When food trimmings are sent to landfill a very valuable material ends up as waste. The nutrients in food trimmings and other organic matter, for instance grass trimmings or fallen leaves, are an incredible resource for plant-life, soil-life, bird-life, and quite frankly, all life. Healthy soil promotes abundant growth and food production, and it also becomes a carbon sink. Keeping carbon in the ground is a very effective way to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Another truth is that the conditions of a landfill promote anaerobic decomposition, which generates methane gas. Methane is a ..read more

Holidays, birthdays, graduations, any day really…here is a short list of items that I love, love, love: Masterclass All-Access Pass. Need some tips on training your dog? Check. How about dabbling in entrepreneurship? Got it. One of my personal favorite lessons is how to make a crispy-skinned duck breast with an orange sauce…awesome! Instructors who are experts in their fields provide detailed video instruction and in no time at all, you go from being a beginner to a virtual pro in whatever topic inspires you. Economics, fashion, communication, culinary skills, gardening, magic, and the list g ..read more

When I decided that the zero-waste lifestyle sounded intriguing, I gave it a go.  What’s not fascinating about fitting a year’s worth of trash in a mason jar, at the same time doing my part to save the world?  Little did I know that the world I was trying to save was going to show me just how important it is to embrace sustainability. Side-effects of zero-waste living: Reusables over disposables have freed us from the need to replace certain things.  Toilet paper, for example.  Also, paper towels, paper napkins, garbage bags, menstrual products, ear-buds, razors, disinfect ..read more

I haven’t posted in a long while due to a series of unfortunate events that have resulted in a chronic case of writer’s block.  Under the circumstances, though, I want to mention a couple of things about what’s going on in the world and what actions you can take to make a positive impact. There is no picture with this post as I have a longstanding glitch that is preventing me from accessing my photos.  At this moment it is not a priority. What IS a priority at this moment is addressing the COVID-19 global pandemic.  The spread of this virus happens really fast and it appears to ..read more

This image is found in the August 1, 1955 volume of “Life” Magazine. This article titled “Throwaway Living”  is selling the average consumer on how the items flying through the air are the solution to housework.  An inventory of the items floating around in the picture include: vases and flowers popcorn in its own pan frozen food containers paper napkins diaper a baby bib water wings foil pans paper tablecloth guest towels a sectional plate all-purpose bucket paper cups for beverages and spirits draperies ash trays garbage bags hot pads mats and feeding dish for dogs disposable goos ..read more

Part of my process for going zero-waste includes finding ways to enjoy the convenience of take-out whilst avoiding single-use packaging and utensils. I like to cook, but sometimes it’s nice to let someone else do it for us. As an example when it comes to take-away pizza, here is what I’ve been doing lately: The typical take-away or delivery haul includes the pizza box and the plastic bag of assorted extras like parmesan and red pepper flakes, as well as paper napkins. I have found that pizza delivery is never as hot as I want it to be…we seem to be at the end of the delivery route. Therefore p ..read more

The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW):   A group of companies collaborating to solve the massive problem of global plastic pollution.  These are the members: BASF, Berry Global, Braskem, OxyChem (Occidental Chemical), Chevron Phillips, Clariant, Covestro, Dow Chemical, DSM, ExxonMobil, Formosa Plastics, Henkel, LyondellBasell, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, Mitsui Chemicals, Nova Chemicals, Polyone Corp., Proctor&Gamble, Reliance Industries Limited, Saudi Basic Industries Corp., Sasal, SCG, Shell, Suez, Sumtomo Chemical, Total, Eni Versalis, Veolia. The alliance ..read more

A lot of food items that I enjoy, such as hummus, salsa, sour cream, yogurt, and cream cheese come packaged in type 5 PP.  My hometown, Anchorage, does not accept this type of plastic for recycling, thus it ends up in landfill.  Considering just how much of our food supply is packaged this way, that is a LOT of waste.  So what can I do to prevent making that kind of waste?  Other than trying to buy it in recyclable packaging I can make the food item myself. Making hummus takes a little planning as I use dried beans that I purchase from bulk bins.  That means an overnig ..read more

Household cleaners are my latest targets for reducing waste.  Rather than buying commercial products I’ve been utilizing supplies that we have on hand at home to formulate some cleaning solutions that are non-toxic, yet effective.  These solutions have the side-effect of saving me trips to the store, and I’m not afraid to breathe deeply as I clean.  Not only that, I don’t worry about using these products around my family, nor about what goes down the drain when I’m done cleaning.  I break down the costs later in this post and the bottom line is I’m spending a lot less by ..read more

I must take a moment to give credit to one of my favorite zero-waste bloggers…the Zero Waste Chef, Anne Marie Bonneau.  She has pretty-much mastered the many aspects of living a zero-waste lifestyle, and she is a huge source of inspiration to me.  She is also very gifted at articulating the current state of things and why our society is at this critical stage where we must start thinking about our consumption, our impact, the end-result of our throw-away culture, and being more intentional about how we buy stuff and what stuff we buy.  There are better ways of doing things ..read more