#reduced waste

[thestudentfarmer]

Anyone else enjoy thrifting and thrift shopping?

It's one of my favorite ways of keeping stuff out of the garbage heap.

And Sometimes you just need something. Sometimes, it might be cheap pants, shirts, "new" cookware or eating utensils, ridiculous decorative stuff. A ton can be found through thrifting and i don't necessarily have to feel guilty in buying some stuff I might not have gotten otherwise (or needed). Mostly because while it's already had 1 life, why not another while it's still functional and keep it out of the dump longer? 🌱💚 🌱 no need for new for everything if it's already made and here :)

I haven't been able to for a long time as I like to carpool or have donations to bring with, was able to recently go with some friends and wanted to share some of the neat buys I found.

I don't usually get lucky with pretty homemade quilts being available when thrifting, but I found this one and am pretty excited about it, (this was my top find this time)

To me, it looks hand stitched entirely, there's a few small tears that will need minimal repair and a few spots that will need some reinforcement as theres a bit of thinning. Otherwise it's quite beautiful and I know it must have taken the maker a bit of time to do. Also i must admit, im kind of inspired to get my hands back to quilting again soon from this beauty.

A sweet deal on this embroidery floss and tool(?)

To be quite honest I'm not really sure what the tool being pointed at is, if anyone knows please share your knowledge! I'll likely use the floss on some hat projects for gifts this year.

Also, I found a bag with all these bobbins and thread. I've been looking for more bobbin containers cause I like to have a full one for the common colors I use when I'm sewing. These colors I'll probably use for binding smaller quilts (dog, cat, baby, and lap quilt sized) or for attempts at making clothing if fabrics are similar colored.

I also found

A set of ceramic measuring cups with handles,

kitchen knife,

2 crocheted blankets, lap/single sized,

2 nice new picture frames (still wrapped),

A book (fun reading material),

And what I thought was a ceramic pancake 🥞 or tortilla holder/warmer for breakfast, but I think it is actually for something else? I'm using it to store fresh ginger tubers at the moment (later, mayby garlic bulbs)

I was hoping for some nice fabric to try my hands at skirt making and some interesting quilting fabric, but nothing in the selection really caught my eye this round. Lots of pretty kitchen ware and nicknacks, though. Unfortunately, there no time to even look at the clothes before we had to head off, no big loss though.

That's it for now,

🌱🌻Happy Homesteading and sustainability efforts!🌻🌱

5 16 24

[eggwhiteswithspinach]

[5] Keeping Small Shipping Boxes I had originally thought that I would need to purchase big shipping boxes from a known moving company, or an office supply business (e.g., Staples). Turns out, because I had wanted to build a small business selling crafts, I had a bunch of moderately sized boxes, especially instant noodle boxes. Because we ended up moving stuff ourselves, featuring my partner with back pain and me with marshmallow arms, going with the smaller boxes made things much easier for us to take things in smaller steps and not hurt anyone in the process. I also kept a lot of shipping material in my aspirational small business idea, which included bubble wrap and paper. Side note: the only thing I learned though was that I had 4 boxes of 30 packets of Indomie (instant noodles) over the past few years and that’s actually kind of embarrassing how much I’ve eaten. That’s, uh, 120 packages.

Lucy Dan // how I reduced waste for my move!

[reasonsforhope]

It’s an open secret in fashion. Unsold inventory goes to the incinerator; excess handbags are slashed so they can’t be resold; perfectly usable products are sent to the landfill to avoid discounts and flash sales. The European Union wants to put an end to these unsustainable practices. On Monday, [December 4, 2023], it banned the destruction of unsold textiles and footwear.

“It is time to end the model of ‘take, make, dispose’ that is so harmful to our planet, our health and our economy,” MEP Alessandra Moretti said in a statement. “Banning the destruction of unsold textiles and footwear will contribute to a shift in the way fast fashion manufacturers produce their goods.”

This comes as part of a broader push to tighten sustainable fashion legislation, with new policies around ecodesign, greenwashing and textile waste phasing in over the next few years. The ban on destroying unsold goods will be among the longer lead times: large businesses have two years to comply, and SMEs have been granted up to six years. It’s not yet clear on whether the ban applies to companies headquartered in the EU, or any that operate there, as well as how this ban might impact regions outside of Europe.

