I get so heated about the compostable single use items!! I work in the food & bev department of a golf and country club (lots of waste) and they recently switched to all compostable single use items to appear more eco friendly and it drives me up the wall because we don’t even have a compost bin and we’re located in a city with a composting pickup system!! It actually upsets me so much! We have compost bins in the kitchen, but they just throw it in the garbage bin at the end of the night
My work has all compostable cups and take out wears, and our town compost system DOES NOT ACCEPT THESE COMPOSTABLE PLASTICS AND PAPER!!! It drives me up the wall
Ikr!! My city doesn’t even have an industrial composting system (unless you pay for it which few do) and they give the “compostable” forks and spoons out everywhere. WHAT??
Time to constructively talk with your boss to figure out a solution. I get your frustrations but airing them here is supportive but you are the one that works there and you are the one that can help turn this around bc clearly your employer doesn’t even realize this is in issue.
@@eightybananas4515 Hey! Not to sound like a Karen but the tone of this comment came off so wrong to me. Instead of saying ‘time to constructively talk to your boss’ try asking if they have instead of telling them that they need to. If they say they haven’t then try to give them advice on how to have that conversation. That’s not an easy task when it can risk losing job security. ‘airing them’ & ‘you are the one that works there’ does not help, they were voicing their opinion/situation and they know they work there, not us. It’s my assumption that their employer probably is ignorant to composting but to me it also sounds like they are green washing and just following trends. My point at the end of the day is try and be more positive and helpful instead of shaming and criticizing. I’m not necessarily saying that you were doing those things, I just can’t think of a better way to phrase it. I’m sorry if this sounds like a personal attack but I mean well.
@@evasanchez3186 Well, you should really mind your own business. People can defend themselves if they see it to be necessary. I don’t know what reality you live in, but criticism and shame are necessary in general. It can’t be only positivity in the world. That’s messed up! No human being can be positive 24/7. We are not built like that. It’s not your job to “educate” anyone but your own children. People have the right to express their opinions as long as they are using nice language and being respectful. You have no right to tell anyone “stop expressing your opinion or change your opinion so I can agree with it” So don’t feel brave behind your computer now and mind your own business.
I don't usually comment but your content lately has been utterly amazing. The amount of knowledge you provide and the tone shift of looking past the narrow view zero waste originally had has really been impactful for me. I really appreciate all that you do on this platform 🙌 🧡
Thank you for bringing up access to bulk bins. An important fact to remember is that bulk bins normally aren't safe for people with food allergies because there is a higher risk of cross-contamination. Does anyone of any bulk stores that are accessible for people with food allergies?
The lower a person's income definitely gives them a lower carbon footprint. Just think of living in a tiny apartment instead of a large single-family home, or taking the bus or having one car versus collecting multiple cars and sports cars that have worse gas mileage, and not being able to afford vacations versus flying somewhere one or two times per year.
A lot of eco-friendly habits are actually normal for people on a tight budget. Like completely using a product, repurposing things (e.g. turning old clothes into rags) or not wasting food. It's weird that zero waste and/or mininalism have such a posh image, because some people think it needs to match a certain aesthetic.
Ten out of ten agree. Grew up poor, and when I first started out on this path, it was kind of awesome how much I was already doing because of the way I was raised.. Everything got used to the very dregs, and then repurposed if even remotely possible. Only then, could you justify buying, and you better hunt the thrift stores (or dumpsters in the nicer parts of town) first. It's not as glamorous as insta-style sustainability, but it works! It's a shame that there's so much stigma associated with it.
@@JiniriDancer me too. Although I live with my family because I'm 16. Iive in a bigger family since I've moved so much and there is so much waste and it makes me super sad. But I want to make a move when I'm older and start my low/zero waste journey.
In India I experienced a great glass using idea- they would drink the soda out of glass bottles in the shop, then give the bottle to the shop owner to be returned, cleaned, and refilled. I always wondered why we need to melt down the bottle and make a new one rather than just refill them in the US
It was very popular in Eastern Europe during the communism too, later together with freedom and improving economy, people turned towards single use items ;(
They do this with almost all beer bottles in the Netherlands and parts of Europe. You give them back whole in supermarkets, get 10c a piece back for them. And they go back to the brewers.
we have the same system in Colombia and a thing that I like is that if you don't drink it on the store and took it home, you just let a deposit and even if you don't return it to the original store you can literally bring it to any store. Then the company picks them and they sanitize them and then refill it once again.
Thank you so much for talking about accessibility. I am disabled and have struggled with knowing I use less sustainable things (medication packaging, microwave ready meals, pre-prepped veg). Your channel is the only sustainability one I watch because you are aware that not everyone has the ability to do the most sustainable thing, and have really helped me accept I can do what I can do, and the weight of the world isn't just on my shoulders.
I currently live in Germany and the Recycling System here is awesome. It definitely takes some time to get use to but once I did it made me realise how much trash I was creating. Here we have 5 trash bins for paper, plastic, glass, composting and regular waste (which is then later burned).
Loved it! I feel like a lot of the time people with lower income are more likely to come up with ideas how to reuse items 700 times or how to use something for more than one purpose to save money, whereas people who have money just don't care, they would just go and buy new things...
I would really love to hear more dialogue on how we can get in touch with businesses and our municipalities/government to implement these things. What letters do we need to draft, or scripting for calls. It’s difficult for me to cold call/write to a business and not get flustered and forget what my intent for the call was. Thanks!
Most businesses have someone who's job it is to handle everything on social media. If you're nervous about calling or writing to Coco Cola (one of the top users of single-use plastic), send them a tweet or post on their FB page instead.
see! you have ppl asking for instructions on how to be active and engage.. why are you just making buzzfeed lists instead of using your platform to encourage others to be active in small ways.. like girl we good on the lists 👍🏽 do something else
I know this comment was a while ago. There is an app called good on you (only just started using it a few days ago). It gives you info on businesses and there's an option to get in touch with the businesses and give them feedback. Haven't used it, so can't give feedback on that. But it seems nice to have a centralized place
I live in a place with bottle deposits. The majority of people recycle their cans and bottles here. And a lot of what does end up in the trash is fished out by dumpster divers because they can take them into a recycling depot for quick cash. It is also common to see non profits do bottle drives where instead of giving money, you give them your cans and bottles to recycle for cash.
I’ve learned a lot from you about materials, but I would love a video putting that into use. Do I grab the plastic salsa bottle instead of the glass one? Do I still advocate for businesses to provide paper instead of plastic? I guess because this is so conflicting with what I’m normally used to hearing, I’d love some application ideas because now I’m super confused on what to choose🥴 loved the video though, definitely applying what I’ve learned as much as I can😊
I'm in the exact same boat. i want to choose the best options but I end up stressing SO much because of this factor. I know it's not black and white but just more hands on guidance would be nice. Obviously choose a reusable option if possible but only if you will actually reuse it which I think was stated in the video. Great information but now I'm feeling more lost.
I think the ultimate move on the paper vs plastic would be reusable bags/containers. Like Christi said, reusable option if youre going to reuse it, but I know that you can also turn old clothes into a reusable bag (even a less aesthetically pleasing one for minimal sewing), or bringing a basket to the store and skipping the bags altogether. Most of shelby"s ideas (in my interpretation) is just use less generally, but ofc thats not always possible, so then you try to use the option that has the longest life span with the shortest amount of resources. (that might mean picking the "less sustainable" option that will last you 100x longer than the sustainable option, but you keep it for much longer to negate that and not contribute to consumerism and having to continuously rebuy (and produce) the same thing over and over again which leads to a bigger environmental impact overall)
This is why my political work and activism has always been focused on making/changing/forcing change in systems that affect everyone, and not on individual action, bc at the end of the day individual action is more abt ourselves and our own moral compass than anything else. And while I hate electoral politics, unless we abolish existing political systems, we have to get directly involved in politics, especially on European and global level. The catch is, being the minority actors entering "big politics" you have to play by their rules to achieve anything (essentially "if you want support for your thing, you have to support our thing"), unless you have major societal support in specific instances that force governing options to pass something. But! I genuinely do feel like we have to act in ALL areas of societal life to achieve systemic change we want to see. We have to exert pressure on all actors involved - companies, industries, corporations, governments, oppositions, our own communities - bc only if the pressure comes from all sides, will we see actual lasting change. And we're running out of time.
