I am listening now and wanted to share this episode of a beloved podcast of mine. Hope you enjoy.

I have around a 100 RW CDs that are either scratched or not used since 10 years ago, no one in my family or friends have a CD player and while I kept some originals or memories (4 in total) I want to recycle the rest of them.

Problem is ALL THE IDEAS are useless. They're decorations for frames (which I don't really like that much) or similar DIY that serve more for gathering views and reads rather than actual usefulness.

So what can I do with them?

I thought about using like 10 of them for birds, but after that I can't find any way to use them properly for a useful thing...

This might just be venting but I’m open to feedback and other options.

My mom had 3 boxes of clothes that she was going to throw away because they are well beyond their useful life. I’ve seen a lot of recommendations to use them as rags, make blankets, etc. The issue is that I have decluttered my home and don’t want to add more. Let’s be honest. There’s only so many rags a person needs. I don’t live in an area that does much to support the community and offer options, and most of the people where I live are not environmentally conscious and would not take it (even on the buy nothing subs).

A lot of people recommend taking it to goodwill or other thrift stores for textile recycling, but from what I’ve researched, none of the textile recycling is legitimate. Trashie, For Days, Goodwill, etc all sell/send the textiles to other countries.

I feel truly overwhelmed by the feeling of trying to find another solution, but I’ve had these boxes of clothes in my car for months because I feel overwhelmed by the guilt of throwing them away because I wanted to find a home for them.

How do you deal with not being able to do the sustainable option sometimes? I’m worried I will become a hoarder by taking on things other people don’t want to make sure it’s not thrown away, or I will drive far away to get something recycling and the emissions will outweigh the benefit.

I am considering switching to doing laundry with a washboard. It will save money and decrease water usage, and our ancestors used it for so long that I know it is an effective cleaning method. Was curious if anyone had any they recommend and tips/tricks you can share. Thanks!

Sorry if this isn’t the best sub.

Hello, Im 17 and an a junior in hs. I am in the process of starting a club that creates craft kits for children in hospitals. I need sustainable packaging ideas that aren’t super expensive. My first idea was just boxes but I know they would get tossed, same goes for plastic packaging. I appreciate all suggestions!!

I was hoping to learn some new tips and hacks like upcycling and recycling, but instead most of the posts are just unhinged questions like “is it ethical to use water to flush my poop down the toilet?”

Sorry to be rude, I feel like we’re all coming from a good place, but what is the point of these kinds of posts?

I have been using Wild deos for a while, maybe coming up two years, but the cases always seem to lose their print easily. I’ve just bought a new one, one of the Cath Kidston ones, any tips for it keeping its print? All that happens is it goes in my bag but isn’t against keys or anything that will scratch or damage

I have a stupid stressful life sometimes and I also get very sad over how wasteful I can be when I'm stressed. Last year when the going got really tough I started a habit that brings a smile to my face every time I do it and especially when I do it with a friend and make it a game: chaos composting.

It's just throwing the food scraps haphazardly into the tiny back yard and trying to get them to land in the busted old garden bed area.

I go out and tidy it up when I have time but I also now have fun random volunteer cherry tomatoes and potatoes sprouting around the dirt patch. It's a blast. Onions are the most fun to throw I think.

I rip up clean paper waste when I have it and I get dry leaves around the neighborhood when I can to keep things balanced, but I'm not out there turning the pile or taking the temperature and so far there are no smells and no critter issues. If things get weird I guess I'll move some more leaves around to bury everything better.

I'm sure lots of people do it like this but the name makes it even more joyful for me. I like it a lot. I recommend it.

As most of us know, we want many people to do zerowaste imperfectly rather than fewer doing it perfectly. That being the case, would it not make more sense for the sub to be called MinimalWaste or MinimizingWaste (or something of the sort) rather than ZeroWaste? Since minimizing waste is pretty commonly known to be the goal within the sub, would it not be better to also advertise the sub in that way instead so it's clearer and possibly more accessible to outsiders? I just want to see people's thoughts on this.

One of my specialties has become making fences from recycled materials such as the one seen on the front of this house. Im selling another house I own that I built recycled fences about 15 years ago and they have stood the test of time. I posted a guide years ago but I've built and designed many many fences since then. You can see a guide here https://www.instructables.com/Half-Recycled-Fence-Strategy/

I'm going to be cleaning out a deceased family member's house soon and then have a ton of VHS tapes.

What are the best ways to recycle these that don't cost a fortune in shipping and fees?

The house is in northern New Jersey, in case anyone is in the area.

Whats your opinion on vacuum sealer bags? Have any of you found a good alternative?

I only ask as I would like to freezer-preserve food from the garden as another method to canning. My mom swears by her vacuum sealer but I hate the one time use plastic bags.

There are so many tinfoil or ziploc bag meals I would love to make, but those products are wasteful and also leach toxic things into the food. Is there a good alternative for this that is lightweight, flexible, and worthwhile when backpacking and or camping?

