Our story It began in a foreign country in Western Europe. It was the summer of 2018. We made a move and later, another decision that would change our lives f o r e v e r. The city was Berlin. The year was 2017, in the … Read more...
Making peace with plastic. Is it possible?
We have been consciously plastic-free for 3 years. But we still hate it, so we are curious if there is a way to make peace with plastic.
When we first started with avoiding spending money on plastic, we had really no idea that it could really stick on us. But luckily it did. I can still clearly remember the first months of being plastic-free. How I was in a panic looking for items in tin cans, glass or cardboard. It almost seemed like a fun, but still difficult game. I didn’t want plastic, and I had very negative feelings toward plastic. The same applies today, but I started thinking maybe this hatred towards the god of the materials is unnecessary. Below is what helped me to decide.
Cry in the desert?
Being plastic-free only brings peace of mind to the one who practises it. Their contribution to avoiding it doesn’t really bring much change. It does if it is possible to cut down the fee of the container waste removal. But most of the time even that is not possible. Perhaps it makes a friend or two think about plastic and its nasty ways as well. But besides all that this is, is a cry in the desert.
Perhaps that cry in the desert is what one needs. Knowing that no money has been exchanged for the very expensive packaging, gives peace of mind. The material is actually cheap while offering a temporary home for the food items we are paying money for to bring home. What makes plastic expensive is its environmental impact. Another thing is plastic is not healthy. So yes, keep using your reusable drinking or coffee cup, ditch the plastic straws, and buy into your own container if possible. If making you feel better is the only thing, then sure continue with it.
This great little table at Chariot Energy’s website is sharing the estimated decomposition of various plastic items:
| Material | Estimated Decomposition |
|---|---|
| Cigarette butts | 5 years |
| Plastic bags | 20 years |
| Plastic-lined coffee cups | 30 years |
| Plastic straws | 200 years |
| Soda can rings | 400 years |
| Plastic bottles | 450 years |
| Toothbrushes | 500 years |
| Disposable diapers | 500 years |
| Styrofoam | 500 years |
| Fishing line | 600 years |
| Glass | Unknown |
Crazy stuff, eh? No wonder it makes one feel good not to participate in that. Even though while we are voting during buying, we do not stand an option of closing down any hundreds of plastic factories in the world. What would help us making peace with plastic is hope for a novel, environmental-friendly materials. Also, more bans at the country-level definitely would help to shake the situation.
What is really happening with the plastic?
According to packaging giant Tetra Pak, here are some really frightening facts about plastic. We may think that if we sort the garbage, put recyclable items in the box, then we are good to go. As all plastic gets recycled and we have done our good deed.
- Fossil-based plastic production is growing – and only 9% of total plastic is recycled
- 32% of all plastic packaging is not collected and plastic can take hundreds of years to degrade
- Plastic production, fueled by fossil fuels, reached 359 million metric tonnes in 2018
- Packaging made from aluminum is energy intensive to produce
- Paper-based packaging is catching high industry interest
- Plant-based materials are renewable and better for the environment
Imagine that only 9% of total plastic is recycled! This completely blew my mind! If current trends continue, roughly 12 billion metric tons of plastic waste will be in landfills or the natural environment by 2050. Twelve billion metric tons is about 35,000 times as heavy as the Empire State Building. Imagine the pollution of the plastic to the groundwater, flora, and fauna, not to mention our oceans. Actually, it poses the biggest threat to the oceans.
What the world is doing to ditch plastic?
Actually, a lot is happening, though we are drowning in plastic, the world is making some direct changes towards using plastic. Governments in at least 32 countries have banned plastic bags altogether and at least 127 countries have implemented policies regulating plastic bags according to the United Nations. Many countries around the globe are implementing plastic bans and encouraging consumers to replace plastic with alternative materials including biodegradable single-use items and eco-friendly reusable products.
Forbes.com shares lots of information on the company’s promise to cut down on plastic waste. Seems like big-name brands such as Nestle, Coca-Cola, Henkel, Kimberly-Clark, Tetra Pak, and so on, are actually working hard on ditching the poisonous and annoying plastic. Why there is so much talk about packaging this year? Due to Covid-19 people got into ordering in and buying online, which probably made the plastic consumption 100 x higher than it has ever been. Results of such destroying behaviour don’t go unnoticed, hence many businesses have sustainable packaging on their agendas. 2021 is shaping up to be the year that packaging transforms from wrecking our environment with excess waste to making the planet environmentally wonderful.
One of our favourite Instagram accounts Live Kindly has put together a nice article on what the world has been doing to ban plastic. Reading this article gives hope, as more countries are banning single-use items, such as plastic bags, straws, plates, cups, etc. This gives us hope and makes us think of perhaps one day there is a way of making peace with plastic.