@@gosiahasal182 powiedziałabym, która partia and/or organizacja 👀 ale tbh wszyscy powinni mieć takie podejście, a im więcej osób w orgach bd tak myśleć i pracować, tym szybciej coś osiągniemy na tym grajdołku
I've been thinking this too but this idea exhausts me. I see the clock is ticking but do we really have to run? I've been flirted by the idea of slowing down... I see everyone running for capitalism until breaking point. I want to offer them a place to rest. I think that would be truly sustainable. A small number of people may be willing to be activists and do all this work to try and control the rest of society's impacts, but resting could speak to the general public. There are maybe a few hundred active activists in Finland but what if we had the whole generation resisting the ratrace, like in China?
Well done! I was introduced to the movement by the Story of Stuff. And I think they were ahead of their time. I always try to explain why it is not the individuals responsibility, but some think if you fight for more sustainability in politics, you have to be perfect: no car, no plastics, only organic food... It is frustrating. I am not a perfect sustainable role model. I want the system to change and to make sustainable choices easier and available.
I visited Germany a few years ago and they had a system in place where you pay a 25¢ deposit when you buy a bottled drink and then when the bottle is empty you take it to the shop and put it in a bottle recycling machine and get the deposit back
depends on the bottle actually. 8ct for a glass beer bottle up to 25ct for a plastic bottle (the soft ones, the harder ones are 15ct). But it works wonderfully and I love it. Of course a reusable water bottle is still better. But I am not going to brew my own beer anytime soon, so for other beverages than water it is really great.
I work toward doing the best I can with my current knowledge and what I have access to at the time: using fabric shopping bags, not bagging produce in grocery story, buying used clothing and household goods whenever I can. I think our goal should be to do the best we can individually and put pressure on our favorite companies to make changes that benefit the environment.
This video is SOOOOO important. Legit, so many good subjects were discussed. Like, please start a podcast so I can hear you guys talk about this for hours next time lol
Something I find insane is that when I was a kid, we had milk delivered in glass. Then we set the glass out to be picked up for the next milk delivery. We had glass Pepsi and CocaCola bottles and those went back to Pepsi/Coke each day to be refilled. THEY have the know-how. It simply needs to be reimplemented. I remember when plastic bottles became the “be all and end all” because they wouldn’t break when dropped compared to their glass counterpart. I may be stretching it a bit here, but glass containers helped keep the content fresh and cold. Lastly, these containers of which I remember were not these mega sizes. They were quenching size but allowed a person to have a job delivering these to our houses. I’m just sayin’…the things of which you ask of these corporations, they’ve done it before. They have the know how. We need to stop purchasing what they offer until they change. It just seems daunting.
Yes! When I was a kid, glass milk bottles which were returned. Glass pop bottles, same. Bulk stores where I could buy an oz of flour or a single stock cube. Now I’m lucky to have an allotment still and a good farm shop. But the rest of it’s gone and it makes me so cross. Why not have standardisation of glass containers for a number of useful sizes and all companies required to use those only. Novelty packaging is all very well, but it’s not worth the planetary cost.
@@dees3179 Great idea with having the standardization of glass containers. I’m going to suggest that in the letter I’m writing to our local dairy, Pepsi, and Coca Cola about the info I gleaned from this video.
I love that you are trying to have a more complex conversations, YES to effective fast communication AND to a nuanced message. Such appreciation for you.
One little thing though, I think it's a little misleading to call companies producers, because for me producers are the actual workers who produce things (for the U.S. that's often workers in countries that are already at a geopolitical disadvantage). Workers (producers) are not responsible, the capitalists who are profiting are.
Love how you guys share the knowledge that you have acquired during your own sustainability journeys. It's definitely helped me open my mind in terms of what can be improved.
Having worked at both a organic and a "normal" foodstore here in the Netherlands my perspective on packaging has radically changed. How does buying something in a glass jar help if the glass jar is shipped to the store in 10 layers of plastic and cardboard? Bulk bins are virtually non-existent, but I've seen what mice can do to a store that doesn't have them, I don't even want to imagine what that would look like in a bulk store. I've been challenging myself to stop visiting the supermarket by buying locally grown food from small local stores in either my own bags or packaging that I can take back to the store to be reused. It's not a solution for everything I need, but it's something at least.
14:53 in the Netherlands we actually sort of have a system like that! They charge a little extra (€0,25 for bottles of 1L or more and €0,10 for bottles between 0,5L and 1L) for some things (mostly soda) in plastic bottles and when they're empty you can hand them back in and you get a receipt for the extra charge. Usually it's in a supermarket where you're already buying something so you get a small discount but I think you could hand them in and get the money in cash as well. Edit: annnd I'm watching again and now they're talking about bottle deposits which is exactly what this is
YES YES YES! I loved this chat so much. Thank you both for sharing your thoughts in a space where there's a huge lack of discussion around such topics.
Also single use compostable items are only great if you compost?? I hate how many companies preach composting but how few people can actually do that.. And then it ends up in landfill anyway...
the difference in income and environmental impact is something i didnt realize until recently.. rich people own more properties, more lawns, use more services like planes, own more vehicles etc.. those things definitely contribute a hell lot more than a low income family buying single use and plastic packaging! and even then, pitting individuals against each other and blaming each other was just a scheme like yall mentioned, a lot of people don't just do things to maliciously kill the earth. a lot of industries have a long way to improve
I think wealthy people have somewhat more of a responsibility to be environment friendly, because they have more of an actual choice than the poor (I consider myself wealthy after inheriting, but before that was just wealthy enough to be "not poor"). You always gotta do what you need to cover your own needs, and eventually that of your family/pets. Yet wealthier people also normally pollute more because they can. Which actually makes wealthy people as a group worse for both reasons (not every individual) But single use items aren't good either, I think especially when its plastic. And the main damage from plastic is the direct damage to wildlife it causes, along with being permanent waste, and maybe micro-plastic causes some health issues but that seems to be uncertain. So its not necessarily better despite being lower on greenhouse gas (I honestly think global warming is already a lost cause, but I could be wrong). But there is often just not objectively clear which thing is better than the other when it comes to the environment. Same issue with fossil versus electric cars
When I was a kid in the '70s and '80s, it was standard at every grocery store that you would bring back your glass soda bottles (Pepsi, Coke, etc.) and the company would re-use them. I know some states like NY and Michigan still do the deposit system and I genuinely don't get why that stopped.
There was a province in Canada where plastic bottles were not permitted, I think they are now but when I was a kid visiting Prince Edward Island I'd always want to get a bottle of pop because I thought it was the coolest thing ever!!
love and agree with every single thing said in this video!! the very fact that so much of the pressure to become zero waste was put on individuals at first is one of the reasons I am a member of Sunrise. While we as individuals can do so much, we all have our own unique situations that prevent us from being this “perfect” image of a zero waste lifestyle. And thinking in the perfect image mindset is absolutely just falling into the big oil thought process. If we want to change as a WHOLE society, companies must take responsibility through their actions, their influence, their products, and their supply line.
Great Video Ladies, Here in Ireland the grocery store Lidl will allow you to leave unwanted plastic from your purchases , If you are able to transfer into your own container before leaving the store.
I really wish I could get my roommates to use the dishwasher! Running a full dishwasher load uses so much less water than individually washing everything (and actually gets it clean) but somehow they've decided the dishwasher is more work? Any ideas on how to convince them?
Maybe point out how convenient it is to only pre-clean dishes and pit them in the washer. And then not having to dry them. Maybe if it is ok for you, offer to take care of the dishwasher for example on monday and tuesday for a month. Privided that everyone pre-clean their dishes and put them in the washer. It might be an incentive. Good luck :)
@Annabell we do not have to pre-clean our dishes with our machine (unless pre-clean is meant as just scraping food off?) which is great because it saves even more water. And hopefully she/he has a machine that doesn’t need it either so that it is even easier for their roommates 😅 But great ideas!
A dishwasher is way less eco friendly than washing your own dishes. Yes, you save a bit more watee, but, unless the electricity you use to turn on that dishwasher comes from clean energy, your Co2 footprint is waaay higher. And it depends on how you wash them. If you soak your dishes in soap first, with your tap turned off (only use it occasionally if a dish is too dirty or to clean your sponge) and you rinse them later all at once, the water consumption decreases a lot. We have been washing them this way and our water bill has decreased considerably.
