8 Easy Ways To Reduce Your Plastic Usage

It's Plastic Free July! 

While we are not plastic free, there are a few things that we do to try to limit our plastic usage. Living in Slovenia, we've learned a few things. Also, the trash system here is just amazing - yes, recycling is mandatory, but it is so efficient that the trash plant is off the grid and is self-sufficient, because they run it off of the bio fuel from the bio waste/compost. Wow!

By now, we should all know that plastic pollution is a huge crisis - especially when it comes to our oceans. We should each be trying to do our part. Here are some practical things you can do to take some of those first steps.

1. More Joy Dish Cloths

A local store here in Ljubljana carries these, and we gave them a try last month. This dish rag (which you would use instead of a sponge - which are big polluters) is great! It's made by a Finnish company  and you can find it on Amazon. You can wash it in the washing machine as needed, it does a great job washing dishes, after you use it, you just hang it up on your dish rack (or wherever), and as it dries it hardens back up. Once it's given you all it can, you can cut it up, and throw it in your bio waste (or regular trash, if you live somewhere that doesn't have you sort trash), and it'll biodegrade in 24 weeks!

2. HALO Coffee Pods

We have a Nespresso coffee machine. For a while, we were collecting the Nespresso coffee pods and returning them to the store, but it was tedious, and smelled really bad, lol. So last week we decided to give these a try. Now, I'll be honest, they're not cheap, so we haven't made a full switch, but I feel like they're the future of these coffee pod systems. Their coffee pods are fully compostable - as well as their packaging! Even the plastic-looking-not-plastic wrapper the box comes in! (The only thing that has to go in the recycling is the box it was mailed in.) So, you can "plant" the pod in the soil of one of your plants (caffeine is good for them), throw it in your regular trash or bio waste, and it'll decompose in 4 weeks. AND the coffee tastes great!

3. Stainless Steal Straws

More and more places are banning plastic straws (and if you truly feel like your civil liberties are being taken away over straws, I suggest you Google search "persecution", in might put it into perspective). We have about 10 of them, and love using them. I like this set, because it comes with a little pouch to take it with you, so you can have it with you on the go!

4. LUSH

About 4 months ago we switched most of our shower products to LUSH products. A big change was their shampoo bar. It comes wrapped in paper, and you can buy a little metal case to store it in (easier for air travel, as it can be in your carry-on). We weren't crazy about their conditioner bar, so we switched to their liquid one. That defeats the purpose, you say? Not so! They encourage you to return the bottles, and they reuse them. If you take in 5, you get a face mask! I'm currently at 3, and saving away! I also really like their lotions!

5. Bee's Wrap

I LOVE my Bee's Wrap food storage! It's organic cotton coated in bee's wax and resin. I use them to wrap fruit, veggies, bread, snacks... they last for a year, even after multiple uses. Once they no longer "stick" (by the warmth of your hand), you'll know they're done. At this time, you can compost it, or use it as a fire starter! There is now a Slovene brand that just started, and I'm excited to try theirs once current ones are used up.

6. Compostable/Decomposable Kids' Dishes

We have both of these kids' dishes, and love them! The first picture is from By Lille Vilde. They are made out of rice, and are compostable. Although they are dishwasher safe, it says that they last longer if you handwash them. So we do. :)

The second set is by Petit Collage. They are made from bamboo, and the same things apply as the other set. They are super cute, and it's always nice to look over and not see plastic. :)

7. Wooden Toys

 We love fun toys at our house! Of course, a number of them are plastic, but we've found some companies who make wooden toys that we LOVE. Here are some of them:
MilaniWood is an Italian company that somehow managed to merge toys and games to where you can use free play, but also there are games with instructions for each set.

Le Toy Van has the CUTEST doll houses, and I can't wait to get our little girl one!

Viga makes really cute and unique toys - especially kitchen and food stuff. We have their macarons and donuts, and they are favorites!

You've probably seen the ads for the Kiwi Co monthly subscription crates. They encourage kids to STEAM projects (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) at their specific age level. I've been dying to try them, but the international shipping is a killer. We got a 50% off coupon. so we tried it, and are HUGE fans! You should totally do this!


