wasteful>low waste>zero waste

Since going vegan in October 2017 I feel as though so many things in my life have changed, and that I am so much more aware of the world around me. Even growing up as vegetarian, the only real reason for that was for the animals. I had no knowledge about the environmental effects on agriculture, and because I still consumed milk, eggs, etc, I would eat a LOT of prepackaged food, especially as a student.

Initially my reasons for going vegan were still for the animals. I only recently found out about dairy farm practices of artificially inseminating cows, taking their calves shortly after birth and slaughtering them once they can no longer provide enough milk for human consumption. The same with eggs- once I found out that male chicks are slaughtered as soon as they hatch, that was that. Emotional reasons for not eating animal products are definitely at the top of my list.. but what has that meant for my relationship with the environment? 

At first, nothing. I found as many pre packaged vegan food and toiletries that I could. But I have found that the vegan and zero waste movement work very well together, and so they should. Surely veganism isn't just about doing right by animals, but also doing right by all beings and the planet we live on? Plastic isn't biodegradable, it sticks around pretty much forever. Things that I didn't even know have plastic in them (sanitary towels/ nappies/ tea bags!!!!!) take hundreds and hundreds of years to break down. It is terrifying.

Please be aware, I don't claim to be 'zero waste' as there are so many things I still use and buy that are not biodegradable and are harming the environment, but I like to think I do as much as I can right now, with two very young children at home.

Here is a list of some of the things I've been doing to minimise my effect on the planet that have been REALLY simple and easy changes that anyone can implement in their lives, and most of these things will actually save you money, too!

Composting
Honestly, this has been the easiest and best change I have made. Our green bin (for rubbish) is half as empty as it was before now that I compost our scraps etc. So simple and easy and yet it also saves us money because we now don't need to buy soil for when we do our gardening. When food gets sent to landfill it has a green house effect because it gets trapped and releases methane. Get composting!! You won't regret it. 

Reusable Sanitary Towels
Sounds disgusting, but really isn't. I wash poo out of my children's clothes so whats the biggy about washing my sanitary towels, really? You can buy cloth or bamboo sanitary towels from cheekywipes.com or Etsy. They're not even that expensive and over the course of your life you will be saving a LOT of money. Sanitary towels take up to 800 years to break down. Super duper scary in my opinion.

Biodegradable Nappies
Okay, so this is more of an expensive swap if I'm honest, so I would seriously consider buying cloth nappies if I was about to have a baby, but seeing as my youngest is now 2 and (hopefully) coming out of nappies soon I decided to start buying nappies that biodegrade. Naty is the brand I've found to be the best, but they are pricey at around £6 a bag of 18 pull ups. However, you can often get them on offer. 

Buying Second Hand Clothes & Toys
It's pretty obvious that buying second hand clothes and toys is good for the environment, but it will also save you a HEAP of money- recently, I bought a Nintendo DS case from a Marie Curie charity shop for £3.50 that was £16 in Game and a Seasalt jumper for £8 from a British Heart Foundation charity shop. 

Reusable Kitchen Towel
I no longer buy dishwashing sponges, cloths or kitchen paper. I bought a roll of bamboo kitchen towels that can be washed and reused. I collect all my dirty ones and wash them at 60 degrees to make sure any germs are killed and reuse them over and over again. I use them to clean, wipe the kids faces and wash up! One of the best things I have bought in my quest to be as low waste as possible and is probably saving us the most money. 

And the more expensive changes..
Obviously not everything is cheap when it comes to lowering your impact on the environment and I know that can often put people off- but by doing the things above you will be saving money and therefore may be able to use some of that saved to buy...

Degradable Bin Bags
Even though rubbish that you're putting in the bin will go to landfill, you may as well not add anything else into it if its not completely necessary, right? We buy degradable bin bags so we're minimising the items that don't break down, as we all know how bad plastic bags are for the planet. We get 20 bin liners for £1.99 which isn't the cheapest but also isn't breaking the bank. And if you start composting you'll use less bin liners anyway!

Tea Bags
The majority of tea bags contain plastic. Shocking, I know. So we started buying Clipper Tea, which is fair-trade, plastic & bleach free and is compostable. I don't know about you but the idea of bleached tea bags being dipped in my mug really puts me off. These are a little more expensive than your standard tea bags, although I have recently read that PG Tips and Co-op were starting to use plastic-less tea bags! Of course, the other option is to buy loose tea. We do that too sometimes but it is a bit of a faff so it's more for when Jack's trying to be posh.

There are things I really struggle with, though.

One of these is takeaways. One of the little pleasures in my life as a stay at home mum/cleaner/cook is that on a Friday night I eat a Chinese takeaway. These always come in plastic containers. I re-use them, and I recycle them. But it does pain me to see those new plastic containers being used for food. I long for the day the UK brings in those cute little cardboard boxes they use in America for takeaways. 

The kids snacks are always pre packaged. I wish I was one of those super organised mums who makes all the snacks by hand for the week, but I really struggle! They have a lot of fruit, but things like their Goodie bars and their raisins are all pre packaged. 

Make up and cosmetics are often in plastic, even when they are vegan. There are a lot of zero waste cosmetic companies cropping up on Etsy but I really need more time and money to be able to experiment with which ones I get on with.

If you've gotten this far, I congratulate you. It's taken me two days to write!

Much love!

xx

Photo by Hermes Rivera on Unsplash