For many, this is a welcome decision that indirectly tackles the controversial topics of overproduction and degrowth. Policymakers may not be directly telling brands to produce less, or placing limits on how many units they can make each year, but they are penalising those overproducing, which is a step in the right direction, says Eco-Age sustainability consultant Philippa Grogan. “This has been a dirty secret of the fashion industry for so long. The ban won’t end overproduction on its own, but hopefully it will compel brands to be better organised, more responsible and less greedy.”

Clarifications to come

There are some kinks to iron out, says Scott Lipinski, CEO of Fashion Council Germany and the European Fashion Alliance (EFA). The EFA is calling on the EU to clarify what it means by both “unsold goods” and “destruction”. Unsold goods, to the EFA, mean they are fit for consumption or sale (excluding counterfeits, samples or prototypes)...

The question of what happens to these unsold goods if they are not destroyed is yet to be answered. “Will they be shipped around the world? Will they be reused as deadstock or shredded and downcycled? Will outlet stores have an abundance of stock to sell?” asks Grogan.

Large companies will also have to disclose how many unsold consumer products they discard each year and why, a rule the EU is hoping will curb overproduction and destruction...

Could this shift supply chains?

For Dio Kurazawa, founder of sustainable fashion consultancy The Bear Scouts, this is an opportunity for brands to increase supply chain agility and wean themselves off the wholesale model so many rely on. “This is the time to get behind innovations like pre-order and on-demand manufacturing,” he says. “It’s a chance for brands to play with AI to understand the future of forecasting. Technology can help brands be more intentional with what they make, so they have less unsold goods in the first place.”

Grogan is equally optimistic about what this could mean for sustainable fashion in general. “It’s great to see that this is more ambitious than the EU’s original proposal and that it specifically calls out textiles. It demonstrates a willingness from policymakers to create a more robust system,” she says. “Banning the destruction of unsold goods might make brands rethink their production models and possibly better forecast their collections.”

One of the outstanding questions is over enforcement. Time and again, brands have used the lack of supply chain transparency in fashion as an excuse for bad behaviour. Part of the challenge with the EU’s new ban will be proving that brands are destroying unsold goods, not to mention how they’re doing it and to what extent, says Kurazawa. “Someone obviously knows what is happening and where, but will the EU?”"

-via British Vogue, December 7, 2023

[bamsara]

Sorting the sticker drawers this morning and realized I put the them right next to each other. Big em and small em

[sudaca-swag]

potatoes wrapped in plastic we should suicide bait that entire country at this point

[zerofuckingwaste]

Easy zero waste tip no. 3: Know your R's

Refuse: If you don't acquire the thing that will become waste in the first place, it won't produce further waste. Simple enough. Refuse that which you do not need. Example: All that cute stuff on that Buzzfeed article? You don't need it. Don't even click the link.

Reduce: If you need something, get the minimum. Note that this doesn't mean the cheapest option- it means the most effective and environmentally friendly option. Example: Instead of buying disposable razors, or a razor with changeable heads, try out a safety razor. Instead of using plastic toothbrushes, try out bamboo, and instead of toothpaste in disposable tubes, try out some toothpaste bits. Instead of buying chicken breasts for one thing and chicken broth for another, get a whole chicken and learn to butcher its meat, and make broth from the skin and bones.

Reuse: This means both being mindful of purchases, so you're only buying things that are reusable whenever possible (Example: use beeswax wrap instead of saran wrap), and repurposing things you've already bought (Example: use those little Oui yogurt containers to start seeds for your garden).

Recycle: Find out what your local recycling program actually recycles, and be mindful. Aluminum is a safe bet most of the time, as is paper/cardboard; but plastics, most of the time, are a dud, so try to refuse, reduce, and reuse plastic whenever possible so you don't even need to worry about recycling it. This also refers to donation- that's another valid way to recycle things!

Rot: If you have a yard, start a compost pile! Just try to get a 50/50 balance of food scraps to brown matter (paper, dry leaves, etc). If you have a freezer, you can stick a container in there to act as a compost thing until you can bring it to a compost facility, such as a local garden, or farm. If you don't have the ability to do either of these things, then you can see if there's a subscription compost service in your area (I used CompostNow for ages, they're great).

Understanding these five principles, and looking at them in this order, can make things easier. Next time you're buying something, or about to throw something away, consider which of these might allow you to reduce your waste output in the future.

[justalittlesolarpunk]

Solarpunk Sunday Suggestion

Host a clothing swap

[queer-ecopunk]

Scrap soup time babeyyy

[the-solarpunk-activist]

A lot of stuff I hear in sustainability circles is oh, I still live at home what can I do?