If a dishwasher is full when you start the washing process, it definitely safes more water than washing the same amount of dishes by hand. I have not seen a single study who says the opposite, but maybe there is a difference between America and Germany, where I live? But as I said, the dishwasher has to be filled completely.
Yesss please keep doing videos like this! This is the type of info we need over what's been provided in the zero waste movement for the past few years. Time for some change!
Great video! I have been starting to worry in the past year that there's been too much of a backlash against individual responsibility, where folks will blame corporations and do nothing to change their ways, particularly with meat consumption. Even if corporations and other businesses went 100% environmentally friendly overnight, we still have too many people to produce meat on a sustainable level at the current average level of consumption. This is just one example, but it illustrates my point: there will still be changes everyone has to make in order for our world to be sustainable, and I fear too many people are ignoring that reality.
Yes, I think we all need to reduce our meat consumption. Since watching Shelbi's videos I've been more aware of this. Until recently I hadn't thought about how many different animal products there are on a bacon cheeseburger.
Oh yes. I just saw a demonstration on tv today against the taxes of driving. The majority of individual driving is pointless here (3 km or less, sidewalks and bicycle paths available). The electric car battery mining is a threat to our lands. We need to drive less.
The thing with preferring glass over plastic is that for food consumables and sometimes beauty products I don't want plastic leaching into it and into me as a consequence. Same with dented metal cans, they can be a hazard for reasons like bacteria and metal leaching. I wish recycling systems worldwide were better, they can really lag behind the waste we produce or completely ignore certain things like tetra packs for example. With companies like pepsi reusing bottles; there was a local soda factory in my city back when my mum was a child, so 1960s-70s that used to collect the glass bottles back from supermarkets where people could drop them off and reuse them. Then big companies got too big and popular and monopolised/bought smaller brands so they shut down. I think it can really work locally but when it comes to worldwide, you have to think about how much it cost and the emissions it takes to get bottles back to a single factory, that could be across the world. The logistics work locally best, the full circle recycling.
Love this collab! 💖 Where I live at, our main trash and recycling service actually has their own glass recycling facility so I feel pretty good about recycling glass where I live but I’m still trying to move toward reducing my glass recycling and reusing glass items more when possible. Fortunately, my city has had quite a few green businesses and initiatives pop up in the past few years, which is awesome, but I realize diffferetn places all have different access to these things.
One thing I have been doing is to buy things in glass jars that can be used in my house rather than just buying new jars , sense I eat marinara sauce and pickles regularly anyway
Ripple Glass was started in Kansas City by Boulevard Brewery due to the limited glass recycling options. The purple recycling bins can now be found in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.
We visited our small college town recently and got to check out a small new low waste shop on main street with bulk bins, vegan food, local produce, etc and they are a town with a 9K population (the college adds an extra 5K during in session months). It was so awesome to see in a small rural town, I only wished it was there when I went to college there! Edit: I forgot to mention that my college also added a sustainability studies minor the last semester I was there so some changes are definitely happening, even in small rural parts of the country, albeit slowly.
I work in a drug store and the amount of times people will pass up a dented can, a scratched box, a little bend in the packaging, it's rediculous. We throw out thinks because they just won't sell. And then there are the customers who go into cosmetics, open products and try them on their skin only to put them back on the shelf! That's disgusting! And no one wants to buy makeup that's been opened so know what happens? Garbage. Rediculous. There is already so much garbage involved in unpacking each makeup item and then it just has to go in the trash...
The ones who open cosmetics to try it in the store, should at minimum have to pay what that cosmetic cost (I actually did this once as a kid, but you dont really think in the same way then). I dont get why that's legal and not punished. And people need to be less picky what the package looks like, maybe ensuring them the actual product is not damaged or unhygienic (assuming that's true) would help
In the beginning I found zero waste overwhelming. Where to start, how to do it all? I started by focusing on one thing at a time. Where was my biggest waste. One of mine were food storage bags. I bought silicone bags & glass containers that I could use over & over. What next and so on. I'm expanding my knowledge little by little, but can already see all the changes I have made & continue to make progress on my journey. I have been slacking on the politics side and writing to the companies asking for more change. I think that will be my next focus. Thanks for all your advice.
Saw this on Kathryn's channel!! Love this collab! It would absolutely make my day for you to realize that the problem doesn't stop at consumerism, but rather at the idea of extracting infinite output from a finite input also known as capitalism. We cannot go zero waste without eradicating capitalism ✊🏼✊🏼
I live in Arkansas and I don’t know anyone that has a compost bin at all. I’m the only person that I know of who has one and people thought it was very weird that I bought a compost bin. I also bought a manual mower, which I also got criticized for. I also recently switched to a bidet. Me and my husband really like it. Now when he goes to the store he looks for things that are recyclable, have less packaging, or say they’re compostable(not plastics). Arkansas is covered in Walmart’s, so that is usually where we shop. Whole Foods is a few cities away from us.
Thank you for talking about this. It is really complicated, and sometimes leaves me frustrated, like you said in Instagram. But it's very important to see bigger picture, not just individual actions and responsibilities. Thank you.
In Germany a lot of bottles (plastic and glas ) that can be returned are worth from about 8 cents (beer bottles) to 25 cents (plastic bottles), but still, a lot of them get thrown away, sadly. I've started to collect trash where I live as a way to stretch my legs and because I regularly turned choleric when I saw all the trash. So I also started to collect the returnable bottles for myself. And let me tell you, that is good pocket money! (don't worry I'm not taking anything away from homeless people, or people in need. These bottles would lay there for weeks and nobody collects them)
Bottle collection gentrification should not be a point of criticism in discussing homeless or poor people's rights. 🤷🏼♀️ That's a distraction technique if anyone tries to use that on you. Nobody should have to rely on picking bottles to survive. I'm not gonna think it's on me to leave a can in the woods in case a poor person might find it. In stead there are real things you can do to be helpful. Things I can do for the environment: - pick up trash - participate in politics on social media, letters or regular media like newspaper opinion page - buy less, buy better - reuse items and materials at home Things I can do for people with economical concerns: - feeding my friends or members of community (literally) - donating items to second-hand stores and shopping there - Advocating for accessibility in scouting where I volunteer - paying extra so others can get stipends for events - voting left-leaning parties that support unionising and wealth redistribution, strong public services and legistlation that protects those things Sorry, the bottle comment just felt like such a nasty thing someone might say. :D I have an over-active brain too.
what a lovely video!! i loved how you guys discussed things like privilege and access. mentioning the barriers that people face was also an amazing and memorable point. thank you for spreading your message in such an inclusive and respectful way as always.
Love love this content. Have you thought about creating a podcast? I always listen to your videos while going about my day to day life. I just love your approach to living a more sustainable life.
Love love love your content! I just saw someone in a car litter in front of me today and it bummed me out for the future of our earth, but this video made things a little better and gave me hope that the culture in how we take care of our planet is changing. Also, starting a business venture soon, you should do a video on recommendations on how to make a business as sustainable as possible. Would love practical tips to make good choices from the get-go instead of needing to reform. I want sustainability to be one of my core values that I uphold as someone who owns a business:))
Small consistent steps reclaiming “old fashioned “ ways of doing things , moderation and education I think is the way forward. I am in my late 50’s and this is my lifestyle when it comes to “zero waste”. Line drying my washing or hanging it on drying racks inside. Reusable produce bags ( mostly), using alternatives to cling wrap I have only bought 1 roll of it in the last 3 years but am not completely zero on this, compositing and veggie gardening. I live in a mud construction house that has many sustainable properties , we are getting an extension and have used an architect who bases his work on sustainable principles, photovoltaic and solar based energy. We are currently saving for an EV and waiting for our current vehicles to reach the end of their life. There is more that I could do for sure but I figure the habits take a while to embed and this needs to be sustainable as well. I try to purchase items with packaging criteria in mind but am not always successful. ABOUT BULK FOOD STORES….in my local area I can access them but the drive to get there is way longer. When I have done a grocery run there I have paid significantly more for items. I am in an affluent economic category ( I own my own home am debt free and about to retire on a comfortable income) and I will not pay the very high prices that these shop charge in my country ( I am not in the US). So what does one do?
