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My wife and I live alone with our cat. I didn’t think we lived in an excessive way, but recently, I’ve been paying more attention to our trash output. We average about 5 trash bags per week, plus recycling. We’ve since made some changes I hope will reduce our trash output. How many bags of trash per week do you average?

Edited: The bags are small “white” kitchen bags - not the big heavy duty black bags

any ideas for good uses for this glass bottle? also, does anyone have any remedies to get the residual sauce off the cap? i scrubbed it for like 10 minutes

I'm wondering if anyone here knows if it's better/lower impact to use the old microfiber cloths you already have been using for years, or throw them away and switch to cotton flannel? I know you're supposed to wash microfiber on cool to reduce microplastic shedding, but the cloths are getting washed at 90°C (the care label on them says it's ok so that's good I guess?). Is the negative impact from shedding really worse than throwing it in the landfill (where it also disintegrates)?

I’m newly switched over to Blueland products and mostly like them EXCEPT for the spray bottles for multipurpose cleaner, window cleaner, etc.
I can’t tell if I just have faulty bottles or if this is just how they work. Every time I am trying to spray a large surface to clean, the recoil on the spray nozzle takes FOREVER to go back to where I can spray again. It takes me like 5 minutes just to spray down my counters before I can wipe.
Do I just need to get new bottles or is this just how their stuff works?

What are people using to filter water that isn't all plastic like BRITA?

I haven't bought shower loofahs in years because they're such a waste - I switched over to washcloths which work just as well.

I recently moved into an apartment that my friend used to live in. She accidentally had a package sent here with house products and said I could keep it. There were 3 shower loofahs. I've been using the first one and it's about time I switch it out, but does anyone have any clever ways to repurpose an old one? Or something I can do with all 3 when they're done?

Edit: these are not the natural plant loofahs. they're the plasticky ones

Got some Timberlands from the thrift store and they lasted well over 2 years, which is great, but both shoes are starting to separate from the soles on the inner sides in the same spot. I figure some super glue might help but I wonder if there is something I can use that might have longer lasting results?

Alternatively If anyone has advice to prevent this happening in the future that would be great because it's not the first time I've had shoes fail on me in this way.

Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone, wondering if anyone has any experience with the electric composters for in-home use. Not necessarily looking for specific recommendations but has anyone found one style to be better than another (dehydration-grind vs microbial bioreactor)?

Thanks! Hoping to get a gift for my folks who are getting a little older and want to compost but would struggle with a traditional set up.

Getting married next year and trying to limit our waste! Are there any recommendations on disposable plates/dishes that are actually less wasteful compared to regular disposables and look nice?

Ideally we would like to spring for real china but the rentals can be costly and we haven’t found a good quantity secondhand yet.

Disposable is our last option if we can’t make real china work, so trying to find a solid alternative option if we have to go the single use route.

What is your favorite dishwashing detergent?

We moved into a condo with a stainless steel dishwasher and the first time we did dishes, we used one of those little pods that came in a sample pack that we had, since we hadn’t finished moving all of our stuff over and didn’t have our normal Blueland dishwasher tablets with us.

The dishes came out so spotless!! Since then, I’ve been trying to replicate it by using Blueland tablets but the dishes still come out with lots of water spots and white powder on them. I’ve tried adding some white vinegar to cups on the top and bottom racks to add as a rinse aide, but I still can’t replicate how spotless the dishes were that first time we washed them with that pod.

I had also tried Seventh Generation before (meant to buy the cardboard box filled with powder but accidentally bought the cardboard box filled with pods) and that one didn’t seem to work that well either. Plus I found out it’s owned by Unilever so definitely won’t be buying more Seventh Generation products.

I’m now running low on Blueland tablets and considering replacing them with a store-brand dishwashing powder in a cardboard box I saw at the grocery store, I think it’s supposed to be a dupe of a powder by Cascade.

How harmful for the environment are the ingredients in the dishwasher powders that aren’t trying to be eco-friendly? Is the only reason that pod got my dishes so clear that it used ingredients that I shouldn’t be putting into the water?

Wondering what you guys find the most helpful. I will keep using the Blueland tablets if they’re the best eco-friendly option out there. I can deal with streaky dishes and I still have a few of those sample pods left that I can use if we’re about to have guests over or something. But if I could find a zero-waste and environmentally friendly option that makes my dishes spotless, I’d much rather switch to that!

Or if you have other environmentally friendly tips for dishwashing, I’d love to hear them!

Can someone tell me what to look up to sew them? Like tutorials on a specific stitch or however it's called... There is a sewing machine at my home but I don't know how to use it, I would need to ask my mother for help as it's her machine, but I want to at least try and do something myself.

If the image is hard to understand, the rip is right next to the front zipper.

I'm running out of liquid shampoo and am wanting to try out a shampoo bar.

I've looked at brands like kitsch and ethique and seekbamboo seems to have more interesting/fun scents compared to them.

Also, does anyone have recs for shampoo bars other than seek bamboo that have good scents? Like apple, blueberry, or rose? (Those are my fav scents)

Tysm!!!

I have a hiking bag that has been with me for over 10 years at this point. I have duct taped and repaired it, but now it feels like it is beyond the point of repair (massive ripping along all of the seams).

Given the state it’s in, I don’t think I can post it on buy nothing or donate it, I suspect it would go straight to landfill.

Does anyone have any suggestions on the best option for downcycling or disposing a hiking bag?

Thanks in advance!

Trying again with not-all-caps in my title.

Highly recommend the documentary Buy Now on Netflix, about how much waste we products through rampant, never-enough consumerism, arms how the corporations feed this.

Both of my sisters love Ridwell, but I'm on the fence. Any thoughts on this? I've done a bit of Googling and see that they really do work with Trex and some plastic recyclers...

Hi, is any way to recycle broken pottery, besides mosaics?

Someone else was using my on the go plastic tumbler to blend (came as an accessory with the glass pitcher). They literally forgot the spoon INSIDE the tumbler while blending. Somehow the only damage came out of is just the inner part of tumbler is now damaged and appear chipped. I checked and it looks stable, no moving part or anything. But I want to ask if this is still safe to use as finding a replacement is difficult where Im from. Personally, I would test it out tmr and continue using it if no problem comes out of the test. But it is properly wise to ask for 2nd opinion beside AI

This might be a dumb question, and I'm sure it's absolutely possible, I just want a sanity check! Ha ha.

I often make lemonade by juicing lemons and then covering the peels in sugar and leaving them overnight to extract the oils, then I mix the resultant lemon syrup with the lemon juice to form a cordial that I then dilute with water to make lemonade.

I'm assuming it would be fine to do the same with oranges? Though I'm guessing a squeeze of fresh lemon would be needed else it'd be far too sweet.

Also, after going through the process of making the lemon/orange syrup, is it possible to turn the leftover peels into candies?

Thanks all in advance for any guidance or suggestions! =)

my partner wanted to buy a table to go behind the couch... I came up with this myself!

Just flip upside down and that's it. Our couch is thick enough that they dont move AT ALL.

Idk if anyone has ever posted this but I was so proud we didn't buy something AND made use of 5+ year old shelves we stored away.

Hope this helps reuse old ledges or shelves!

160th and Riverside Dr the used bookstore Re-circulation has a free art supply area and today I dropped off some large canvas's, pencils, pastels, markers,paints, and various types of posterboard, bristol paper for pastel and charcoal, tracing paper and calligraphy pen tips. Their art supplies closet is bursting!! if you want some supplies theyre a great place to start and support