Besties there is so much you can do.

You got chores? Dishes one of them?

You can fill up the sink with water and wash with just that. Less water than constantly running

I find that gross but my grandma does it. When I do dishes I use a jar with a drop of soap, fill it with water, and dip my scrub brush in that so I'm not wasting soap.

Dry dishes with a towel

Air dry your dishes

You can also ask if you can keep a potted plant (edible plants are bonus points) or a garden

Also bonus points if you use food scraps for a garden. That's a whole topic for another post another day but seriously look into it

Or you can trade plants with friends and neighbors

Or steal cuttings

You can wash your clothes on cold, ask if you can hang dry your clothes

You can use eco friendly laundry detergent, or just start using the actual amount needed. That stuff is so concentrated it isn't even funny

Use reusables whenever you can

Try to eat less processed foods

Try to eat more plant based

Try to limit your car trips

Take walks and pick up litter

Go to the beach and pick up litter

Bonus points for separating recyclables

Learn to repair your clothes, a basic sewing kit should be all you need for simple mends

Shop at yard sales, thrift shops, second hand, or local

Shampoo bars

Soap bars

Yes including hand soap

Weave baskets out of toilet paper rolls. No idea how you do it but I've seen it and they look pretty cool

Learn an "old fashioned" skill, like spinning yarn, canning, gardening, basket weaving, wood carving, etc

Try to be creative!! So much about Solarpunk and sustainability is about being creative with your solutions

[bats-and-anarchism]

This tote bag is nice and big but it had this annoying print on it because years ago i bought it at a fast fashion store to avoid a single use bag. And since i don't wanna be a walking ad and i am a little punk i am covering the print with patches. I might also make longer handles for it, so i can wear it over my shoulder. I painted most of the patches myself. This bag seems like a better place for them than my pants since i do wash my pants regularly /j. Also the weather in germany is always either too hot or too cold to wear denim jackets or vests (at least for my neurodivergent ass) so even though i do have a battle vest and a battle jacket, i barely wear them which is sad

So if u have some handy tote bags which have annoying logos on them, just cover it. U will probably use them more then since u put effort in it and they look much cooler :D

If u don't like the punk look, u could use an old shirt with a cool print on it that u don't wear anymore for whatever reason or make one big patch out of any piece of fabric big enough and paint something on it urself. It's a really fun project and hard to mess up and even if u mess it up, u can just detach ur patch and try again

[beevean]

I was about to ask you to do a character comparison between Carmilla and Erzebeth

....

But that would require Erzebeth to have a character in the first place

Sun Thundercat's character is having a design that punches me in the eyeballs. And uhhhhhhh having an odd fascination with young, virginal girls, I guess?

You know, for as much as the shows' tendency to turn game characters, no matter if minor or major, into OCs is justified with "well they didn't have much personality in the first place!", Erzsébet really is a massive downgrade compared to Elizabeth Bartley. She is Dracula's niece, most likely the infamous Hungarian serial killer, who caused WWI in order to resurrect him and maybe take revenge on the Austrian empire for imprisoning her in the past, if you believe the EGM fax! She looks like a pretty woman with green hair and a rotten hand that she hides in her dress! That is way more interesting than a random Egyptian vampire with a generic god complex who turns herself into the shittiest furry design conceivable to man and I'm supposed to be scared of only because the story keeps insisting that no no we swear she is much worse than that puny dracula!

Justice for Elizabeth and her unexplicable relation to Dracula!

Also y'all are cowards. This is Drolta:

You just slapped tits on game Isaac (and a flattened version of him to boot) and called her a new improved character, and people drank it up for reasons I can only imagine. Where is my withered old crone who actually mentored Elizabeth and resurrected her? The Death to Elizabeth's Dracula? Like, I'm not joking when I say that these are much more intriguing concepts than what they did in Nocturne, so much for improvement.

[sustainabilitythoughts]

Refrigerator management

Food waste happens throughout the production, transportation, and use processes.  Per a recent article by CNN, “The world wasted 1.05 billion metric tons of food in 2022, meaning about a fifth of the food available to people was squandered by households, restaurants and other parts of the food service and retail sectors. This is on top of the 13% of the world’s food lost as it makes its journey from farm to fork.”  The BBC article below states that “In the UK, about 60% of all food waste comes from homes, and in the US, 40-50% does. The statistics are similar in Japan.”  A significant amount of food waste is associated with your refrigerator.  Things get lost in the back or you buy too much at a time.  The BBC article discusses several ideas for managing the food in your refrigerator to reduce the amount of food that is wasted.  Many of these ideas are applicable to your pantry or kitchen cupboards, too.  In addition to organizing your refrigerator and planning your shopping trips, learn the difference between “best by” and “use by” dates on food items (see the explanation in the BBC article). 