Do you have any easy-to-share resources on the water cost for things? My husband has a hard time believing that a paper plate takes more resources than washing a dish
The chart on the differences of carbon footprint between wealth brackets is so accurate! My parents who are wealthy have a much higher carbon footprint than my own family does that is technically below the poverty line. I say technically because we have some luxuries that my parents do not because we take used items and fix them up and then we have fancy things like a computer for each child or jet skis and a boat. They may not be as flashy as brand new things, but it's keeping them out of the landfill and giving them new life.
lower income people have to be more frugal which means they reuse a lot of items rather then buy things and toss it away. I grew up lower income and my partner had more money and he tells me all the time that how I do things to save money and not throw things out to save money is not normal around most people he grew up around. but my frugality got us our home ( which we opted for a smaller home with a bigger yard) and gives us more options to doing better for the environment. also working for a discount company I am noticing them bringing in cheep versions of " environmentally friendly" products that end up being used and tossed away by people who have the money to purchase the items and say they are buying better products. the items in lower income areas those items do not sell because they don't need those items because they reuse everything. ( I've worked in both lower income and more higher income areas at the same company and these are just my observations they are not intended to be biased in any way)
Yep. Our Whole Foods cut back on the bulk about a year before the pandemic (my guess is it wasn't selling) and it's barely made anything resembling a come back.
Thank you so much for mentioning disabilities! The main struggle I have with living environmentally consciously is my ADHD. And actually the other way around as well. I end up eating a lot of food after the expiration date because throwing it out hurts my heart. Luckily I got a bokashi bin to alleviate the problems that my mental illness will naturally create :)
A lot of times foods aren't actually spoiled after the expiration date. If it looks/smells/tastes fine, its fine to eat. Cant really help with your ADHD issues, but just remember that. Producers set the expiration date very early just in case
Of topic (came to mind while the paper plastic change):In a part of Germany we have something called "Hauberg". If u r someone who has a "Hauberg" license of it you get a part of land with trees where only certain trees of a certain age are allowed to be cut down. The year after you get another part, giving the part you worked on before a breather. I think thats something the whole world should do. Still making money with the wood but sustainable enough for the forrest to exist.
Idk about in the US, but there’s are a lot of countries that do take glass bottles for Pepsi and Coca-Cola. And give you a discount on your next purchase because you’ve essentially already bought the glass (as long as you return the old one)
I've been thinking to collect the stuff I use and send it back to the manufacturer after I can fill a box. For example, all the starbucks cans go back to the address on the label after I can fill a box. How does that kind of thing sound?
That's a partial lie put out by snobs. You need to check the can over- is it expired, rusted or leaking ? looks puffy ? then don't buy it. I have bought dented cans and ate out of them. I'm perfectly healthy and never once got sick because I check them over
@@HosCreates So agree. Yes, sometimes a dent is severe enough that the contents do spoil but that's readily apparent when you open the can. Just return those to the store.
I am getting so frustrated… I felt like I was making all the right moves before, I tried so hard but apparently was doing everything wrong. I feel like I know what NOT to do, but not what I should be doing. Ugh.
I’ve been really into essential oils and I know this is maybe not on topic but I just was wondering what would be better shapes for essential oils because these oils really help me with anxiety sleeping etc and I just am stuck
I have a grudge against plant-based plastics because of the amount of fossil fuel and industrial agriculture inputs go into growing a non-food item and takes a lot of hazardous chemicals to produce plant-based plastics.
I had a bad experience with a bulk item. It was from our town's co-op, and we are also a VERY environmentally, on board, sustainable community. After getting my barley home, storing it right away in an airtight container, little crawleys showed up, which turned into moths. After throwing it out, I notified the store, who did not seem concerned. Anyone else encounter this issue? Never purchased bulk again.
I work for a very upper class family, and the amount of waste from the compared to myself (a low income person) is vastly different! I re-use, re-purpose, etc. and they just throw out no matter what condition something is in!
I've been told by a grocery store that I was not permitted to use my own containers (muslin bags with tare weights on them) because it represented a sanitation risk to the bin and that if they caught me using them again that they would ask me to leave the store. I did it anyways.
Access does not only mean having a store near you it also can mean not have the resources to participate. $$$ Whole Foods has gained a reputation Whole Paycheck. Do you really have access to something you can't afford.?
In defense of 7:59, she's quite open about the unequal access that people have to zero-waste measures and doesn't expect people to do everything she's able to do.
Hey shelbi, do your secret vids in your newsletters disappear after a certain amount of time as I’ve gone to catch up on ones I’ve missed and there’s no link to the video 😔
Ok so I’m 15. And I’ve talked to my parents and they won’t use bulk. And if they do it’s only Costco it’s never unpackaged. So I don’t have a choice. But I clean everything out and compost myself and I’m a family a seven so that’s not easy and I clean every glass jar and give them to my friends that agree and teachers and keep the ones I can. And I just don’t know what else I can do until I get the chance to move out or old enough where they let me go shopping for the family
You could join an environmental organisation. Some of them have youth groups and even the 'adult' ones like political orgs typically have a youth sector with an age limit of 15. There are different kinds, some are like hobbyist conservation, while others are demonstration-centered or community service -centered. I volunteer in the guides and scouts, it's like a hobby and influencing thing at the same time.
Im also not sure, and its subjective where some are better and worse in each their area.. I personally prefer to reduce plastic mainly due to the direct damage it does to wildlife, and that causes both great suffering and threatening species with extinction. I personally also think of wood materials as the most environment friendly (not saying perfect, and this excludes wood from rainforest), especially since I actually live in an area with industrial forest, and to me it doesn't look bad on the environment in any way (the forest itself). Its still a pretty wild area with a variety of birds, insects, squirrels, moose and deer living within the forest. And I have never witnessed artificial watering of that forest (so even it its high water use technically, it means nothing cause its all just rainwater and not causing drought, that's something people miss talking about when it comes to water use) and at any time there are much more older trees than areas with recently cut forest. But I can also say with experience from my own workplace (I work in a kind of wood factory) wood production is not necessarily plastic free because the materials often get wrapped under plastic to keep moisture, protect it from the weather or just keep things together. Of course there are pollution from transporting stuff too, but that is all wares.
I agree with a lot of your statements but I think within the sustainability movement we need to distinguish between different forms of pollution, when you guys were comparing the income brackets and talking about plastic the graph you showed was actually carbon dioxide emissions within those brackets. I don't have numbers to back this up but people with lower incomes might be producing more physical waste but less carbon emissions (which makes sense as they might use public transportation, bike, walk, etc.). In conclusion, I just wanted to clarify that bc I thought that might be a little misleading and I was slightly confused.
I agree. And I feel people way too often forget the whole WHY plastic is bad in those discussions. Its mainly damage directly to wildlife which is also a huge issue, and there are some uncertainty whether micro plastic could cause health issues. Natural materials break down, but plastic doesn't and create permanent waste. And for discussing water use, I think its important to look at how much water is added by humans artificially, versus what is just rainwater that would have fallen regardless. Is it in a dry or wet area? I live somewhere with technically industrial forest, occasionally a segment of the forest is cut down and used for something. And I dont relate to these forests being bad for the environment from what I see, its still a pretty "wild" area where a variety of wild animals live withing. We have a fairly wide variety of birds living there, insects, squirrels, moose and deer etc. And there is at any time way more older trees than recently cut down forest. I have never witnessed artificial watering or fertilization of those trees. It may depend on how and where its run.
I get so heated about the compostable single use items!! I work in the food & bev department of a golf and country club (lots of waste) and they recently switched to all compostable single use items to appear more eco friendly and it drives me up the wall because we don’t even have a compost bin and we’re located in a city with a composting pickup system!! It actually upsets me so much! We have compost bins in the kitchen, but they just throw it in the garbage bin at the end of the night
My work has all compostable cups and take out wears, and our town compost system DOES NOT ACCEPT THESE COMPOSTABLE PLASTICS AND PAPER!!! It drives me up the wall
Ikr!! My city doesn’t even have an industrial composting system (unless you pay for it which few do) and they give the “compostable” forks and spoons out everywhere. WHAT??
Time to constructively talk with your boss to figure out a solution. I get your frustrations but airing them here is supportive but you are the one that works there and you are the one that can help turn this around bc clearly your employer doesn’t even realize this is in issue.
