Waste Reduction Home Tips
How can you DO MORE than just being a recycling champion? Composting your food scraps already? There’s so much more that you can do to reduce the waste you produce - not only when making buying choices, but also in how you plan ahead and set up reusable systems in your home. 

Follow this room-by-room guide to learn how you can aim towards zero waste!

Check out Bea Johnson's video at left! (author of Zero Waste Home).
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Kitchen

  • Buy soap in bulk and decant it into reusable containers. 
  • Keep lots of cloth towels on hand instead of paper. 
  • As long as it is relatively clean, you can reuse aluminum foil several times. (At least 2” balls can be put in the recycling bin)
  • Give old clothes and linens a second life — cut them up and reuse them as cleaning rags.
  • Home-made cleaning products are less wasteful and non-toxic. A little baking soda and vinegar, lemon juice, and essential oils can cover all your cleaning needs!  Find home-made recipes here.

Buying Groceries
  • Plan ahead. Meal-planning enables you to use unpackaged/minimally-processed foods; consider “planned overs” rather than “leftovers” and plan out meals to follow up on a roast or large dish at the start of the week.
  • Shop farmer's markets, produce stands and natural food markets — you will find fresh, local food, minimally packaged. 
  • Buy in bulk. It saves money, and eliminates packaging. Bring bags or containers for measuring out what you need. Most markets have a bulk section where you can get everything from spices, dried nuts and fruit, to pasta, flours, sugars, grains & beans. 
  • Avoid buying single-serving packages. Pick the larger containers instead.
  • Keep plenty of reusable bags around. If you have trouble remembering to bring bags, try keeping stashes of them in your car, by the front door, in your office and anywhere else they might come in handy.
  • Invest in reusable “to-go” containers; this will allow you to portion out larger packages of food, and pack your own meals for school or work.

Bathroom

  • Simplify your beauty routine — fewer products means less waste, and less potentially toxic product on your skin.
  • Use microfiber cloths instead of paper towels for cleaning. 
  • Buy soap in bulk— again, most soaps and shampoos can be purchased in bulk, (and soap bars with no packaging) at your natural food store or online
  • Buy the biggest packages of toilet paper you can find to reduce packaging.
  • Cleaning- learn about making your own! Simple all-purpose cleaner recipe: 1 Cup Vinegar, 1 cup water, 1 Tbs baking soda, a few drops of essential oil (lavender or rosemary are anti-bacterial).
  • Explore composting toilets - there are many options for most lifestyles that are odorless, easy to maintain, and fit into most budgets.

Bedroom/Wardrobe

  • Be picky. By choosing to buy only what you love and know you will wear, you can slim your wardrobe and love it more.
  • Shop vintage and second-hand.
  • Bring cloth shopping bags of your own. Keep them in the car, or carry one with you (handbag, backpack, briefcase).
  • Mend and tailor instead of toss. Take a cue from our grandparents' generation and work with what you have. You can also look up Repair Cafés happening near you!

Living Room & Entertainment

  • Switch to digital downloads of movies and music if you haven't yet.
  • Ask for and give consumable or homemade gifts. Think event tickets, dinner reservations and edible treats.
  • Stop junk mail and paper bills, and cancel subscriptions that you don't read.
  • Replace furniture with gently used, high-quality pieces instead of buying new.

Dining

  • Use real dishes and cloth napkins every day. Bring your own containers for take-out, or save and reuse old takeout containers.
  • Try an alternative to plastic wrap. Place a plate on top of a bowl to store leftovers in the fridge or purchase reusable dish covers. BeesWrap is a locally made alternative wrapping for leftovers and sandwiches, or make your own.
  • Bring left-overs to work in reuseable containers, instead of ordering take-out.
  • Compost food scraps at home or bring them to a drop-off site such as your local transfer station (all transfer stations in Vermont now accept food scraps as a separated material). 
  • Planning a party? Learn how to carry many of these ideas into your next event, here.

Zero Waste Home resources: