DIY Foaming Soap

foaming soap

My quest to reduce single use items has led me deeeep down a DIY path that has nicely overlapped with my desire to know what exactly I'm using to clean my house and body. One of the first things I figured out how to make on my own was foaming soap - those of you on Pinterest have probably already seen this, but here goes. Lest you think, like I did, that the soap itself is special, the magic turns out to be in the container...yeah, the one usually thrown away or recyled when the foaming soap ran out. Or, you could refill with a tell tale liquidy soap that can be purchased in yet another single use container. Totally seems like cheating when you learn that they are selling you watered down soap in a second container - especially when you read "instructions" that say "refill only with our product..." 

So, here's the deal. Once you use up the original container, you open it, pour in maybe a 1/2 inch of liquid soap (buy the biggest container you can of that so you are buying the least number of consumable plastic bottles) and then fill the rest with tap water. There you have it, handy and identically foaming soap. I use Dawn blue soap for dishes and Dr. Bronner's castile (almond and peppermint are my two favorites) for hand soap in the bathroom. 

Living Plastic Free?

Glass Jars - I like to spray paint the tops to give them a unified look.

In my interwebs perusals I came across this TEDx talk by Beth Terry who has committed to living plastic free. That seems like a worthy but insurmountable task - plastics free. I am committed to greatly reducing my single use plastics consumption. In her talk she gives 8 reasons why personal change (to live plastics free) matters. She inspired me to reflect on the most significant and relatively easy changes I have already made towards eliminating my consumption of single use plastic:

1. Carry my own cloth to use as a drying cloth and napkin
2. Save glass jars and use them to store food, leftovers and lunchbox food
3. Keep several travel mugs and reusable cold drink cups in my car so I can easily use them and have enough for a travel companion 
4. Have more grocery totes than I really need in my car so that if I always have some there if I (inevitably) forget to return them immediately to the trunk. 

Please take a look at Beth's short and entertaining talk - linked above - she makes some really great points. 

Shredded Plastic

I cut up plastic bags to make plarn (plastic yarn - fyi see more on this old blog post). There's only so much plarn I can use though. And, there are smaller bags that are not conducive to plarn, such as bags used to hold crackers inside the box, or raisin bags that are too sticky and a different texture than used for plarn. What to do? Well, I've started cutting the bags up and keeping them to use as stuffing for some outdoor pillows I'm making. I'm accumulating the shreds in an empty milk container so it's convenient to cut them up as they empty in the kitchen (I think of it as plastic composting). I know the shredded plastic won't be as soft as polyfil, but it's waterproof and that's what I need. I'm thinking it will take me a year or more to have enough for one pillow (they are big - I'm upcycling two empty 50 lb bag of pinto beans). We'll see!

Toilet Paper Roll Gift Box

toilet roll tube covered in paper

I like to give handmade gifts, jewelry especially. This wrapping is perfect for any small gift and really easy to put together. First, I wrap the tube in a narrow piece of paper - this is a page from an old children's book. Then, I wrap the gift in tissue so it doesn't fall out as easily. Last, I tie it up with a ribbon, that's it! 

Drawer-ganizers

Berry tubs make good organizers for kitchen and other supplies

such as closures, egg cups, cookie making supplies, napkin rings

Food containers are one of my largest sources of single use waste. Milk, berries, mushrooms, honey - these are some of my staples that generate containers that I then need to reuse or recycle. I had an 'aha' moment when I realized that on the one hand I was looking to buy plastic storage containers and on the other hand was recycling plastic storage containers. That's when I started putting these "throwaway" containers to better use. Instead of recycling them, I'm upcycling them. It takes a little effort (cleaning them, removing stickers) and they are not as sturdy as plastic organizers you buy, but they work fine. Organized using free upcycled containers, problem solved!

No Tissue Cold Season

I'm facing this cold and allergy season without tissues! This means I'm using the wonderful collection of hankies I inherited from my beloved Grandma Rose. I don't remember seeing her carry a hanky, but do remember my dad always had one on hand. I have one in my bag, one by my bed, and have enough that I can change out every day as needed. I've seen so many of these at thrift stores and garage sales. A quick online search captured a deal on eBay for a lot of 10 for $3.60! So from here on out - no more tissues, bring on the hankies.

If you do decide to use paper tissues - know that Greenpeace mounted a campaign to pressure Kleenex brand, Kimberly-Clark, to change to sustainable practices in procuring paper fiber. Before their 2004 campaign was closed, Kimberly-Clark was cutting old growth forest for our tissues. The greanpeace "Kleercut" campaign shamed them into changing their practices. So, if you have to use disposable, do it with Kleenex brand. See the Greenpeace success story here. 

Taking Inventory

So far I've been sharing some things I've already been doing to reduce single use plastic and paper in my life. In order to figure out how to use even less, I have to ask myself What consumable plastics and paper do I use? I looked online and didn't find any kind of self assessment for single use consumption (although here's a good one to assess your overall carbon footprint). 

Here are my conclusions about what I use:

• At home - ziploc bags, paper towel, toilet paper, wax paper, foil, plastic wrap
• At work - printer paper, toilet paper, paper hand towels
• Out and about - paper plates, napkins, toilet paper, paper hand towels, straws, disposable coffee and cold drink cups, and occasionally grocery bags and grocery produce bags

If you're in the mood to do a simple self assessment, try this: write the purchase date on items such as the box of ziploc bags, foil, plastic wrap, paper towel, etc. See how long it takes to go through it and then try to make it last longer, or even better, see how you can eliminate it. I have the same foil, plastic wrap and ziploc bags that I bought when I moved to my apartment in January 2011. As I run out of these items I'm going to try to come up with alternatives or just live without them. 

For the most part I think I have the tools I need and just need to be more organized so I don't get caught without them. For example, I have a lot of travel mugs and water bottles, but sometimes forget them at home - am going to move them to the car. Same goes for reusable grocery bags. The first things I'm going to actively work on to Do Better are paper towels and straws. Stay tuned!