@@eightybananas4515 Hey! Not to sound like a Karen but the tone of this comment came off so wrong to me. Instead of saying ‘time to constructively talk to your boss’ try asking if they have instead of telling them that they need to. If they say they haven’t then try to give them advice on how to have that conversation. That’s not an easy task when it can risk losing job security. ‘airing them’ & ‘you are the one that works there’ does not help, they were voicing their opinion/situation and they know they work there, not us. It’s my assumption that their employer probably is ignorant to composting but to me it also sounds like they are green washing and just following trends. My point at the end of the day is try and be more positive and helpful instead of shaming and criticizing. I’m not necessarily saying that you were doing those things, I just can’t think of a better way to phrase it. I’m sorry if this sounds like a personal attack but I mean well.
@@evasanchez3186 Well, you should really mind your own business. People can defend themselves if they see it to be necessary. I don’t know what reality you live in, but criticism and shame are necessary in general. It can’t be only positivity in the world. That’s messed up! No human being can be positive 24/7. We are not built like that. It’s not your job to “educate” anyone but your own children. People have the right to express their opinions as long as they are using nice language and being respectful. You have no right to tell anyone “stop expressing your opinion or change your opinion so I can agree with it” So don’t feel brave behind your computer now and mind your own business.
I don't usually comment but your content lately has been utterly amazing. The amount of knowledge you provide and the tone shift of looking past the narrow view zero waste originally had has really been impactful for me. I really appreciate all that you do on this platform 🙌 🧡
Agreed!
I agree I learn so much more every video and it’s amazing to constantly want to improve and spread the message :)
Tbh!! The social activism/big company responsibility switch has been way more interesting to me! Not that her content hasn’t always been interesting 😅
Thank you for bringing up access to bulk bins. An important fact to remember is that bulk bins normally aren't safe for people with food allergies because there is a higher risk of cross-contamination. Does anyone of any bulk stores that are accessible for people with food allergies?
Azure standard is on line
a comment i wish i could like more than once
@@corpsehandler5321 aw shucks
The lower a person's income definitely gives them a lower carbon footprint. Just think of living in a tiny apartment instead of a large single-family home, or taking the bus or having one car versus collecting multiple cars and sports cars that have worse gas mileage, and not being able to afford vacations versus flying somewhere one or two times per year.
A lot of eco-friendly habits are actually normal for people on a tight budget. Like completely using a product, repurposing things (e.g. turning old clothes into rags) or not wasting food. It's weird that zero waste and/or mininalism have such a posh image, because some people think it needs to match a certain aesthetic.
@@fancy24frenzy yes. Exactly, I see that. We try to get the most for our money, and money is tight.
Ten out of ten agree. Grew up poor, and when I first started out on this path, it was kind of awesome how much I was already doing because of the way I was raised.. Everything got used to the very dregs, and then repurposed if even remotely possible. Only then, could you justify buying, and you better hunt the thrift stores (or dumpsters in the nicer parts of town) first. It's not as glamorous as insta-style sustainability, but it works! It's a shame that there's so much stigma associated with it.
Exactly. If we branded sustainability as a way to be frugal, I think we could get a lot more people on board.
@@JiniriDancer me too. Although I live with my family because I'm 16. Iive in a bigger family since I've moved so much and there is so much waste and it makes me super sad. But I want to make a move when I'm older and start my low/zero waste journey.
In India I experienced a great glass using idea- they would drink the soda out of glass bottles in the shop, then give the bottle to the shop owner to be returned, cleaned, and refilled. I always wondered why we need to melt down the bottle and make a new one rather than just refill them in the US
It was very popular in Eastern Europe during the communism too, later together with freedom and improving economy, people turned towards single use items ;(
sanitation laws are huge in the USA. people are germaphobes
They do this with almost all beer bottles in the Netherlands and parts of Europe. You give them back whole in supermarkets, get 10c a piece back for them. And they go back to the brewers.
@@joyruppert4710 Here in Finland same, but the bottles are smashed in the machine.
we have the same system in Colombia and a thing that I like is that if you don't drink it on the store and took it home, you just let a deposit and even if you don't return it to the original store you can literally bring it to any store. Then the company picks them and they sanitize them and then refill it once again.
Thank you so much for talking about accessibility. I am disabled and have struggled with knowing I use less sustainable things (medication packaging, microwave ready meals, pre-prepped veg). Your channel is the only sustainability one I watch because you are aware that not everyone has the ability to do the most sustainable thing, and have really helped me accept I can do what I can do, and the weight of the world isn't just on my shoulders.
I currently live in Germany and the Recycling System here is awesome. It definitely takes some time to get use to but once I did it made me realise how much trash I was creating. Here we have 5 trash bins for paper, plastic, glass, composting and regular waste (which is then later burned).
Pretty simular in Belgium to. Happy now more things are taken in plasic now rather than just tetra and bottles
Same here in the Netherlands!
Very similar in Sweden. I have a recycling house outside my door where the landlord has set up bins for e-waste, batteries and lightbulbs.
I think we do not have as much space asbtge US to still use landfills.
It would be so cool to learn more about how other countries are addressing the climate crisis? Any resources? I live in the US
Oh my goodness! What a treat to see you two doing a collaboration together!
Loved it! I feel like a lot of the time people with lower income are more likely to come up with ideas how to reuse items 700 times or how to use something for more than one purpose to save money, whereas people who have money just don't care, they would just go and buy new things...
I would really love to hear more dialogue on how we can get in touch with businesses and our municipalities/government to implement these things. What letters do we need to draft, or scripting for calls. It’s difficult for me to cold call/write to a business and not get flustered and forget what my intent for the call was. Thanks!
Most businesses have someone who's job it is to handle everything on social media. If you're nervous about calling or writing to Coco Cola (one of the top users of single-use plastic), send them a tweet or post on their FB page instead.
see! you have ppl asking for instructions on how to be active and engage.. why are you just making buzzfeed lists instead of using your platform to encourage others to be active in small ways.. like girl we good on the lists 👍🏽 do something else
I know this comment was a while ago. There is an app called good on you (only just started using it a few days ago). It gives you info on businesses and there's an option to get in touch with the businesses and give them feedback. Haven't used it, so can't give feedback on that. But it seems nice to have a centralized place
I live in a place with bottle deposits. The majority of people recycle their cans and bottles here. And a lot of what does end up in the trash is fished out by dumpster divers because they can take them into a recycling depot for quick cash. It is also common to see non profits do bottle drives where instead of giving money, you give them your cans and bottles to recycle for cash.
I’ve learned a lot from you about materials, but I would love a video putting that into use. Do I grab the plastic salsa bottle instead of the glass one? Do I still advocate for businesses to provide paper instead of plastic? I guess because this is so conflicting with what I’m normally used to hearing, I’d love some application ideas because now I’m super confused on what to choose🥴 loved the video though, definitely applying what I’ve learned as much as I can😊
I'm in the exact same boat. i want to choose the best options but I end up stressing SO much because of this factor. I know it's not black and white but just more hands on guidance would be nice. Obviously choose a reusable option if possible but only if you will actually reuse it which I think was stated in the video. Great information but now I'm feeling more lost.
I think the ultimate move on the paper vs plastic would be reusable bags/containers. Like Christi said, reusable option if youre going to reuse it, but I know that you can also turn old clothes into a reusable bag (even a less aesthetically pleasing one for minimal sewing), or bringing a basket to the store and skipping the bags altogether. Most of shelby"s ideas (in my interpretation) is just use less generally, but ofc thats not always possible, so then you try to use the option that has the longest life span with the shortest amount of resources. (that might mean picking the "less sustainable" option that will last you 100x longer than the sustainable option, but you keep it for much longer to negate that and not contribute to consumerism and having to continuously rebuy (and produce) the same thing over and over again which leads to a bigger environmental impact overall)
I am a person with MS and I know for a fact that some things are just literally out of my reach.
Would you feel comfortable sharing some examples? I have no idea what living with it is like and what accommodations should be made.
This is why my political work and activism has always been focused on making/changing/forcing change in systems that affect everyone, and not on individual action, bc at the end of the day individual action is more abt ourselves and our own moral compass than anything else. And while I hate electoral politics, unless we abolish existing political systems, we have to get directly involved in politics, especially on European and global level. The catch is, being the minority actors entering "big politics" you have to play by their rules to achieve anything (essentially "if you want support for your thing, you have to support our thing"), unless you have major societal support in specific instances that force governing options to pass something.
But! I genuinely do feel like we have to act in ALL areas of societal life to achieve systemic change we want to see. We have to exert pressure on all actors involved - companies, industries, corporations, governments, oppositions, our own communities - bc only if the pressure comes from all sides, will we see actual lasting change. And we're running out of time.
