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Every day tips that we can all adopt to embrace sustainable living and a more zero waste lifestyle at every stage of our sustainable journey.
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In late 2021 I moved to Philadelphia from my parents’ house in the suburbs. It was finally my opportunity to do things right. Of my priorities, one was being able to live a more sustainable life of less plastic, less waste, less beef, etcetera. At a theoretical level I can decide to implement whatever kind of composting program I want because I run my house. But the reality is that I have two bags of veggie scraps in my freezer waiting around for me to make stock, along with a full compost bin because I still haven’t figured out exactly how to compost. And getting recycling in my building sorted out was just as overwhelming. Fortunately, my building has onsite staff and I lucked out with someone who knew about how our recycling needed to be broken down and sorted.
I’ve written guides to starting to reduce your environmental impact before. I practice a method rooted in the idea that doing the best you can and living without guilt is the most productive way to make positive change. This means that while I forget my metal straw and reusable bags every other week, I only buy new clothes when I absolutely need them. There’s a trade off and it’s not perfect and neither am I, but I know my strengths and weaknesses and put a lot more weight onto the former.
I’ve had a real wakeup call in the past two months. And if you’re just moving out on your own, maybe you’re having the same experience. How can you actually change your environmental impact on your own now that you’re the only one holding you back, rather than the standards of your college campus or family home? The reality is that this kind of freedom can be overwhelming. So, I’ve broken down a few tips and best practices of sustainable living that we can easily implement.
Best Practices
So when it comes to “sustainable living,” I like to prioritize the things that I can–and do control. Here are some of the best practices I’ve been able to implement.
Saving water and energy. Water is a vital resource that can be nearly impossible to find in so many corners of the world (even in the United States). So while it’s easy enough for me to get as much water as I need, I don’t like to waste it.
I try to limit my water consumption in two places: the kitchen and the bathroom. The former is much harder for me; I cook a lot. I eat out once or twice a week and every other meal, I make basically from scratch. That means that I also clean my kitchen a lot.
One way I try to curb my water usage while cooking is using a “water bowl.” Rather than constantly streaming water while cleaning every individual item, I fill up a bowl with as much water as I’ll need and use just that amount to clean.
I try to implement the same “use only what you need” philosophy when I shower. I don’t take long, contemplative showers. I get in when I turn on the water and I stay just as long as it takes me to get clean. Back when I started trying to limit my water consumption I actually timed myself to see how long I needed to shower and then set timers. You don’t have to be that extreme, but it could be a cool challenge. Evidently I love a challenge!
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These methods are simple and they’re things that people all over the world do every day because water is precious. In reality, I know that they might not make a huge impact where I live, but they might be more effective for you.
In a similar vein, I’m conscious of my energy usage. I’m more than happy to use natural light all day and lamps sparingly at night. Same with fans–I run them when I need them for heat regulation. But I try not to leave them on unless it’s absolutely necessary. I’d rather dress for the temperature of my apartment and crack a window than use up electricity to get the same effect.
Eating sustainably. Now that I live on my own, I have so much more control over the food that I buy and cook. As I mentioned before, I cook the vast majority of my meals. So my sustainable eating habits start in the grocery store.
First, I try to use as few plastics as possible when I shop. I always use reusable grocery and produce bags. I think these days reusable bags and totes are pretty easy to come by, but I’ll always recommend Baggu to anyone looking for a piece of their personality in their shopping bag. And for a holistic shopping bag setup, I’d spring for the Package Free Shop’s Zero Waste Market Kit.
Outside of packaging and bags, I also try to be conscious of what I’m eating. I am by no means a vegetarian. I was for several years and I can see myself going back, but when I lived with my parents, I ate meat. But now that I’m on my own, I can focus much more on eating more fruits and vegetables and less meat (I especially try not to eat any beef). Beyond that, I try to buy locally as much as possible, so I can ensure that I’m supporting agricultural communities and safer, healthier, more sustainable, and more ethical practices.
Oh, and I know coffee isn’t really eating per se, but I would like to take a brief minute here to talk about my favorite sustainable coffee solution. I am Bialetti Moka’s biggest fan. It’s the most ingenious stovetop solution for coffee. You make only as much as you need because it’s a smaller size, there’s no paper filter, and there’s no energy other than your stove (if you have an electric stove).