Conclusion
It has been relatively easy for us to ditch plastic. Being vegan, we do not buy food items, which are coming in plastic packaging. If we crave something such as cream cheese, for example, we make our own using cashews. You can get these in bulk or in no plastic container. Even though we are not giving our money for plastic, it still finds its way to our home. We are blessed to receive food donations for our volunteering gigs from many kind people. And have a good friend who is always sharing her surplus with us. So she kind of keeps our recycling box filled. While we take it out, we from now on think that only 9% of plastic gets recycled. And we get mad again. There is no making peace with plastic. Not at least in 2021!
The header photo is taken by Volodymyr Hryshchenko. We are very thankful for him sharing his creations for free with the world.
Sources:
30-day minimalism challenge: 210 + 105 fewer items
20 days later after participating in a 30-day minimalism challenge to have fewer items – what was the outcome?
This is the follow-up of our previous article 30-day minimalism challenge posted some weeks ago.
We introduced that we will participate in this fun challenge and will get rid of things we do not need. Basically, the challenge works like this: find a friend, family member, or co-worker who’s willing to minimize their stuff with you next month. The idea is very easy: each person gets rid of one thing on the first day of the month. Two things on the second. Three things on the third. So forth and so on.
As it was said that giving away few things in the first week was not so complicated at all, but it got harder after day 10. As in each day, you have fewer items to depart with. We were very persistent and went through ALL drawers, pantries, and closets. I didn’t forget clothes, but I didn’t include them in this challenge. I need a bit more time to go through these and let items go. My main wish was to declutter and get rid of meaningless things, which we found quite a lot.
210+105 items, off you go!
Amazingly, in 20 days I was able to gather 210 items and Eve participated for 14 days letting go of 105 items. So 315 fewer items in our home! We did this just to challenge ourselves and to get rid of things in a fun way. While we had trouble getting rid of things before, we were quite okay to let things go while participating in the challenge.
We gathered the things for some time in two cardboard boxes, and then at one point, we started taking things out. It was starting to be a bit too much, you know. Luckily we had mostly smaller items to give away. We were taking the little boxes out one by one out and guess what? They found new homes very fast!
Most of the things we were getting rid of we have been trying to sell or trade for months, so we knew that selling or trading didn’t work. Since we do not throw things in the garbage, but share instead with friends or strangers, putting out a cardboard box with a sign free – worked the best for us.
Changes we noticed after the 30-day minimalism challenge:
- things we own now all have a purpose
- our counters and top of the furniture is clutter-free
- bookshelves look presentable
- the lunch containers drawer is closing with ease and looks organized
- we don’t have food at home anymore we do not consume
- overall pushed us to be tidier and keep it that way
- it is easier to keep things tidy and have more space to move things around in closets
- fewer items around you just feel better
Conclusion
If you want to have fewer items in your home, please take the 30-day challenge. It is a fun way and doesn’t take long. And, remember you just have to engage with it until you have the needed amount for a particular day together. You can continue the next day where you stopped. Or gather more and have the items ready for the next day. Remember you can always repeat this challenge if you feel like you need fewer items at your home.
P.s. Don’t forget to check #minsgame to see what others have been doing 🙂
Have you seen the ad of Tru Earth Laundry Eco-Strips?
After watching this video – you will know more than enough about Tru Earth laundry eco-strips and you will be sold. We definitely are!
Doing laundry is almost as essential, as using a comb, toothpaste, toothbrush, and toilet paper. I mean in some way or other, we all wash our clothing. But what is at the moment perhaps more essential than the laundry detergent, is the advertisement they are using to advertise their eco-strips!
When we lived in Germany we started exploring and experimenting more with natural household cleaners. Most exciting was when I realized that the horse chestnuts can be used for laundry! Lucky us they were in abundance in the area, where we lived.
I feel like I am falling off the subject here.
What I was going to say…
is that Tru Earth laundry eco-strips are revolutionary!
Though we are into zero waste, using less, buying less, and having fewer things, we haven’t yet tried the strips ourselves. Because when we moved to Toronto, we have received many laundry detergents for free. But this all happened after we purchased a locally-made natural laundry powder. So we have a lot to go through yet, as we do not do laundry so often anyway.
The good things about Tru Earth Laundry Eco-Strips:
- New zero-waste compostable packaging
- No measuring & no mess
- Dissolves completely in hot or cold water.
- Works in all washing machines, including HE. Front loads or top loads.
- Helps keep 700,000,000 plastic jugs out of landfills per year
But I do not have to like Tru Earth laundry eco-strips to know that they are doing so much good. If you see their video, then you know what I am talking about. It is so smart, so fresh, so funny, a bit sexist, but again you could overlook that because what matters the most is the message. And the message is strong. Strong and bold. The video has nearly a million views in a month. A laundry detergent! Wow!