Dobrze widzieć kogoś w polskiej polityce kto ma takie poglądy!
@@gosiahasal182 powiedziałabym, która partia and/or organizacja 👀 ale tbh wszyscy powinni mieć takie podejście, a im więcej osób w orgach bd tak myśleć i pracować, tym szybciej coś osiągniemy na tym grajdołku
I've been thinking this too but this idea exhausts me.
I see the clock is ticking but do we really have to run? I've been flirted by the idea of slowing down... I see everyone running for capitalism until breaking point. I want to offer them a place to rest. I think that would be truly sustainable.
A small number of people may be willing to be activists and do all this work to try and control the rest of society's impacts, but resting could speak to the general public. There are maybe a few hundred active activists in Finland but what if we had the whole generation resisting the ratrace, like in China?
Ugh! Thank you for talking about low income demonization. So so true
Well done! I was introduced to the movement by the Story of Stuff. And I think they were ahead of their time. I always try to explain why it is not the individuals responsibility, but some think if you fight for more sustainability in politics, you have to be perfect: no car, no plastics, only organic food... It is frustrating. I am not a perfect sustainable role model. I want the system to change and to make sustainable choices easier and available.
I visited Germany a few years ago and they had a system in place where you pay a 25¢ deposit when you buy a bottled drink and then when the bottle is empty you take it to the shop and put it in a bottle recycling machine and get the deposit back
many european countries have that, it's a great thing and it's so easy!
Yeah it's awesome. Same in the Netherlands.
depends on the bottle actually. 8ct for a glass beer bottle up to 25ct for a plastic bottle (the soft ones, the harder ones are 15ct). But it works wonderfully and I love it. Of course a reusable water bottle is still better. But I am not going to brew my own beer anytime soon, so for other beverages than water it is really great.
I opened our towns first bulk buy store last week. Closest was 3hours away. Super stoked
I work toward doing the best I can with my current knowledge and what I have access to at the time: using fabric shopping bags, not bagging produce in grocery story, buying used clothing and household goods whenever I can.
I think our goal should be to do the best we can individually and put pressure on our favorite companies to make changes that benefit the environment.
I loved hearing these mind-blowing facts about the amount of water that it takes to make all these products.
It's crazy when you think about it.
This video is SOOOOO important. Legit, so many good subjects were discussed. Like, please start a podcast so I can hear you guys talk about this for hours next time lol
Something I find insane is that when I was a kid, we had milk delivered in glass. Then we set the glass out to be picked up for the next milk delivery. We had glass Pepsi and CocaCola bottles and those went back to Pepsi/Coke each day to be refilled. THEY have the know-how. It simply needs to be reimplemented. I remember when plastic bottles became the “be all and end all” because they wouldn’t break when dropped compared to their glass counterpart. I may be stretching it a bit here, but glass containers helped keep the content fresh and cold. Lastly, these containers of which I remember were not these mega sizes. They were quenching size but allowed a person to have a job delivering these to our houses. I’m just sayin’…the things of which you ask of these corporations, they’ve done it before. They have the know how. We need to stop purchasing what they offer until they change. It just seems daunting.
Yes! When I was a kid, glass milk bottles which were returned. Glass pop bottles, same. Bulk stores where I could buy an oz of flour or a single stock cube. Now I’m lucky to have an allotment still and a good farm shop. But the rest of it’s gone and it makes me so cross. Why not have standardisation of glass containers for a number of useful sizes and all companies required to use those only. Novelty packaging is all very well, but it’s not worth the planetary cost.
@@dees3179 Great idea with having the standardization of glass containers. I’m going to suggest that in the letter I’m writing to our local dairy, Pepsi, and Coca Cola about the info I gleaned from this video.
I love that you are trying to have a more complex conversations, YES to effective fast communication AND to a nuanced message. Such appreciation for you.
One little thing though, I think it's a little misleading to call companies producers, because for me producers are the actual workers who produce things (for the U.S. that's often workers in countries that are already at a geopolitical disadvantage). Workers (producers) are not responsible, the capitalists who are profiting are.
Just commenting for the algorithm 😜 I always love your content and appreciate this Collab 😊❤️
Love how you guys share the knowledge that you have acquired during your own sustainability journeys. It's definitely helped me open my mind in terms of what can be improved.
Please start a podcast together!!!!
Having worked at both a organic and a "normal" foodstore here in the Netherlands my perspective on packaging has radically changed. How does buying something in a glass jar help if the glass jar is shipped to the store in 10 layers of plastic and cardboard? Bulk bins are virtually non-existent, but I've seen what mice can do to a store that doesn't have them, I don't even want to imagine what that would look like in a bulk store.
I've been challenging myself to stop visiting the supermarket by buying locally grown food from small local stores in either my own bags or packaging that I can take back to the store to be reused. It's not a solution for everything I need, but it's something at least.
Shelby this was such a wonderful video - thank you for making it! These things needed to be said!
14:53 in the Netherlands we actually sort of have a system like that! They charge a little extra (€0,25 for bottles of 1L or more and €0,10 for bottles between 0,5L and 1L) for some things (mostly soda) in plastic bottles and when they're empty you can hand them back in and you get a receipt for the extra charge. Usually it's in a supermarket where you're already buying something so you get a small discount but I think you could hand them in and get the money in cash as well.
Edit: annnd I'm watching again and now they're talking about bottle deposits which is exactly what this is
YES YES YES! I loved this chat so much. Thank you both for sharing your thoughts in a space where there's a huge lack of discussion around such topics.
Also single use compostable items are only great if you compost?? I hate how many companies preach composting but how few people can actually do that.. And then it ends up in landfill anyway...
I'm loving the shift to more intersectional perspectives!🥰
the difference in income and environmental impact is something i didnt realize until recently.. rich people own more properties, more lawns, use more services like planes, own more vehicles etc.. those things definitely contribute a hell lot more than a low income family buying single use and plastic packaging! and even then, pitting individuals against each other and blaming each other was just a scheme like yall mentioned, a lot of people don't just do things to maliciously kill the earth. a lot of industries have a long way to improve
I think wealthy people have somewhat more of a responsibility to be environment friendly, because they have more of an actual choice than the poor (I consider myself wealthy after inheriting, but before that was just wealthy enough to be "not poor"). You always gotta do what you need to cover your own needs, and eventually that of your family/pets. Yet wealthier people also normally pollute more because they can. Which actually makes wealthy people as a group worse for both reasons (not every individual)
But single use items aren't good either, I think especially when its plastic. And the main damage from plastic is the direct damage to wildlife it causes, along with being permanent waste, and maybe micro-plastic causes some health issues but that seems to be uncertain. So its not necessarily better despite being lower on greenhouse gas (I honestly think global warming is already a lost cause, but I could be wrong). But there is often just not objectively clear which thing is better than the other when it comes to the environment. Same issue with fossil versus electric cars
When I was a kid in the '70s and '80s, it was standard at every grocery store that you would bring back your glass soda bottles (Pepsi, Coke, etc.) and the company would re-use them. I know some states like NY and Michigan still do the deposit system and I genuinely don't get why that stopped.
I grew up in Australia in the 60s and 70s and it was the same here.
I heard about this form my 90 year old granny but never saw this until I was in Michigan at 26 ! 90s kid here.
There was a province in Canada where plastic bottles were not permitted, I think they are now but when I was a kid visiting Prince Edward Island I'd always want to get a bottle of pop because I thought it was the coolest thing ever!!
love and agree with every single thing said in this video!! the very fact that so much of the pressure to become zero waste was put on individuals at first is one of the reasons I am a member of Sunrise. While we as individuals can do so much, we all have our own unique situations that prevent us from being this “perfect” image of a zero waste lifestyle. And thinking in the perfect image mindset is absolutely just falling into the big oil thought process. If we want to change as a WHOLE society, companies must take responsibility through their actions, their influence, their products, and their supply line.
Great Video Ladies, Here in Ireland the grocery store Lidl will allow you to leave unwanted plastic from your purchases , If you are able to transfer into your own container before leaving the store.
But what do they do with it?
But Lidl is all plastic.
I really wish I could get my roommates to use the dishwasher! Running a full dishwasher load uses so much less water than individually washing everything (and actually gets it clean) but somehow they've decided the dishwasher is more work? Any ideas on how to convince them?