Reusing and Repurposing Everything. One small way I curb the plastics that I do buy is by trying to find uses for food packaging. Not every plastic container lends itself to reuse, but some of them do. Yogurt tubs make great tupperware, plastic bins of cream cheese and butter can hold individual portions, homemade condiments, or even things like batteries or coins. Sometimes using the resources you have is all it takes. (For the record, I apply this same philosophy to all of my glass food containers).
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But I also love to repurpose and reuse whatever else I can. Old t-shirts make incredible rags and towels for household chores. Plus, they wash pretty easily because they’re just shirts. And this is a way to get as much out of clothes as you possibly can. There are other creative ways to repurpose clothes too. If you’re crafty, you can take a cue from the thrift flipping movement and turn something old or out of style into the garment of your dreams. And if you, like me, are creative but not good with scissors, maybe you can stick with easier reimaginations of garments, like using blanket scarves as regular old blankets (it’s almost like these scarves were well-named…).
And when it comes to food, nearly every vegetable scrap can go into a delicious vegetable stock. This is the guide I first used to make my stock and I can’t recommend it enough. And if you want a more advanced application, try out this potato peel focaccia or these dumplings made from food scraps. Trust me, there are plenty of other recipes out there!
Taking things slowly. I think it’s pretty clear that I do not live a perfectly sustainable lifestyle. I’m okay with that and I hope you are too. Instead of focusing on perfection, I’d rather take my time and learn how to do things right. I’m still figuring out different areas of my life that I could make more sustainable.
That said, slowing down my process–and my own consumption–has been extremely useful to me. It can be really tempting to get into sustainable living by buying a bunch of sustainable/reusable products. But this can be overwhelming and upsetting. Sustainable products are always more expensive. And while it’s for a good reason, it can seem impossible to buy every sustainable thing and therefore to be sustainable because of this.
But sustainability isn’t about a set of products or a new, organic wardrobe. There’s no perfect way to live a sustainable lifestyle, and it’s a shame that so many of us feel like there is. I’ve been trying my best to combat this by just working with what I already have and buying better when I need to. Because something old that’s repurposed is more sustainable than something new, state of the art, and organic that still needs to be crafted and shipped to me. And for me, maintaining a slower-consumption lifestyle lets me save up for the things that I really need (or just really want, because it’s okay to buy something for fun too).
What I Want To Do Better
Since I’m here talking about taking things slowly and my own imperfect way of sustainable living, I thought this would be the perfect time to try to figure out two of the areas I’ve wanted to improve while I’ve been living on my own.
Laundry. I’ve known that I could do my laundry in a much more sustainable way, but I just hadn’t figured it out until now. I’ve been using dryer balls, rather than dryer sheets. To be honest, I only use them because my sister gifted them to me. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have changed this habit until I decided to tackle my laundry set up altogether.
So as for the rest of the process… I’ve done some digging and found a great alternative to traditional laundry detergent. There are great, sustainable, detergent pods out there. They are made from more environmentally sound ingredients, making them safer for you and for the water (as other detergents cast their toxins off into wastewater). I’m currently looking into Dropps, but I haven’t tried them yet, so I can’t give a full recommendation.
And one low-tech, old school laundry solution comes down to drying–and it’s probably better for a lot of your clothes anyway. One way to minimize the energy you use in your laundry is to hang dry your clothes. This is a time honored practice that worked well before the invention of drying machines, even though many of us forget about it in the face of modern technology.
Compost I hinted about my compost problem above. I find it incredibly challenging to figure out how to properly compost in the city. Back at my parents’ home, we had our own large compost barrel that we could turn and make fertilizer for our garden.
Out here, I have no need for my own compost barrel. So what do I do with my compost bin? As of yet, there’s no city-wide compost pickup or dropoff program in Philadelphia. So what can I do?
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Well for weeks I’ve been hoping the answer would just…come to me. Guess what? It didn’t. But in the interest of writing this article I’ve done some research and found three great locations where I can drop off my compost or get it picked up. If you’re in Philadelphia, check out these options: Mom’s Organic Market, Circle Compost, and Bennett Compost.
If you’re anywhere else in the United States, please check out the incredible website that helped me navigate my options, Litterless’ “Where to Compost” page. There’s a guide for various towns and cities in every state.
Final thoughts
There’s no perfect way to live sustainably, but there are practices you can use to make a difference. These are the practices that work for me and some of the changes I’ve prioritized, but I encourage you to determine what’s important to you and what you can take on. Small changes do matter. Individual changes do matter.
This sustainable living thing is hard, but at least we’re in it together. Please feel free to let me know if you have any other tips for making your life a little more sustainable.