What is Compost?
What is compost? Compost is decomposed organic material that can be added to soil to help plants grow. It includes food scraps, yard waste, and even shredded paper, cardboard and matches.
Why is it important to compost? Food scraps and yard waste make up ~30% of what we throw away and nearly half of the food in the US is thrown away.
When organic material is sent to the landfill, it decomposes anaerobically (without oxygen) because it’s buried deep below other garbage. This keeps it from decomposing at a natural rate.
Without the help of oxygen and pests, it releases an abundance of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.
Landfills are the third largest source of human-related methane emissions in the US — a lot of that coming from food waste. Methane is 28-30% more effective than CO2 at trapping heat in the atmosphere.
If you’re like me and don’t have a yard or garden where you can keep your compost, you can collect food scraps in your kitchen and do a few things with them:
Donate to a community garden in your area (a quick google search usually does the trick)
Check to see if your city offers curbside compost pick-up. Some have their own compost bins and some placed allow food scraps in the green yard waste bin (like LA).
Check your local farmers market once it’s safe. Many include community compost drop-off.
There’s also a really neat machine called the @foodcycler that I stumbled upon doing research that turns food scraps into soil inside the house. I’d love to try one of these out!
What can you put in your home compost?
Green items:
Fruit scraps
Vegetable scraps
Coffee grounds
Coffee filters (unbleached)
Egg shells (shell only)
Green leaves
Grass trimmings
Old Flowers
Brown items:
Mulch/wood chips
Dead leaves
Sawdust (from untreated wood)
Twigs (break into 2-3” pieces)
Newspaper
Shredded paper
Unbleached cardboard (torn into small pieces)
What NOT to put in home compost:
No meat
No dairy
No pet poops
No cat litter
No compostable plastic
No infested plants
Here’s a roundup of some countertop compost bins if you’re in the market! Ours is on the top left and it’s made from bamboo.
Wood Countertop Compost Bin (etsy)
Stainless Steel Compost Bin (william sonoma, amazon)
Oxo Compost Bin (sur la table, amazon)
Hammered Copper Compost Bin (gardener’s supply company)
Ceramic Compost Pail (pottery barn)
Foodcycler (no food waste)
Do you own a compost bin? I’d love to know what you have and how much you love it!
Zero Waste Dryer Sheets DYI
Dryer sheets and fabric softeners are full of chemicals (and can actually damage clothing, depending on the fabric). Did you know that vinegar acts as a natural fabric softener without leaving any chemicals + residue on your clothing?
I’ve taken some old unpaper towels that were at the end of their life and cut them up to make my own natural + sustainable dryer sheets. Here’s how to do it!
What you need:
-any old rags or fabric you have laying around
-white vinegar
-essential oils of your choice OR white vinegar that has been diffused with natural scents.
How to do it:
1. Put your old rags and fabric in a jar.
2. Mix about 10-15 drops of the essential oil you’d like to use with about a cup of vinegar. You can also diffuse the vinegar ahead of time with discarded citrus peels, rosemary, lavender, or pine needs leftover from your Christmas tree (that’s what I did here).
3. Pour the scented vinegar over the rags in the jar until they’re moistened, but not totally soaking in liquid.
4. Use one of the cloths per load of laundry.
5. You can throw the rags into the wash once they’ve been used and re-soak them to keep using again and again.
Sustainable Valentine's Day
According to the NRF, the top three gifts people will buy for Valentine’s Day are chocolates, jewelry and flowers.
Unfortunately, much of the options you see at the bigger stores nearby are not the most sustainable. Boxes of chocolate often come in mixed material packaging that can’t be recycled, a lot of jewelry is not sustainably or ethically made and flowers (especially roses) can be shipped across the world just for the holiday.
Above, you’ll find some sustainable options that would make great gifts for loved ones, friends, or for yourself (everyone celebrated Valentine’s Day differently)!
Say When Wine, a small sustainable wine label by Rachel and Michel, a couple based here California.
Flowers by Fibers & Florals, a sustainable florist here in east LA.
My personal favorite small batch chocolate, Dandelion. Their packaging is plastic-free and recyclable.
My favorite vintage jewelry brand, Danica Stamenic.
Sustainable lingerie brand Botanica Workshop. Here are some other great options as well: Arq, Knickey, Hara the Label, Wear Proclaim, Jonesy, and Pansy Co.
A relaxing, detoxing face mask by Lesse.
All About Love by Bell Hooks.
“All About Love offers radical new ways to think about love by showing its interconnectedness in our private and public lives. In eleven concise chapters, hooks explains how our everyday notions of what it means to give and receive love often fail us, and how these ideals are established in early childhood. She offers a rethinking of self-love (without narcissism) that will bring peace and compassion to our personal and professional lives, and asserts the place of love to end struggles between individuals, in communities, and among societies. Moving from the cultural to the intimate, hooks notes the ties between love and loss and challenges the prevailing notion that romantic love is the most important love of all.”
Jojoba oil-based massage candle by Maude.
Nourishing & Calming bath drops by Fur.
Handmade ceramic capsule by bX Ceramics.
Masha Love Tea (organic skullcap, organic roses, organic fennel, wild harvested western red cedar).
Around a billion valentines are sent each year globally, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas.
If you're planning on purchasing a card this year, look for FSC-certified paper or make your own with what you have at home!
If you’re going to buy flowers, try to find local flowers instead of roses. About 100 million roses are grown annually for Valentine’s Day in the US. This produces ~9,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
On top of that, roses are generally grown in warmer climates (such as South America), so they have to be flown all over the world to reach the shops nearby. On top of that, roses have to be stored in the cold, so they are refrigerated from the moment they are picked until you buy them.
