Tag Archives: war on waste australia

Save time, Save money and be eco #3 – Oranges and Apples

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So being Eco-friendly and sustainable looks too expensive? Takes up too much time? Doesn’t do the same job?

It can be – organic food can be double the price and also hard to find, sending you to different shops and vendors. And some more earth friendly products just don’t do the same job as they promise.

But you can change this by making products of your own, that do not take more than a couple of minutes!

Orange spray for cleaning.

Why orange for cleaning? It adds a nice freshness to the cleaning and it acts as a solvent so help remove tough stains.

How to make?

  1. Eat at least 2 oranges.
  2. Keep the peels and place them into a wide jar.
  3. Cover the peels with plain white vinegar
  4. Leave on the bench for at least one week, temperature dependant you may want to leave for longer.
  5. Decant into a spray bottle and use on kitchen benches, stainless steel and ovens!

Apple Cider Vinegar

Why make? Apple Cider vinegar can retail at quite a high price and it is sooooo easy to make! It contains bacteria good for your gut and adds taste to different dishes – just check out some great recipes and you will see!

How to make?

  1. Eat at least 3 large apples or 6 small ones.
  2. Place into a clean wide jar.
  3. Cover apple cores and peels with filtered water and cover with a cloth and rubber band.
  4. Leave for 7 days (temp dependant – may need longer or shorter so keep an eye on it!)
  5. Remember to burp every day and check apples are still covered.
  6. Once there is a vinegar smell, remove the cores and peels and leave to brew and use as necessary!

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Save time, Save money and be eco….#1

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So you look at those bloggers and instagrammers and see how easy it is to live waste free, chemical free and gluten free.

And rather than being inspired, you feel guilt.

Am I right?

We need to remember that many of these infamous influencers are

  • Single or without kids
  • Have a steady income to support organic food
  • Do not work
  • Live close to cafes that cook good quality food.

You may not tick all of these boxes but you still can achieve a waste free, better eating and less of an impact lifestyle – – – – – and I am going to talk about how this can be done!

I’ve been on this eco-health journey for quite some time now and I’m still not perfect at it. I work part time and have two young children so being waste free and healthy all the time can be impossible.

BUT, I can get there most of the time and I am sure you can too.

Are there any things that you do now to make a better difference than last year?

Is there something that you wish you did years ago that would not only make less of an impact on the planet but also an impact on your wallet?

I’d love to know as I am going to share how we have built up to have less rubbish in our bin at the end of the week, better food in our bodies and more money in our pockets!

Join me!

Minimising waste and reading more books!

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2018 has been a great year, filled with so many wonderful books sent for reviews and bought for home or our school library.

I don’t have the time right now to list all of my favourites and I don’t know if I can choose either!! But here are a few Recent ones:

Another great thing that has happened this year is our movement towards creating less waste in landfill this year.

We’ve kept on composting and worm farming,

Reducing our food waste by making banana peel cake

Making our own dishwashing detergent, dishwasher powder and other sprays around the house!

And trying to use less packaging where we can.

I’m hoping to share more tips and tricks for parents to create less landfill waste in their homes without stressing about being zero waste – which I am sure turns many people off as it is quite unattainable for many who work full or part time, live in the suburbs, have kids, care for others .

If you know anyone who would like to join me and learn from my mistakes and my successes then pass on my blog.

See you in 2019!

Follow me for a journey to reduce our food waste

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Food waste is one of the major elements that is effecting climate change/global warming and it is something that we are not doing a lot about.

Wasting food is something that we all do every single day but it is something that we can all do something about every single day.

Whilst supermarkets and restaurants are major players in the food waste statistics, it is the average household that wastes the most.

Think of the wilting herbs and spinach leaves.

The half drunk bottle of milk or yoghurt.

The leftovers that you forgot about

And the fruit and vegetable scraps that end up in your landfill.

My family and I are on a journey inspired by a few different people but spurred on by Sarah Wilson’s latest book: Simplicious Flow
I Quit Sugar: Simplicious Flow

So wish me luck and join me as we boil our bones, slip  our banana peels into cake and make meals from things we once thought useless!