Maybe point out how convenient it is to only pre-clean dishes and pit them in the washer. And then not having to dry them.
Maybe if it is ok for you, offer to take care of the dishwasher for example on monday and tuesday for a month. Privided that everyone pre-clean their dishes and put them in the washer. It might be an incentive.
Good luck :)
@Annabell we do not have to pre-clean our dishes with our machine (unless pre-clean is meant as just scraping food off?) which is great because it saves even more water. And hopefully she/he has a machine that doesn’t need it either so that it is even easier for their roommates 😅 But great ideas!
A dishwasher is way less eco friendly than washing your own dishes. Yes, you save a bit more watee, but, unless the electricity you use to turn on that dishwasher comes from clean energy, your Co2 footprint is waaay higher.
And it depends on how you wash them. If you soak your dishes in soap first, with your tap turned off (only use it occasionally if a dish is too dirty or to clean your sponge) and you rinse them later all at once, the water consumption decreases a lot.
We have been washing them this way and our water bill has decreased considerably.
If a dishwasher is full when you start the washing process, it definitely safes more water than washing the same amount of dishes by hand. I have not seen a single study who says the opposite, but maybe there is a difference between America and Germany, where I live? But as I said, the dishwasher has to be filled completely.
Did you ever think that maybe your roommate never had a dishwasher in their house when they were growing up and just got used to washing them by hand.
Yesss please keep doing videos like this! This is the type of info we need over what's been provided in the zero waste movement for the past few years. Time for some change!
Great video! I have been starting to worry in the past year that there's been too much of a backlash against individual responsibility, where folks will blame corporations and do nothing to change their ways, particularly with meat consumption. Even if corporations and other businesses went 100% environmentally friendly overnight, we still have too many people to produce meat on a sustainable level at the current average level of consumption. This is just one example, but it illustrates my point: there will still be changes everyone has to make in order for our world to be sustainable, and I fear too many people are ignoring that reality.
Yes, I think we all need to reduce our meat consumption. Since watching Shelbi's videos I've been more aware of this. Until recently I hadn't thought about how many different animal products there are on a bacon cheeseburger.
Oh yes. I just saw a demonstration on tv today against the taxes of driving. The majority of individual driving is pointless here (3 km or less, sidewalks and bicycle paths available). The electric car battery mining is a threat to our lands. We need to drive less.
The thing with preferring glass over plastic is that for food consumables and sometimes beauty products I don't want plastic leaching into it and into me as a consequence. Same with dented metal cans, they can be a hazard for reasons like bacteria and metal leaching. I wish recycling systems worldwide were better, they can really lag behind the waste we produce or completely ignore certain things like tetra packs for example. With companies like pepsi reusing bottles; there was a local soda factory in my city back when my mum was a child, so 1960s-70s that used to collect the glass bottles back from supermarkets where people could drop them off and reuse them. Then big companies got too big and popular and monopolised/bought smaller brands so they shut down. I think it can really work locally but when it comes to worldwide, you have to think about how much it cost and the emissions it takes to get bottles back to a single factory, that could be across the world. The logistics work locally best, the full circle recycling.
Love this collab! 💖 Where I live at, our main trash and recycling service actually has their own glass recycling facility so I feel pretty good about recycling glass where I live but I’m still trying to move toward reducing my glass recycling and reusing glass items more when possible. Fortunately, my city has had quite a few green businesses and initiatives pop up in the past few years, which is awesome, but I realize diffferetn places all have different access to these things.
One thing I have been doing is to buy things in glass jars that can be used in my house rather than just buying new jars , sense I eat marinara sauce and pickles regularly anyway
Ripple Glass was started in Kansas City by Boulevard Brewery due to the limited glass recycling options. The purple recycling bins can now be found in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.
I appreciate your videos. You are open about so many aspects of living life sustainably. Lovely collab.
Love your videos! 😊😊 thanks for talking about these topics and ‘failures’ to help everyone learn and grow.
We visited our small college town recently and got to check out a small new low waste shop on main street with bulk bins, vegan food, local produce, etc and they are a town with a 9K population (the college adds an extra 5K during in session months). It was so awesome to see in a small rural town, I only wished it was there when I went to college there!
Edit: I forgot to mention that my college also added a sustainability studies minor the last semester I was there so some changes are definitely happening, even in small rural parts of the country, albeit slowly.
I work in a drug store and the amount of times people will pass up a dented can, a scratched box, a little bend in the packaging, it's rediculous. We throw out thinks because they just won't sell.
And then there are the customers who go into cosmetics, open products and try them on their skin only to put them back on the shelf! That's disgusting! And no one wants to buy makeup that's been opened so know what happens? Garbage. Rediculous. There is already so much garbage involved in unpacking each makeup item and then it just has to go in the trash...
The ones who open cosmetics to try it in the store, should at minimum have to pay what that cosmetic cost (I actually did this once as a kid, but you dont really think in the same way then). I dont get why that's legal and not punished. And people need to be less picky what the package looks like, maybe ensuring them the actual product is not damaged or unhygienic (assuming that's true) would help
In the beginning I found zero waste overwhelming. Where to start, how to do it all? I started by focusing on one thing at a time. Where was my biggest waste. One of mine were food storage bags. I bought silicone bags & glass containers that I could use over & over. What next and so on. I'm expanding my knowledge little by little, but can already see all the changes I have made & continue to make progress on my journey.
I have been slacking on the politics side and writing to the companies asking for more change. I think that will be my next focus. Thanks for all your advice.
Great work! I did it the same way!
This video is incredible 👏 thank you so much for putting this together!
Saw this on Kathryn's channel!! Love this collab!
It would absolutely make my day for you to realize that the problem doesn't stop at consumerism, but rather at the idea of extracting infinite output from a finite input also known as capitalism. We cannot go zero waste without eradicating capitalism ✊🏼✊🏼
I live in Arkansas and I don’t know anyone that has a compost bin at all. I’m the only person that I know of who has one and people thought it was very weird that I bought a compost bin. I also bought a manual mower, which I also got criticized for. I also recently switched to a bidet. Me and my husband really like it. Now when he goes to the store he looks for things that are recyclable, have less packaging, or say they’re compostable(not plastics). Arkansas is covered in Walmart’s, so that is usually where we shop. Whole Foods is a few cities away from us.
“Have you BEEN to Arkansas?!” 🤣
Thank you for talking about this. It is really complicated, and sometimes leaves me frustrated, like you said in Instagram. But it's very important to see bigger picture, not just individual actions and responsibilities. Thank you.
In Germany a lot of bottles (plastic and glas ) that can be returned are worth from about 8 cents (beer bottles) to 25 cents (plastic bottles), but still, a lot of them get thrown away, sadly. I've started to collect trash where I live as a way to stretch my legs and because I regularly turned choleric when I saw all the trash. So I also started to collect the returnable bottles for myself. And let me tell you, that is good pocket money! (don't worry I'm not taking anything away from homeless people, or people in need. These bottles would lay there for weeks and nobody collects them)
Bottle collection gentrification should not be a point of criticism in discussing homeless or poor people's rights. 🤷🏼♀️ That's a distraction technique if anyone tries to use that on you. Nobody should have to rely on picking bottles to survive. I'm not gonna think it's on me to leave a can in the woods in case a poor person might find it. In stead there are real things you can do to be helpful.
Things I can do for the environment:
- pick up trash
- participate in politics on social media, letters or regular media like newspaper opinion page
- buy less, buy better
- reuse items and materials at home
Things I can do for people with economical concerns:
- feeding my friends or members of community (literally)
- donating items to second-hand stores and shopping there
- Advocating for accessibility in scouting where I volunteer
- paying extra so others can get stipends for events
- voting left-leaning parties that support unionising and wealth redistribution, strong public services and legistlation that protects those things
Sorry, the bottle comment just felt like such a nasty thing someone might say. :D I have an over-active brain too.
what a lovely video!! i loved how you guys discussed things like privilege and access. mentioning the barriers that people face was also an amazing and memorable point. thank you for spreading your message in such an inclusive and respectful way as always.
Thank you. Tina
Always good to get some more info, revisit and revise stuff.
Great convo. Thank you.
Love love this content. Have you thought about creating a podcast? I always listen to your videos while going about my day to day life. I just love your approach to living a more sustainable life.