8. Reusable Produce Bags

These produce bags are a really simple way to limit your single-use plastic consumption. Woohoo! :)

And there you have it! These are 8 easy ways to limit your plastic usage this month, and in the future. It really isn't that hard once you start, and if you try new, eco-friendly products every few months, you never know what you might find!

Bonus:
+ switch out your Q-tips for ones with paper or bamboo sticks

Preschool Fun: Earth Day, 2018

Earth Day!

With Aidan being in school full-time, and adjusting to life in a new country, we haven't had any of our school days at home.

But, today we were home, and it happened to be Earth Day!

So, here we go:

Activities

1. Bird Feeder

 For this activity, you'll need a toilet paper roll, some twine, seeds/nuts and peanut butter.
You'll need to thread the toilet paper roll onto the twine.
This is a great exercise for "reusing".  The toilet paper roll, obviously had a previous life, and the twine was from a tag on something I bought. :)  Also, I only had a tiny bit of peanut butter left - not really enough for anything else.

 First, you slather the toilet paper roll in the peanut butter.

And roll it in the seeds/nuts (we used sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds and some crushed up nuts that we had.)

 Then, you hang it up in your backyard - or in our case balcony. :)

Ta-da!!

2. Watering Plants

We have an herb garden on our balcony, so we made sure we watered them while we were out there!

3. Active Recycling

 Living in Slovenia, recycling isn't really an option - it's just what everyone does.  Which, of course is how it should be.  Our trash can is already divided into sections, and Aidan is really good about always double-checking where his trash is supposed to go.

After we used up the peanut butter, he rinsed out the glass jar, and set it to the side with the other glass things for recycling.

4. Reducing

Throughout the day, we talked about the different ways we could "reduce" the resources we have - like water or electricity.  For example, not letting the water run while we brush our teeth, not wasting the water while we wash our hands, and of course turning the lights off after we've left a room.  We also walked to the grocery store - a pretty common thing in our home honestly, but we talked about why it's important. :)

5. Poster!!

We used a big paper shopping bag for our "poster", and then collected all the things we did under the "Reduce", "Reuse" and "Recycle" tabs.

Food/Snacks

1. Earth Pancakes

For this breakfast I had Aidan help me make pancake batter, then I made up the pancakes, and arranged the grapes and blueberries on it to sort of make out the continents. And of course, a strawberry heart. :)

2. Earth Sandwich

I made Aidan's sandwich on a Kaiser roll, and then cut out some green bell pepper (which was the first thing he ate off the plate, I might add, woohoo!) to - again - make sort of continent shapes, and used cookie cutters to cut out apple slices to write out EARTH.

Arts/Crafts

1. Upper/lower case letter "E" coloring

Now that we've mastered the upper case letters, it's time to get started on the lower case ones!  This coloring page was great - all the water shapes that needed coloring had an upper case "E" on them, while the land ones had lower case "e"s on them.  After he was done, he wanted to cut it out - and who am I to stand between a boy and his fine-motor skill practice, lol?

2. Q-Tip Painting

 I found this coloring page on Pinterest.  All you need is some paint and Q-Tips, and you're set!  For the record, we bought our art supplies at IKEA, and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised!

Such concentration...

3. Art Out Of Recycling

 We used that same shopping bag from earlier as a back, and since we didn't have any newspapers lying around, I used what I had - tons of IKEA instructions - for our paper.

 Aidan made a handprint, with a heart in the middle,

And then colored a blue and green border around it! :)

Books/Media

1. All The World by Liz Gaston Scanlon

I have not braved the Ljubljana public library, so the books I had on hand were just that - what I had on hand.  But this is a great book that shows different sides of our world, and that we're not all that different.  I'm particularly in love with the illustrations!

2. The Giving Tree by Shel Silversteen

While not strictly about the Earth (and of course, it can be taken to be meant in a more metaphorical way), it is about using up resources, until there are none left.

3. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

Of course, this is an Earth Day classic, but it's always worth reiterating.  Honestly, I probably say "I speak for the trees" more than my husband finds amusing, but it does come to mind a lot. :)

4. The Magic School Bus Rides Again

(and the original too, of course!) Aidan and I both really enjoy this reboot, and of course as always, I learn something new from each episode!

And that's pretty much it!  That's how we spent our Earth Day this year, how about you?

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