Sydney Party supplies

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Do you love balloons?

Check out these ones: 5ea99ad0c8837b0787ca4e81f5ef5660--animal-balloons-balloon-animals

Or perhaps this type:images-14

Or do you prefer these?images-15

Whichever ones you choose, you’ll know your party will be a hit.

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They are colourful, they can be made into different shapes and they can come in all different sizes.

But now we need to change our tune.

Balloons are made of plastic that takes thousands of years to break down and many of these balloons end up in the ocean and then in the stomachs of sea life – eventually killing them.

We can live without balloons – we just need to know that they are replaceable and the replacements are just as good.

What do you think we can use instead of balloons?

Thanks for the inspiration – Humane Education

How do you wrap your sandwich

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I’ve always been intrigued by the amount of people that tell me they can’t stop using cling wrap because they can’t afford to buy reusable containers.

So I decided to do a little research of my own and here you are – some reasons why you should ditch the cling wrap and plastic zip lock bags and move towards reusable containers, beeswax wraps and paper bags!

You can’t cite the cost when they are nearly all the same!!

How much is your sandwich wrap costing you?-3

The all new must have Orange 430 by Michael Speechley.

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How often do your children convince you that they need the latest toy? 

How often do they ‘need’ to collect the whole set of some plastic thing because – they have to?

And how often do you succumb to consumerism and buy that thing that you know won’t last long or do much?

Well, this is the book for you!

The all new must have ORANGE 430 by Michael Speechley is a very poignant book for today’s world where consumerism reigns and common sense has faded.

We search for the latest and greatest but then quickly forget about it when something newer and shiner comes along.

Harvey is a young boy who needs to have The all new must have ORANGE 430 so he saves as much money as he can and buys it! But it isn’t what he thought it would be – it does nothing, takes up space and is completely useless. Harvey tries to take it back to the shop but they won’t take it and even the manufacturer won’t have it – he just tries to convince him to buy another cheap toy to replace it.

But as Harvey waits in line to talk to the manufacture of The all new must have ORANGE 430 he meets many other children who are also dissatisfied with their toy and together they realise how much more fun the boxes the toys came in are!

The message this book gives us is simple – we don’t need all the stuff we have because we have it all in our minds – creativity, imagination, problem solving.

And if we really want to save the one big thing that matters most – our planet – then we need to start resisting the big manufacturers who seem to trick us so often.

The all new must have ORANGE 430 by Michael Speechley is fantastic and a must read for all children and their parents. It will start some big discussions and make you think about what you purchase in the future.

So what else can you do with this book? 

FIRST THINGS FIRST: 

 – Grab a box and play with it– find out all the amazing things you can do with one! Keep your toilet rolls, old paper etc and create different things instead of buying new toys.

THINK

 – Take a look around your place and work out the things that you need and what you just wanted.

– Which toys give you the most joy and why? Which activities give you the most joy?

– Wonder where all the broken toys go and look at this artist and what he did to show us how wasteful we are. Jurassic Plastic.

– Could we live in a world without plastic toys? How would your life be different? (Explore ads on tv, the state of your room, money saved, less fights, more creativity)

– How do ads convince you that you need to collect the latest toys? Explore the price of many of these toys and what they do once you buy them.

– Challenge your family to create less waste by not buying things they don’t really need, eating more fruit and vegetables to save on packaging and spending time outside or in a world of imagination and creativity instead of with plastic toys.

Love this review? Join my facebook group where we delve deeper into these issues facing children, parents and teachers. 

JOIN MY FACEBOOK GROUP FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS WHERE WE EXPLORE BIG ISSUES AND HOW TO BEST TALK ABOUT THEM WITH KIDS.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/362368594250457/

I can change the world

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What can we do?

Worry we aren’t doing enough when all we do is perhaps compost or perhaps you buy your food in bulk?

Do you cook from scratch? Say no to plastic bags?

Or perhaps the best thing you are doing now is educating your children through books and discussions?

 

How can we make the world a better place to live in?

From so many different sources the message is very clear.

