Zero Waste is a Long Term Process

Here I am, almost a year after starting this journey of reducing our household waste and finding the amazing shop: The O Zone. This time last year so many things were different. We were not in a pandemic, my partner and I produced a full 30 gal trash bag of waste a week, and we lived in a different space. Now we produce one 12 gal trash bag every other week! It is so rewarding to be here a year later, composting, recycling, and reusing literally as much as we can. So this post is about the steps we took to get here!

The first thing was to investigate recycling and create a system and practice to buy as much in recyclable containers as possible. So, our current waste management does single stream (not as efficient but still getting recycled) which means flattened cardboard as well as plastic containers 1,2,5,6,7. So when we do groceries I buy things in plastic containers if it is recyclable. Things in bags, like bread, cereal, etc. can be recycled by rinsing and drying the bag and then balling them in bulk and dropping off at Hannaford. Finally, things in boxes, like pasta, crackers, and snacks can be flattened and recycled. If there is a plastic insert just rip it out and put it with bulk plastic bags or in landfill. Make sure all food waste is washed off of any can, container, or plastic thing you recycle!

The next step was composting. I don’t have the expertise to go into depth on this topic, but I can offer what we do in our home. We have a big bowl in the freezer where food waste goes. Once the bowl is full it is take to our turning composter in the back yard. One half is the initial compost, the other half is the 3+ months old compost, and finally once it is pretty much soil it is taken and piled out in the back yard. Using a tumbler prevents food from blowing in the wind. We only compost egg shells and veggie scraps. I personally do not compost carbs (like bread) and absolutely not eggs, dairy, or meat. You need a lot of bio diversity in the compost to break down just veggies so keep that in mind.

Finally the process of converting your useable items to refillable or reusable items. My biggest tip is to wait till you need something, then do the research to figure out the more sustainable option and buy that. We started with our dish brushes when we ran out of sponges and dish soap. When I used the last of my shampoo bar I investigated Amelia’s refillable options. When we ran out a TP mid March we got a bidet. Trying to switch everything to their susty counter part at once is expensive and will lead to you having more than you need at once. Waiting till you run out of something to get the new more eco option will ensure your expenses are distributed more evenly throughout the year and will help you practice using those refillable options and creating a new habit with them before introducing another new item into your life.

Finally, a lot of these switches are daily items, but a time will come when you need more long term replacements for things like your bed sheets, your mop, your jacket. A good practice I have made is when I have a few minutes and need something to do I will do a little research on where to buy more consciously sourced XYZ. I currently have a doc with about 8 different brands or websites that are certified B Corps and sell things like blankets and towels, plates and cups, and more. These are my personal choices but I encourage you to do the same. These practices are what have helped us to reduce our household waste and choose more sustainability sourced and produced materials!

Toiletries

At the start of the pandemic we all needed more hand soap then ever before. Luckily The O Zone has got us covered! We picked up a large Mason jar of liquid Castile soap (can you tell I love simple soap?). A small squirt bottle in the bathroom has been protecting our household relentlessly for the last year. It is soft and soapy and doesn't dry out your hands despite the constant washing. Personally I prefer the no fragrance aspect as well, though I know Amelia also stocks some foaming fragranced hand soap options as well. Our 24 oz mason jar has yet to be refilled since maybe April 2020, and I promise we wash our hands alot…

Also in the bathroom is Amelia's toothpaste recipe. I have the orange flavored paste and I love it! I am actually quite opposed to mint as it makes my mouth sting - so I was happy there was an alternative flavor to choose from. I simply dip my bamboo toothbrush into the paste jar and brush away. It foams up, tastes great, and I feel super clean and natural after. Sometimes I will add a little activated charcoal to my brush to help whiten my teeth. Overall it is sensitive for the gums, coffee stain fighting, and appropriately tasty.

I also have been using the refillable shampoo and conditioner at the shop for the last few months. While I have tried the shampoo bars I simply struggle either in getting the foam where I want it or keep the bar from melting in the shower… So I have taken to refillable liquids instead. I like the shampoo it foams well and gets the paint and plaster out of my hair post a day at the studio. The conditioner is hydrating, my hair is always soft afterwards. I find I refill maybe every two months or so.

