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Wasteland Rebel

Going #ZeroWaste

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All-Natural Face Mask with Bentonite Clay

How to Use Horse Chestnuts aka Conkers (Not Edible!) as an All-Natural Laundry Detergent

What does actually get recycled? We visited a waste management facility!

8 quick and easy hacks for a plastic-free July—or any other time of the year ;)

Homemade Vegan and Zero Waste Kimchi

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All-Natural Face Mask with Bentonite Clay

What’s in a Zero Waster’s bag?

Zero Waste Stores around the World #4: West Coast Refill, Victoria, BC, Canada

A World Without Garbage? #FoodForThoughtFriday

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Our tash of one entire year! #TrashTalk

Magazine, Shopping, Zero Waste Bulk Stores

Zero Waste Bulk Stores around the World #2: GOODsONLY in Zutphen, the Netherlands

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Bathroom, Toiletries

#NoPoo Hair Wash Using Rye Flour #BeatTheMicrobead

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Article, Bathroom, Dental hygiene, featured, sponsored

My Quest to Find the Most Sustainable Toothbrush + Giveaway

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Magazine, Shopping, Zero Waste Bulk Stores

Zero Waste Bulk Stores around the World #1: Unverpackt Kiel in Kiel, Germany

Comments 8
  • Look at all this gorgeous real food sourced locally and brought home in reusable bags and jars 😻! This beautiful #groceryhaul was shot by my #zerowaste friend Andrea @bezerowastegirl! We got to meet this February, in person, like, face to face, IRL, squeaking and hugging LOL! She’s an inspiring and amazing person, and I wish we could hang out all the time!! • Andrea is the founder of the non-profit organization @bezero and one of the eco warriors fighting for a more realistic representation of zero waste. • Why? Because there is no “zero” waste, not the way our economy works at the moment anyway. And it’s so not about the absolut amount of waste you create! Depending on your very individual situation and the infrastructure you have access to, the minimum you can reduce your waste to might still be a lot. And that’s just beyond your control. So remember to be kind to yourself 💕 and to check out Andrea’s account if you haven’t already! • Repost @bezerowastegirl ・・・ Food for the week from the local farms of Colorado! I stocked up on greens and potatoes for soups, skillet dishes, and chickpea frittata! A little goes a long way. I don’t plan meals for the week or use recipes either. I’ve built a mental list of meals in my head from watching others cook and a lot of my cooking skills came from watching my grandma and mom prepare meals. Resourcefulness and thriftiness in the kitchen is vital (ingenuity too). I keep food prep simple and quick. I also like to create dishes that can be eaten for more than one meal or utilized again for another dish. Avoid food waste. On another note, collectively we need to make fresh local food accessible to all, put more attention on bioregional eating, and importantly how we grow the food we eat to begin with. Most of the time communities, people, animals, and resources suffer from an over-industrial food pipeline. Food apartheid is real. Valuing food again means we value people, animals, communities, and resources.
  • Here’s one of our last #zerowaste grocery hauls at our previous, temporary home! #eatarainbow 🌈 • Sorry for hardly posting the last 3 weeks by the way! We moved to yet another city and only got internet access yesterday! It was a NIGHTMARE because I ran out of mobile data multiple times just sticking to what I needed to take care of urgently, ugh! Let me tell you public WiFi like in coffee shops or hotspots are the worst in Germany! So so so so unreliable 😭! • A personal update: As many of you know, we relocated back from Vancouver to Germany (Bochum) in March. Well, apartment hunting is difficult if you’re not in the country 😉. So we went for a temporary solution. • Meanwhile we were actually looking for apartments in Bochum, but included Cologne (1:15h away by train) in our search on a whim after meeting an old friend in Cologne 😆. The housing market is tough in Cologne, and as tiny living enthusiasts we were looking for a studio around 30-40 square meters (320-430 sq ft). So we thought there was no way we’ll find an apartment in Cologne because landlords usually prefer to rent spaces that size to singles. • But we found a place in Cologne within a week I think! And we packed our things and moved in yet another week later LOL! • So now we live in a city with not only one, but THREE zero waste bulk stores: @tanteolgakoeln, @veedelskraemer, and @migorikoeln 💚💚💚! MIND. BLOWN 🤯😂!!! Can’t wait to explore this city and getting involved with the obviously flourishing ZW community here!! Any tips are much appreciated by the way 💚💚💚