Every small sustainable difference we make, every small change we make, every small thing we show others – all makes a difference.

What are you doing to make a difference? How are you showing this?

How are you educating children? Would love to hear what you are doing or what you would like some help doing!

You can buy this great poster at The Global Guardian Project and try my discount for a further 10% off!

GGPVanessa

Lunchbox musings

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As a parent I am swamped with what we should be giving our children for school lunches and also the importance of how they look.

Really? Do we really need to worry about how the food in our children’s lunch boxes look? Not only is this more pressure on parents to pack the perfect, fun looking lunchbox but it is also setting up our children to expect food to look certain ways. This could lead children down the path of only eating carrots if they are sticking out of an apples with sultanas for eyes…

So what should you be trying to put in your child’s lunchbox if it is not only going to be healthy but also better for the environment?

  1.  No single use plastic. You can use sandwich containers, beeswax wraps and smaller containers to pack food in.
  2. Think you need packaged food? Try making your own cupcakes, biscuits or muesli bars  as an afternoon activity. Children learn about measuring and different ingredients through this fun – albeit messy process.
  3. Less meat – try eggs, avocado, cheese twice a week instead of meat products.
  4. Aim for more fruit and vegetables cut into manageable pieces  – these leave a better impact on the environment and have no packaging!
  5. Fill up a drink bottle instead of packing poppers or bottled water. We don’t need more waste when we have access to fresh and clean drinking water. Worried about chlorine and fluoride? Check out these products.
  6. Ask your school to minimise the amount of waste created by students by removing bins, encouraging a waste free canteen and waste free events.

Pegs for the future

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After reading a great article by Gippsland unwrapped, I was inspired to make another change that can help the future of the planet – BUY SOME MORE PEGS!

Yes, buying more things is not ideal but in buying these pegs I will hopefully never have to:

Buy pegs again

Step on broken pegs

Watch my husband mow over plastic pegs that fly up into the sky

Buy into more plastic that isn’t going to last.

These pegs are an investment for hopefully a lifetime and I highly recommend that you look into getting these pegs too.

The price is one thing that you may be concerned about as they range from $18.95-$61.00 depending on the grade of steel.

But if you do the maths, they will work out a lot cheaper over time.

A bag plastic pegs at the supermarket can cost at least $3.00 and most would last half a year – possibly a year if you’re lucky. Once you buy these pegs you will never have to buy pegs again.

BUY: Stainless Steel Wire pegs HERE:
Give them a go – I love mine and make our family’s impact on the environment just a little bit lighter.

CLICK HERE: Search Stainless Steel Wire Pegs.

Goodbye to the plastic bag

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Finally – Woolworths have woken up and possibly started to take lead in the war on waste – something they should have done a long time ago!

Need some books to inspire why we need to #banthebag?

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Here is the link to the article: Click here

If you haven’t been paying attention there have been numerous petitions going around about banning the bag under the hashtag #banthebag with thousands of signatures being added every day.

Woolworths and Coles have up to this point placed the use of the plastic bag back on the consumer – saying that they want to give consumers the choice – but many consumers will never change unless they are made to, convenience of the plastic bag is just too easy. It is great to see that Woolworths have now stepped up and said the single use plastic bag is on the way out and more durable plastic bags and the even better option of hessian will be on offer.

However – We need to make sure that we don’t fall into the trap of always buying the reusable plastic bag as they too have a shorter life expectancy. We need to remember to bring our reusable bags – preferably material that is long lasting (hessian is a great option) so that we are not always purchasing bags out of convenience and forgoing the extra 15 cents per bag.

BUT WHAT ABOUT OUR BIN LINERS? I hear you cry…

Here are a few options:

  •  Line your bin with newspaper or any strong scrap paper.
  •  Get yourself a compost bin, worm farm and/or chickens so you have little or no scraps in the bin.
  • Buy less products with plastic rubbish or recycle the plastic at redcycle points.
  • Nappies – make the switch to cloth nappies and washable wipes
  • Menstrual products – make the switch to a menstrual cup and washable pads!
  • Or check out biome for some great biodegradable bags.