Finally, I just got some dry shampoo from The O Zone shop. I personally adore the part of the shop where you can mix your own products. It feels like witchcraft. The arrow root powder and baking soda mix Amelia's put together for me is the most revolutionary product in my drawer! Simply pinch some onto your roots, brush it out, and BOOM clean, soft, untangled hair, no grease or grime for a solid 6 hours (more if you don’t touch your hair of course). My mix is a light rose color which is great for my light hair, but if you have darker hair you can add cocoa powder till it matches your desired color.

The Last To Go: Paper Towels

One of the last things in our home to get sustainably replaced was the paper towels. It is so hard sometimes to let go of something so simple, but I can proudly say we have not bought paper towels in a month! The way we phased them out was by creating several stations of towels and rags for use.

We started with the cleaning rags kept in a bin under sink, these are mostly old towel scraps, socks, ruined T-shirts cut into squares etc. We use these for grimy messes that need cleaning and occasionally for dusting/surface cleaning. Once these rags are beyond use we don’t tend to wash or reuse them since their life has already featured multiple reuses by this point.

The second group are napkins, these are smaller square soft towels around 4-6 in. big that we may use at dinner for finger cleaning, runny noses, or for a small coffee spill. Whenever these towels get dirty we have a special little laundry bin just for towels on our tea cart. I have maybe 10-15 of these small towels.

The third group is the larger towels which are on the roll that previously hosted their paper counter parts. These are the same 10-12 in. size normal paper towels are. We primarily use these for wiping kitchen counters throughout the day, medium spills and messes, and sometimes Ill use them to hold a snack when I don’t want to dirty a dish. When they are dirty they also go into the small laundry bin. We have 10 of these, they came in a beautiful rainbow set at the shop.

Finally the classic Tea Towel. Having a good tea towel is critical to living. We keep 2 on the Oven handle in the Kitchen at all times. We like to put one under the cutting board before making dough or next to sink so the water doesn’t get everywhere. I also specifically got two more adsorbent medium sized towels specifically for when I spill something since I am quite clumsy. We have about 10 tea towels total.

I usually do a quick low water wash once a week of all napkins and towels, depending on how messy we are we usually empty out the towels and napkins entirely after 7 days and use at least 4 tea towels. I want to be honest that this was one of the most difficult things for us to get used to switching to, I sometimes would open the trash to see someone had put my cute piggy napkin on top. But on the other hand I get some very sweet compliments on my napkins when I am out and our very small trash bin has gone from being filled weekly (mostly with paper towel trash) to being almost every other week!

A Clean Kitchen

One of the first gifts I got my partner was wood dish brushes. He is quite particular about how clean the dishes are and since I never seem to get them clean enough I am not to do the dishes. Obviously I wanted to support him in dish washing, so when he complained of the hot water on his hands and gross old sponge feeling I knew there was a way to help.

These dish brushes have become so mainstream in the sustainability community I probably don't need to describe them. But I will, they feature a wood handle around a metal center with a wood and bristle head. The round head can pop in and out of the handle making the handle reusable for quite some time. Recently we have come across a brush head with a more stiff wiry bristle in the center - great for tough to scrub spots. We also have a brush specifically for pots that has a knob atop it instead of fitting into the handle, as well as an ovular brush for vegetables.

My partner swears the wood handles keep his hands out of hot water when washing. While he prefers the hard Castile soap Amelia offers we have also used the liquid dish soap as well. The Castile certainly suds more where as the liquid is better for two tub sinks where you may want to soak things (I like to put a squeeze into a dirty pot and let it soak). We also have a counter top dishwasher and have been using the dishwasher pods Amelia has at the shop as well. The dishwasher pods consistently clean and live up to his standards post machine wash- no prints or residue what's so ever.

Now, you are probably asking yourself "if I had all these brushes and soap bars, what will my sink look like?" But I have found the perfect solution to keeping your brushes dry, clean, and out of the way when not in use: a shower Cady. We have a small 2 shelf wire shower Cady on the window above our sink so it drips into the basin. The brush handles hang on the bottom shelf, our pot and vegetable brushes sit on the wires, and the top shelf is often used for drying bees wax or holding straw cleaners, etc. All the brushes are comfortable and accessible and don't leave a mess around the sink. As for the Castile soap bar we have a wonderful angled soap dish platform, It has two prongs at the front to keep the soap from falling off.

All in all we use the brush heads for about 1-2 months depending on wear and tear. The Castile soap is minimum 3 months. The dishwasher pods we have yet to go through the 40 we got 4 or so months ago. As usual with the Ozone all the ingredients of these products are as natural and clean as can be while being super effective. And when the brushes are done we can easily pinch and pull the metal from the wood handle and pop out the bristles on the brush leaving us with compostable wood, recyclable metal, and less then a handful of bristles for the landfill!