I wanted to share some sustainable ideas for those of you that like to do something special on Valentine’s Day, whether it be for your partner, a friend or yourself.
Run them a bath. Light a candle and pour in some relaxing epsom salts.
Make a meal or take a cooking class together. Restaurants are often super hectic (although there’s nothing wrong with visiting your favorite spot). Pour a glass of wine and spend some time one-on-one making something delicious.
If you’re going to buy flowers, buy them locally. Another great idea is to buy a potted plant that you can keep for more than just a few days.
Breakfast in bed — Make them their favorite breakfast and pair it with coffee or tea.
Go on a mini road trip together. You can even play tourist in your own town and find something you’ve never done before, or go on a hike!
Instead of going out and buying a card, make something at home with what you already have.
I'll Have My Tea Without a Side of Microplastics, Please.
A study found that 11.6 billion microplastic particles are released when one tea bag is steeped in water (and on top of that, 3.1 billion even smaller nano plastic particles are released into the cup). That’s thousands of times higher than the amount of plastic previous found in other food + drink items. (cnn)
Even a lot of premium teas that use all natural fibers in their teabags often use polypropylene to seal the bags.
There currently aren’t any in-depth studies that show how the consumption of microplastics affect our health, so I’m going to play it on the safe side and try to consume the smallest amount I can… at least when I drink tea.
I’ve been using a stainless steel tea strainer that my mom gave me and it’s kind of like putting a little spaceship in your mug. I love it. I’ve dropped some of my favorites below:
Botra Teapot | Gold Stainless Steel Tea Egg | Brass Stem Tea Strainer ( I like to call this one the Golden Snitch) | Wooden Tea Press | Solid Brass Tea Strainer (reminds me of Flight of the Navigator for some reason)
The one in the top photo is one that was given to me by my mom for Christmas. Linking it here.
Do you have one that you use and love? I’d love to add more to my list of tea strainers! Most of the ones I picked look like they’re from an alien world or straight out of Harry Potter, which I am more than OK with.
Pine All-Purpose Cleaner
A great way to use extra trimmings from your Christmas tree is to throw them in a jar with vinegar to create an all-purpose cleaner that smells like the holidays! Not only will it make your home smell like straight up Christmas, it will also keep you from having to buy another bottle of cleaner from the store. White vinegar (aka acetic acid) is a great disinfectant and cleaner on most surfaces. Here’s how you make it!
Fill a jar with leftover pine twigs + needles
Pour white vinegar over the pine twigs to fill the jar
Let is sit out of sunlight for 2-3 weeks
Strain out the pine twigs + needles
Fill a spray bottle halfway with the vinegar
Fill the rest of the bottle with water
Use it to clean your home (just avoid real hardwood floors, granite and marble).
Do you have any other ways you use discarded holiday decor? Twigs make a great addition to a holiday tablescape as well!
A Sustainable Thanksgiving
I wanted to share some thoughts on going into Thanksgiving (and the holidays in general) with more of a sustainable mindset. According to the EPA, waste increases by 25% from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. That’s a lot of excess waste! There are a lot of simple changes that can be made that won’t ruin your holiday traditions.
Shop locally at your farmers market or local produce market. Food grown locally uses fewer greenhouse gases to get to you, and are usually grown on smaller farms using more sustainable practices. If you can, consolidate your shopping into one trip to minimize the extra miles and save gas.
Buying locally also helps to keep jobs and money in your community’s economy. Plus, local food tends to be fresher and tastier. And don’t forget your reusable bags! My favorite tote is the standard Baggu because it folds up and can fit inside my purse. I also love these bulk bags from The Sunshine Series!
Ditch the disposables. If you’re hosting and you don’t have enough dinnerware + don’t have a budget to get a matching set of ceramic dishes, head to your local goodwill or other thrift store to see what they have. It’s fun to mix and match vintage dishes too!
If you are interested in purchasing a set of matching ceramics, I highly recommend BX ceramics who will make everything to order or a brand like Heath Ceramics, that has a fantastic zero waste program.
If you don’t have room for more items in your house, ask if any of your guests have a set you can borrow.
Save your raw veggie scraps. If you freeze raw veggie scraps, you can make your own veggie stock to use later on. I throw the veggie scraps and water into a pot with some garlic and bay leaves — it’s saves me from having to buy it from the market! If you don’t have room to save them, compost them.
Ask about food allergies/preferences. To keep food waste to a minimum, make sure you know what your guests can eat/want to eat. If 7/8 people don’t like a certain dish, maybe don’t make a huge portion of it.
We had dairy, gluten and nut allergies at our friendsgiving this year (and a lot of vegetarians), so we planned ahead with our dishes to make sure everyone could take part in the feast!
Traveling to visit family or friends for the holidays? Purchase carbon offsets if you can afford it. I use Terrapass, but there are others out there as well. It’s a lot cheaper than you’d think! I spent under $20 to offset my roundtrip to Fort Worth from Burbank last month.
Bring your own containers for leftovers (just in case)! I don’t think I’ve ever been to a Thanksgiving gathering and not been sent home with a plastic Tupperware full of leftovers. This year, I’ll be bringing my stainless steal or glass reusable containers to bring home the goods.
If you’re going out of town, unplug unnecessary electronics to lower your footprint. If you plan to leave the lights on for safety reasons, get a timer so they’re not on 24/7 (and use L.E.D. lightbulbs)!
I’d love to hear if you have any other tips on sustainability for the holidays this year!