We haven’t received such attention to plastic waste, recycling myths, and plastics longevity ever before in any advertisement. This is an eye-opener hopefully to many people. It is a good advertising trick as well, as people like me become easily their fans, without even trying their product.
Message of Tru Earth laundry eco-strips
The short video portrays a very manly man who starts doing laundry. He doesn’t like it, but soon starts to love it because of Tru Earth laundry eco-strips! He calls out men to be more manly, explains that these eco-strips replace garbage, are eco-friendly, good to your skin, etc:
These funny looking strips I just use instead of my old laundry detergent. Why? Because this replaces this garbage. And who has time to wait 450 years for this junk to decompose? No, I’d rather be doing something manly, like pre-sorting the whites, darks, and oh, so delicates.
Maybe you’re saying, “Oh no, no, no. I put all my recyclables in the recycling bin.” I hate to ruin the mood, but 75% of the content in your recycling bin is rejected at the recycling plant, which heads straight to the landfill.
There’s just not enough need for all the junk we throw away. No! And real men say, “No,” to heavy, wasteful bottles, burning fossil fuel as they ship them all over the country. I pity the fossil fool. That’s why real men use, Tru Earth Eco-Strips. No wasteful packaging, no harmful chemicals. As sensitive to your skin as it is to our planet.
Tru Earth Eco-Strips are designed to be tough on dirt, tough on sweat, and even tougher on the hardest of stains. Simply tear off a pre-measured strip, throw it into your washing machine, and watch that little beauty dissolve completely into that, oh, so fresh smelling goodness. Now that’s hot.
Drumroll, please! Watch the TruEarth laundry eco-strips advertisement here
What are your thoughts? Would love to hear your ideas about it!
If you like to find out more about different zero waste laundry detergents, including the Tru Earth laundry eco-strips, then please tune in here:
Conclusion
Some day we will try out Tru Earth ourselves and see if we are fully sold, or we will be just huge fans of creative and environmentally friendly advertising. Whatever it is, it was a nice experience to consume an ad, which initiates men to do more at home, inspire people to think about plastic and the future of wildlife. On a day like today, we need more attention on heating subjects which appreciate nature and animals.
P.s. Though the strips are a bit pricey buying them would be the most reasonable for Canadians as it is made here, to keep down the emissions.
The 30-day minimalism challenge to get rid of stuff!
If you haven’t heard about minimalism, then it is your time to jump on and find out what a fun thing is a 30-day minimalism challenge!
We chose a word to describe this new year. It is action. In addition to that, we will challenge ourselves. Just trying to enjoy every day as much as we can – share, love, laugh. We are volunteering, saving, and sharing food, not spending any money, and trying every day to get something out of the freezer. Plus we are not eating animals. A huge help while saving lives and mother Earth.
Get rid of stuff!
We live in a cute, but not so spacious apartment. Ever since we moved in – things just appeared. We are trying to get rid of them, as we do not want to clean, arrange, move them or just be afraid that something is going to fall on us. In other words – we want to get rid of stuff. Hence, the 30-day minimalism challenge is exactly for us.
This game or challenge is created by Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus, who we know mostly as the Minimalists. They are challenging people to get rid of stuff, which clutters their homes in a fun way.
How to start with the 30-day minimalism challenge?
The minimalists recommend finding a friend, family member, or co-worker who’s willing to minimize their stuff with you next month. The idea is very easy: each person gets rid of one thing on the first day. Two things on the second. Three things on the third. So forth and so on.
We started our minimalism challenge on the 20th of January and have been on it for two weeks, including today.
While thinking of getting rid of stuff, we may think on small items in our drawers and toiletry cabinets, but The Minimalists share their tips, so basically, anything goes:
Collectables.
Decorations.
Kitchenware.
Electronics.
Furniture.
Bedding.
Clothes.
Towels.
Tools.
But just be warned that one person’s 30-days minimalism challenge includes getting rid of 465 items! If you have too many things, then you can take the challenge again next month 😉
It is getting harder!
Giving away few things in the first week may be not so complicated, but it will get harder each day. I started with a little basket that was just sitting there on the counter and doing nothing. Gone!
Be persistent and go through ALL drawers, closets, pantries. Do not forget anything. Look around you and ask if this is what you really need? When was the last time you used this item?
We are doing this just to challenge ourselves and to get rid of things, so winning is not our goal here. But originally the idea is that whoever keeps it going the longest wins. If both of you make it to the end, then you are both winners.
Share your success on The Minimalist’s social media using #minsgame hashtag.