  • Let’s talk about menstruation ❤️! It’s such an important topic, and one that needs to be de-stigmatized!! • First of all, please bear in mind not every woman gets her period. Transgender women for example, and some transgender men as well as non-binary folks have to deal with menstruation too. But not even all cis women have their periods like e.g. young girls, mature ladies, mothers who just gave birth, folks who are on some hormonal contraceptives e.g. the hormonal IUD or the contraceptive implant, or some health conditions might prevent menstruation too. I myself don’t get my period because of the hormonal IUD. But that is about to change thank goodness! Can’t wait to rid my body of these hormones!! • I do have discharge though, but very little. And for those few days I use cloth pantyliners (swipe to see more). I plan on using a menstrual cup in combination with some cloth pads 😊 • Menstrual cups are a lot less invasive than tampons because they catch the blood instead of absorbing it, which can cause dryness. What’s more, conventional cotton is the “dirtiest” crop worldwide. It’s full of toxins, and trust me, you don’t want all of that anywhere close to your delicate parts! • But let’s be real here, too. While these cups will work for most menstruating people, I have met quite a few peeps who really, really, REALLY wanted to make the cup work, but couldn’t. Their anatomy just isn’t compatible. • In these cases, cloth pads or menstrual (sea) sponges (not vegan) can be a natural and eco-friendly option. • I’m curious! What’s your preferred menstrual product and why 😊?
  • Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a store with a bulk section and a #zerowaste bulk store? 🤔❓ • Both provide access to bulk. Yes, BUT... • BUT not every store with a bulk section accepts your own containers or bags. ZW bulk stores accept and tare your own bags and jars by DESIGN, so no awkwardness but full on ZW support there 💚💚💚! Don’t get me started on @wholefoods by the way! I have been told off at the checkout of so many WF stores for bringing my own containers (I don’t ask for permission :P), and at one point I literally had to HIDE from the customer service guy patrolling the checkouts who at that point already recognized me. I heard WF stores at the East Coast are more progressive and ZW-friendly though? I have yet to see a WF store walk their talk I’m afraid... • At both stores, you, the consumer, will end up with the same amount of trash at home, provided they let you use your own containers (which luckily many stores do ❤️). HOWEVER, most ZW bulk stores also work on reducing the UPSTREAM WASTE and try to source everything as locally as possible, which is very very cool and something that’s very difficult to even get information on on a consumer level. • I have had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with many ZW bulk store owners aka heroes 💚 (swipe to see one of them - Kati from the unpackaged store @jeninchen.unverpackt in Jena, Germany 💕). And I have the utmost respect for what they do!! They constantly open conversations with manufacturers and suppliers, making suggestions as to how to change work flows and packaging materials. They sniff out small local farmers to buy directly from them. They try to set up a new, circular infrastructure both in their communities and beyond. They educate people every single day. • So provided you have the choice, which most people don’t have (yet), support your local ZW bulk store! If you don’t have access to one, but to a store with a bulk section — talk to them about encouraging customers to bring their own containers or bags. If you don’t have access to bulk, talk to locally owned grocery stores about bulk! Chances are, they might warm up to that ice eventually 😁
  • We have been trying to live a #vegan lifestyle 🌱✨💚 to our best abilities before we went #zerowaste 🚫🚯. Many people ask me whether it’s easier or more difficult to be ZW (there’s no 100% zero waster or vegan anyway) as a vegan. Well, as always, there is no easy answer. It depends on what is important to you personally, and what kind of infrastructure you have access to. • Many vegans feel it’s more convenient to live ZW as a non-vegan, because you can buy things like meat or cheese in bulk from the meet or cheese counter, but you have to buy vegan cheese or faux meat in (plastic) packaging. Same with plant-based milk (or “mylk”). You can buy milk in often even returnable glass bottles, but mylk is always sold in a carton, which is notoriously difficult to recycle. • We have never been into faux meat or substitutes, so we really don’t mind. As a vegan food (cake) blogger, I had been making my own mylk long before we went ZW too, so that really didn’t affect us. • Making mylk is as easy as blending nuts and water in a blender 1:10. We have a high performance blender, so we don’t pre-soak nuts. And we are lazy, so we don’t strain the mylk. It’s even easier if you use nut butter! • Non-vegans have told me they think it’s easier to go ZW as a vegan because sanitary regulations are stricter when it comes to animal products so they’ll get refused more. It is definitely true that sanitary regulations are stricter because it’s a bigger health hazard. • What’s your experience? How do you handle things?
  • New video up on YouTube: #zerowaste confessions!! • Thanks so much for getting the ball rolling @gittemary with the original ZW confessions video and encouraging me to make one too 💚! For this video, I partnered up with the wonderful @msjamiekate to chat about #ZeroWasteIRL. • Both of us firmly believe that zero waste isn’t about cramming your trash into a mason jar, white glossy backdrops, or a pantry full of perfectly matching jars! So watch this video to know our dirty little ZW secrets 🤪! (https://youtu.be/JnYwZZPmAg8, clickable link in profile) • What are your zero waste confessions? What rubs you the wrong way? What are things you do or don’t do? Whatever it is — be proud of what you have accomplished and be kind to yourself! It’s not about perfection or the darn “zero”, it’s about making better choices as often as you can handle. And sometimes we simply have days that suck big time! Don’t make yourself feel even worse because you created trash. It’s only sustainable if it’s something that you can sustain for a longer period of time, right? So it’s all about finding your very personal balance in my humble opinion 💚

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