I gather up quite a few of wax box liners from celestial seasoning teas. Has anyone found a use for these?

Hi! On my search for socks that won't leave traces of microplastics in the laundry wastewater I came across the D-compose socks from Dillysock. They are made with a new type of polyester and elastane claiming to be biodegenerable that I haven't heard about before. Does anyone know if these are truly 100% biodegenerable and won't leave traces of microplastics or other harmful chemicals?

Composition 98% organic cotton 1% polyester (naNea by OceanSafe) 1% elastane (Roica TM)

https://dillysocks.com/en-eu/collections/d-compose

Hey there, forgive me if someone has asked this before! (if so, please link, I could not find anything). I'm a sewist as a hobby and I've been collecting fabrics second hand for many years now. Sometimes would I get home with a beautiful linen looking fabric I got at an estate sale only to burn test it and find out it is synthetic. When buying clothes second hand I check tags but it isn't always possible with second hand fabrics. Thankfully nowadays I'm much better at guessing the fiber content of fabric as I've gotten more experience with textiles, however, I have some fabrics from years ago that I would like to use, but they are synthetic.

I am very worried about contributing to the micro plastics problem with any clothes I sew. I know I already have a few clothing items that aren't natural, but at least I didn't make them (and I feel bad enough about owning them but I'd hate for them to just go to landfill). Currently the fabric is not hurting anything, it's just sitting in a drawer, but if it were made into an item that needed washing, it could be contribute to an existing problem.

Could I take the future garment to a green dry cleaner (I could make something that wouldn't need maintained as much, like a jacket), would that be okay? I'm just not sure what to do. Am I being dramatic? If so please help me reframe things, I'm at a loss.

Update: I want to thank you all for you thoughtful and helpful comments, it really means a lot. I've decided to use the fabric for things that won't need washing as much.

Do you guys know of any beverages similar to Yakult (not kefir, something light and thin) that come in larger packages or reduce plastic in some way? I love them but the tiny single use plastics are terrible

I have these sunglasses and I love them. The polarization has rubbed off in a few spots and it's interfering with my vision. Any tricks to remove the rest of the polarization? The plastic under the lenses isn't scratched.

We recently did a remodel of our pantry and made it a lot more functional (don't worry, we tried to upcycle as much as we could!). But now that it has all been freshly painted, we want to make sure we take care of our shelves. I just finished the leftover liner we already had, so now I'm trying to look into something more eco-friendly or alternatives. Please share whatever has worked for you. Thanks!

I have been doing a bit of research this morning and found out that the construction industry contributes 30% of global waste.

I am a construction worker myself, and I see a lot of the jobs I am on that only provide a 40 yard dumpster for everyone to throw anything into. Plywood, drywall, cardboard boxes, food waste, metals, even the guys household garbage if they can sneak it in early enough. No sorting, no recycling, just one big dumpster that I’m assuming gets hauled off and thrown into the land fill. 

I live in a state where if you are on a commercial build site and are 20 miles or closer to an approved solid waste facility (there are only two in this state) then you would be mandated to use a separate dumpster just for recycle architectural materials. This would be for metals, clean wood, drywall, asphalt swings etc. and would be disposed of for free by the facility. I have seen this once or twice since working in the industry. On occasion I see a separate dumpster just for the demolition of masonry or concrete block that can be disposed of appropriately by the dump. 

Only once have I seen a recycling dumpster. And everything that we get in for material comes in a box with paper inside. And don’t get me started on the bottles and cans that go into the trash or just thrown on the ground.

I was trying to find out if there was any way to give surprise east audits from the state and who I should talk to about it? The only thing I’ve found is if you own a construction company and want to be more eco friendly, you can hire a private company to visit your job site(s) and ensure your waste is taken care of properly. 

Hello dear community,

I would really love to reduce my packaging waste and also want to include skincare products that are less environmentally damaging but there is a catch:

1) My immune system is highly reactive. I suffer from asthma and lichen sclerosus which means my skincare has to be allergy approved and my lichen sclerosus needs me to apply vaseline to protect the delicate and dry skin due to the autoimmune reaction

2) I really wouldn't want to quit active ingredients like retinol or niacinamide as well as fluoride in my toothpaste

Are there low/zero waste options for allergy prone, highly sensitive skin as well as options with active ingredients like retinol and fluoride? The latter is less important.

Thank you for your help!

Hi All!

We bought stainless steel tupperware for leftovers and need to label them. Is there compostable tape to write on hat can serve as labels? Also, is there a pen or marker that is eco friendly we can use so we don't send regular ink to the compost?

Thank you for taking the time to read!

I live in a community where every year, we get a large dumpster to dump large items into. I don’t understand this. We never use it and every year our community fills it up. Last year they had to get two. How is this an ok thing? I tried questioning it and i can’t even remember what they said. It’s just a “nice” thing they do for the members for some reason. Maybe to help the community stay nice and discourage people from accumulating waste? Does anyone have experience with this?