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240715-the-simple-japanese-method-for-a-tidier-and-less-wasteful-fridge

[fluffalpenguin]

Happy Shun Duel Links Day!!! (party popper emoji)

[borninwinter81]

Replacing my bag strap

Unlike many of my clothes and accessories this bag isn't thrifted. It's a bag by Jawbreaker that I absolutely love the look of, it has multiple pockets, tons of space inside, and is clearly great quality as I've had it for over 10 years and it's almost good as new. It's the only handbag I own, and I've no desire to get a new one.

However the one bit I've had to replace multiple times is the shoulder strap, since that's the bit that gets most wear and tear.

It originally had the kind of strap which clips on, but the problem with those is that after years of metal rubbing against metal, eventually it wears away to the point where the clip is thin enough that it snaps. Last couple of times I just put a new clip on, however this time not only were the clips worn away but so were the d-rings you're supposed to attach them to, so I did a more thorough job.

First of all I unpicked the stitching attaching the d-rings to the bag and replaced them with these large rectangular ones. I always save metal hardware from clothing items I mod or that are finally old and worn enough to be thrown away, and I think these came from a skirt. Happily I had two the same, so I used bits of the old strap which weren't too badly worn to make loops to sew them on.

I sewed them by hand with thick top-stitch thread doubled over, and I even did those criss-cross stitching lines to make them extra secure.

I then went to a nearby charity shop hoping to find a cheap bag I could steal the strap from, but even better, I came across this belt, the construction of which was extremely similar to the detailing already on the bag. It was £1, way cheaper than a replacement strap from ebay, which I have also bought in the past.

I didn’t want to cut the buckle off because the belt fabric would fray, so I unpicked the stitching around the buckle instead, and put the buckle away in my crafting box to hopefully reuse in the future - like I said, I save everything.

I wanted the eyelets on the belt to be visible as they match the rest of the eyelets on the bag, so I put the belt through the rectangle and folded it over as far as I could while still showing all the eyelets, then sewed it shut. Again, I did multiple rows of stitching to keep it secure, and I also oversewed down both sides.

I don't have a sliding buckle that would enable me to adjust the strap length, but I never adjust my bag strap anyway, so I just put the strap over my shoulder, adjusted it to a length that I liked, and sewed that end together too. This was a long belt so I ended up doubling it over quite far, but that's good as it will make this section of the new strap extra thick, so hopefully it's extra strong.

And there we go, it looks as if I bought it like this!

[silverfroot]

organizing shampoo bars

Organizing my shampoo and conditioner bars along with my sanitary pads.

I used a cardboard box, covered with leftover cloth that I sewed by hand.

I am far from perfect zero waste, couldn't adapt to menstrual cups or O.B. or menstrual panties.

However, not being perfect doesn't stop me from trying the best I can in all the rest.

[thestudentfarmer]

A quick share on what's been going on here~

Unfortunatly not much, still hot and I haven't gotten my seeds started due to weather watching.

This is all from 2 sweet potato slips. I plan to harvest some for supper tonight :)

And from the side, the trellis is from an archway we had up some time ago for the front. I'm hoping to make a little shaded space for the ducks, or at the least extend potential harvest vines (the ducks enjoy the leaves right off the vine)

I've also had some time to be able to do some mending this week.

This quilt needs some patching. Since it was among the first quilts i made, I decided I want to do something a bit different than how I've patched others.

I'm taking it apart. Figure I'll keep what fabric is salvageable in pattern and replace what isn't on the front panel. pin it and stitch it back together. Probably replace the border entirely as I noticed the fabrics worn pretty thin there. The busted fabric I'm gonna put in with my small scrap pile to use as a filling for a foot cushion I'm making for personal use.

I've gotten round to finally processing the carrot seed heads from last grow. I'm currently doing a germination test to see if it was worth it.

Final pic of the day is a chicken pic :) they very much enjoy when I do a bit of weed whacking.

🌱🪴Happy Homesteading 🪴🌱