can be a fun activity, too. If you want to go the extra mile, old book pages, tote bags, and scrap fabric make for cute and unique wrapping. In fact, there is a Japanese tradition of wrapping gifts in attractive pieces of cloth called furoshiki. And when you’re unwrapping gifts, save the wrapping paper (or fabric) and ribbons to use them again. If your family enjoys a little friendly competition, you can even keep score to see who can reuse a given piece of paper the most times —warning, this could stretch on for years!

Glitter is a Microplastic

Reduce Food Waste

end food waste

Wasting food is an enormous waste of valuable resources!

Not only does wasting food, waste valuable resources and lots of water, but also food in our landfills decomposes creating and giving off methane gas which is a harmful air pollutant contributing to global warming.
From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, household waste increases by more than 25%. Added food waste, shopping bags, packaging, wrapping paper, bows and ribbons all adds up to an additional 1 million tons a week to our landfills. (Source: EPA)

Food waste from PBS:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/food-waste-is-contributing-to-climate-change-whats-being-done-about-it

Buy Nothing Day

Use your power as a consumer to create a better world!

Today is Buy Nothing Day, it is a day to turn our back on the awful obsession with consumerism we have in the United States. The things we purchase put stress on all our resources, water, air, time, energy, and landfills. All the stuff we buy contributes to the climate crisis! Do you really need more junk? Give thanks for what you have and all the people in your life. Be grateful for our beautiful planet, and for all you have. Instead of shopping spend your day outdoors or spend time doing something creative. Instead of shopping for happiness take deep breaths and do something you love. All the state parks in my state are free today, and I’m off for a long walk!

From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, household waste increases by more than 25%. Added food waste, shopping bags, packaging, wrapping paper, bows and ribbons all adds up to an additional 1 million tons a week to our landfills. (Source: EPA) 

The Story of Stuff – Story of Stuff  

The Story of Stuff

 A consumer is powerful. The choices we make, and what we purchase changes marketing and products, and as consumers we can make a big difference by the choices we make.  These choices can make a positive change on the environment creating a more sustainable world. 

  • Heighten your awareness of packaging and waste, choosing products with minimal or no wasteful plastic packaging. 
  • Always shop with reusable bags. 
  • Never purchase products with glitter or Styrofoam. They can’t be recycled and are harmful to wildlife.
  • Shop reuse stores. Some of my favorite clothes and items come from consignment stores. 
  • Shop bulk items. 
  • Shop in bulkBuying in bulk is a good way to manage food waste, and plastic waste. Bring your own bags or containers. 
  • Shop retailers that pay living wages and are local over big box stores. 
  •  Buy nothing and reuse what you have! 
  •  Purchase items that will last instead of cheap junk. 
  •  Avoid all single-use plastic 
  • Make your own choices and be creative, don’t be owned by corporations like Apple, Target, Amazon etc. 
Black Friday: seven things to do instead of buying stuff