Low Waste Laundry

Karianne Canfield

Prior to living on my own we had to order my laundry detergent online from a big name like Amazon because my sensitive skin could not take whatever was on the shelves in the local Target or Walmart. I have eczema, and washing my clothes properly is as important as washing my body in order to keep my skin happy. I simply cannot handle any perfumes, parabens, or unnecessary ingredients. We all are familiar with picking up a bottle and not knowing what any of the words on the side are except water. 

When I went to college my mother ordered my detergent in bulk, and for 2 years I carried huge bins of this wash from dorm to dorm. Eventually the supply ran out… I recently moved into an apartment outside of town, and we bought ourselves our own washing machine (a necessity in a global pandemic). It is not the most efficient stacked washer dryer, but it gets it done. 

So now, with my new laundry machine, I headed to the O Zone to find my new laundry detergent. Amelia was quick to point me towards the Common Good Unscented Laundry Detergent which is a 3x concentrate. This soap, which I purchased in a 24oz mason jar, is made with plant based ingredients and boasts being readily biodegradable! It is unscented, paraben and sulfate free, and has no synthetic anything (my skin is happy just typing that). The great thing is that as a concentrate you use less in the wash- which has led my huge mason jar to go about 4 months before I refilled (and even then there was still a little bit at the bottom). 

So for a regular load of clothes I usually do 3 pumps from the jar ~3 tablespoons. Common Good uses enzymes to help break down fat and starches which as my scientist partner explains to me is exactly what soap does. The full ingredient list and cleaning power are outlined on the website. 

How does this product stand up? Pretty good!  The clothes come out clean and soft and pieces I know may be soiled tend to be spotless after washing. They also smell ~clean~ in the sense that there is no perfume but there is also no sweat or grime. And my skin thus far is quite happy with the clean clothes! Bonus is that fabrics like my bamboo sheets, silk shirts, and wool sweaters stay soft and the fabric strong meaning the wash isn't too abrasive for such fabrics. 

But this is not the only product I have from The O Zone, in fact I have 2 news ones I would like to show off as well! To do this I will be washing a pair of white pants that I recently wore a little too well… Now, this pair has already gone in the wash once, so this will be a post stain treatment. First I am going to take the stain stick I got at the O Zone and wet the pants slightly, soaping up where the stains are. Already I can see the dirt picking up, and the red near the cuffs lifting! (do not wear red shoes with white pants in the rain).

The next step is to let these set for a little while and then throw them in the wash. I will be washing them with my newest product the Meliora Oxygen Brightener Bleach Alternative. I am testing this “not bleach” with a white pair of pants out of precaution, but the instructions do say this product is safe for use with colors, so I will try it in my next batch of laundry as well! (no red though as red will certainly run!) The pants go into the wash, with just a squirt of the Common Good soap, and a tablespoon of the Oxygen Brightener! (Note: The Oxygen Brighter was hard to open, I wound up putting a knife in around the seam, it seems that the lid was supposed to pull up but the bicarbonate beads got stuck between the lid and container making this very difficult.) The Meliora Oxygen Brightener has 2 ingredients: Sodium Carbonate Peroxide which is the oxidizer and Sodium Carbonate which is also known as washing soda. 

Both the Common Good soap and the Meliora Oxygen Brightener  are certified cruelty free by the Leaping Bunny Organization. And the Meliora Oxygen Brightener is also a certified B Corp and 1% for the planet. All these certifications mean that the products have gone through various testing’s to be considered “Eco Friendly”. For example, being biodegradable and having a plant based formula means your waste water is not carrying chemicals out to the ocean. On top of that purchasing from the O Zone you can choose to refill your container, skipping the plastic waste. Or with the Meliora container recycle it at home or perhaps with terra cycle at the O Zone as well! 

No packaging waste, no chemical run off, high efficiency products that make keep home clean. That is what the O Zone has to offer! 

So how did my pants turn out? Totally *clean* with no red marks on the cuffs! I would add apicture but I realize you cannot even see the stain in the photo. None the less, I have been using the Meliora in several loads since and the wash is as clean as ever. We have been having mice issues so it felt good to add an extra cleaner to wash away the droppings all over my table cloth. I would really recommend all three products!