What to do with the stuff?
We have been gathering the things at the moment to a cardboard box and since today we are starting to actually take the things out. Our plan is to put together a box of small things, which may be of interest to passersby’s in a busy street. Then we will share the photo with our nearby friends and see if they want anything.
Some of the bigger things we are getting rid of we have been trying to sell or trade for months, so we know that selling or trading doesn’t work. Since we do not throw things in the garbage, but share instead with friends or strangers, putting out a cardboard box with a sign free – works the best for us.
So, donate, sell, share or put out, it is up to you. We didn’t do that what the Minimalists recommended – every material possession must be out of your house—and out of your life—by midnight each day. But we are confident that we do not want any of those things, and they will leave our household sometime soon. I wouldn’t have been able to take these photos to show our success so far.
Find out more how to “play” the 30-day minimalism challenge from The Minimalist’s YouTube channel:
Also we recommend this very inspirational video, which definitely gives you good tips on what to get rid of:
Conclusion
The 30-day minimalism challenge is not over for us. Though we didn’t take photos of everything we are getting rid of you can still get a little overview of what we have been giving away. We will share more photos in our follow-up post. Not sure if we can take it until the end, but we will try our best.
Jump on board! Let’s do it!
Mattress odors “be gone” with these simple steps
We are happy owners of the old new bed. But there is a slight issue of odors, we have to tackle before our sleep can be safe and sound.
After the cleaning of our new old mattress, it’s time to tackle the odors problem. As previously mentioned, it came from a smoker’s household which means it had a nasty stench of smoke. Sounds quite nasty and I can imagine you all squinting while reading these lines, but rest assured the mattress came with a mattress protector and a full-on zip cover, which we took off and all we saw was an old-school foam mattress of an IKEA bed.
Was it that bad?
The cover was stained, and the odors of smoke were strong. Neither of us can stand the smell of smoke, so naturally, we oppose smoking. By now, you can imagine how little we wanted this addition in our clean and tidy household.
I ripped off the covers of the mattress and squeezed it all into the bathtub (thank god for having one!). I used the hottest tap water to clean the preliminary filth off. I got most of the surface dirt out after soaking it for half an hour. Then I put the mattress cover and the protector to the washer and washed it at the highest temperature to clean it as much as possible.
While the covers were in a washing machine, I started wrestling with the 2-meter long mattress on our balcony. Before that, I did thorough research on how to get cigarette smell out of the mattress. Unfortunately, there is not much information out there. The wisdom I obtained from the few sources proved the be trustworthy and will become a good help.
Simple steps, for a clean and fresh smelling mattress:
- Use a vacuum on a low suction setting. Vacuum the mattress with the vacuum’s upholstery attachment to remove any dirt and dust, which are in the cover. If you have a traditional mattress, remove the cover and do the same covering both sides.
- If you notice vacuuming doesn’t give results, then try the old-school tapping the mattress with a carpet flapper.
- Using a spray bottle fill it with equal amounts of water and distilled white vinegar. Lightly spray the surface of the mattress. Apply enough of the solution to dampen the upholstery but not to saturate it. The same goes for the plain foam mattress.
- Allow the mattress to air-dry. Flip it over and spray the other side similarly. Allow it to air-dry.
- Cover the mattress in a thin coat of baking soda. Let it sit overnight and soak up the odors. Vacuum the baking soda off the mattress in the morning.
- Flip the mattress and cover the other side with baking soda. Let it sit overnight. Vacuum it off in the morning.
- If possible take your mattress on the tarp out for the day, letting it absorb the direct sunlight. Bring the mattress indoors overnight, then expose the other side to the sun the following day or keep it in a balcony, as what I did. We had quite warm nights and no rain, so luck was on our side!
Keep going, a full night’s rest will be your reward!
I repeated points 2, 3 and 7 over and over to make sure that the smoke stench had disappeared. I was really surprised about the vinegar-water solution, which really made the whole situation hopeful for me and indeed provided us a clean-smelling mattress.
When the mattress cover and the mattress protector were all nicely wind-dried on the clothesline I put them back on the mattress. Finally, I sprinkled some lavender essential oil on them to add a nice and relaxing fragrance of our favorite plant.
Ah, the smell of success!
In all, it took me a week to get the mattress to the frame of the bed, so we could enjoy our 10€ salvaged bed. I can tell that those 15 minutes I spent every day working on the mattress was completely worth it. Good luck working on yours. If you come across any new tips, please be kind and share them below in the comments.
You may profit from reading this article on how to get odors out of your mattress.
*UPDATE – I have successfully cleaned the vintage shoulder bag inner lining, which smelled like mold and old things, but the vinegar-water solution really did the game again.