Love love love your content! I just saw someone in a car litter in front of me today and it bummed me out for the future of our earth, but this video made things a little better and gave me hope that the culture in how we take care of our planet is changing. Also, starting a business venture soon, you should do a video on recommendations on how to make a business as sustainable as possible. Would love practical tips to make good choices from the get-go instead of needing to reform. I want sustainability to be one of my core values that I uphold as someone who owns a business:))
Small consistent steps reclaiming “old fashioned “ ways of doing things , moderation and education I think is the way forward. I am in my late 50’s and this is my lifestyle when it comes to “zero waste”. Line drying my washing or hanging it on drying racks inside. Reusable produce bags ( mostly), using alternatives to cling wrap I have only bought 1 roll of it in the last 3 years but am not completely zero on this, compositing and veggie gardening. I live in a mud construction house that has many sustainable properties , we are getting an extension and have used an architect who bases his work on sustainable principles, photovoltaic and solar based energy. We are currently saving for an EV and waiting for our current vehicles to reach the end of their life. There is more that I could do for sure but I figure the habits take a while to embed and this needs to be sustainable as well. I try to purchase items with packaging criteria in mind but am not always successful. ABOUT BULK FOOD STORES….in my local area I can access them but the drive to get there is way longer. When I have done a grocery run there I have paid significantly more for items. I am in an affluent economic category ( I own my own home am debt free and about to retire on a comfortable income) and I will not pay the very high prices that these shop charge in my country ( I am not in the US). So what does one do?
omg i tagged shelbi i think in a video about those students in new orleans recycling glass! such an amazing concept!!! love that you shouted them out!
The zeRo waste chef said you can freeze food in glass containers. I've tried it and it's great.
I had no idea you could freeze in glass! I currently use plastic bags and wash them. But I love the idea of glass!
@@calliehoyles8898 it works good. Just leave space for food to expand and don’t tighten the lid.
LOVED the chat ladies!! Please keep up this type of content!! Yay! 🤓😎
My mind is blown with all this info! Great job ladies 👍👍
Do you have any easy-to-share resources on the water cost for things? My husband has a hard time believing that a paper plate takes more resources than washing a dish
Maybe you could find videos of paper factories.
The chart on the differences of carbon footprint between wealth brackets is so accurate! My parents who are wealthy have a much higher carbon footprint than my own family does that is technically below the poverty line. I say technically because we have some luxuries that my parents do not because we take used items and fix them up and then we have fancy things like a computer for each child or jet skis and a boat. They may not be as flashy as brand new things, but it's keeping them out of the landfill and giving them new life.
... I thought the last line was going to be about your kids keeping out of trouble and then I went "oh... landfills?"
lower income people have to be more frugal which means they reuse a lot of items rather then buy things and toss it away. I grew up lower income and my partner had more money and he tells me all the time that how I do things to save money and not throw things out to save money is not normal around most people he grew up around. but my frugality got us our home ( which we opted for a smaller home with a bigger yard) and gives us more options to doing better for the environment. also working for a discount company I am noticing them bringing in cheep versions of " environmentally friendly" products that end up being used and tossed away by people who have the money to purchase the items and say they are buying better products. the items in lower income areas those items do not sell because they don't need those items because they reuse everything. ( I've worked in both lower income and more higher income areas at the same company and these are just my observations they are not intended to be biased in any way)
I’m in upstate SC. There isn’t anywhere in my town that has bulk. Well Ingles does, but it’s more like granola and nuts and candy.
We need to ask shops for bulk!
Yep. Our Whole Foods cut back on the bulk about a year before the pandemic (my guess is it wasn't selling) and it's barely made anything resembling a come back.
Thank you so much for mentioning disabilities!
The main struggle I have with living environmentally consciously is my ADHD. And actually the other way around as well. I end up eating a lot of food after the expiration date because throwing it out hurts my heart. Luckily I got a bokashi bin to alleviate the problems that my mental illness will naturally create :)
A lot of times foods aren't actually spoiled after the expiration date. If it looks/smells/tastes fine, its fine to eat. Cant really help with your ADHD issues, but just remember that. Producers set the expiration date very early just in case
Of topic (came to mind while the paper plastic change):In a part of Germany we have something called "Hauberg". If u r someone who has a "Hauberg" license of it you get a part of land with trees where only certain trees of a certain age are allowed to be cut down. The year after you get another part, giving the part you worked on before a breather. I think thats something the whole world should do. Still making money with the wood but sustainable enough for the forrest to exist.
Idk about in the US, but there’s are a lot of countries that do take glass bottles for Pepsi and Coca-Cola. And give you a discount on your next purchase because you’ve essentially already bought the glass (as long as you return the old one)
It's such a great video, and I was thinking about the same things lately. I'll be definitely sharing it with my friends :) Thank you!
I've been thinking to collect the stuff I use and send it back to the manufacturer after I can fill a box. For example, all the starbucks cans go back to the address on the label after I can fill a box. How does that kind of thing sound?
Dented cans can be a health hazard since bacteria can come in, especially if the dent is close to the seam or it is quite big. Please be safe.
That's a partial lie put out by snobs. You need to check the can over- is it expired, rusted or leaking ? looks puffy ? then don't buy it. I have bought dented cans and ate out of them. I'm perfectly healthy and never once got sick because I check them over
@@HosCreates sure Jan, tell that to the several studies published in Pubmed ;)
@@HosCreates So agree. Yes, sometimes a dent is severe enough that the contents do spoil but that's readily apparent when you open the can. Just return those to the store.
@Sunday Girl Which names did I call? Sorry but I am not doing anyone's research, I am not who is accusing of telling 'a partial lie put out by snobs'.
I am getting so frustrated… I felt like I was making all the right moves before, I tried so hard but apparently was doing everything wrong. I feel like I know what NOT to do, but not what I should be doing.
Ugh.
Good to see you back, Shelby.
I was thrilled to find out recently that my town recycles even the greasy side of pizza boxes!
I’ve been really into essential oils and I know this is maybe not on topic but I just was wondering what would be better shapes for essential oils because these oils really help me with anxiety sleeping etc and I just am stuck
love this content and would really love some captions too
I have a grudge against plant-based plastics because of the amount of fossil fuel and industrial agriculture inputs go into growing a non-food item and takes a lot of hazardous chemicals to produce plant-based plastics.
I had a bad experience with a bulk item. It was from our town's co-op, and we are also a VERY environmentally, on board, sustainable community. After getting my barley home, storing it right away in an airtight container, little crawleys showed up, which turned into moths. After throwing it out, I notified the store, who did not seem concerned. Anyone else encounter this issue? Never purchased bulk again.
It must be an issue with the farm. They may have a pest problem with that patch. Ask if other customers or workers at the shop have noticed them?
I love this video and the message!
There is not even one single "bulk shop" not just in my area but in my whole country.
I work for a very upper class family, and the amount of waste from the compared to myself (a low income person) is vastly different! I re-use, re-purpose, etc. and they just throw out no matter what condition something is in!
here for this crossover 💚💚
Do a video on yora pet foods. They are made with insects. I think it could be a great sustainable way to feed pets.
I've been told by a grocery store that I was not permitted to use my own containers (muslin bags with tare weights on them) because it represented a sanitation risk to the bin and that if they caught me using them again that they would ask me to leave the store.
I did it anyways.
I can’t find a glass recycling place anywhere near me. I’ve been searching for so long
Access does not only mean having a store near you it also can mean not have the resources to participate. $$$
Whole Foods has gained a reputation Whole Paycheck. Do you really have access to something you can't afford.?
100%!!
Yes and! Theatre meets sustainability
In defense of 7:59, she's quite open about the unequal access that people have to zero-waste measures and doesn't expect people to do everything she's able to do.
Hey shelbi, do your secret vids in your newsletters disappear after a certain amount of time as I’ve gone to catch up on ones I’ve missed and there’s no link to the video 😔
Ok so I’m 15. And I’ve talked to my parents and they won’t use bulk. And if they do it’s only Costco it’s never unpackaged. So I don’t have a choice. But I clean everything out and compost myself and I’m a family a seven so that’s not easy and I clean every glass jar and give them to my friends that agree and teachers and keep the ones I can. And I just don’t know what else I can do until I get the chance to move out or old enough where they let me go shopping for the family
You could join an environmental organisation. Some of them have youth groups and even the 'adult' ones like political orgs typically have a youth sector with an age limit of 15. There are different kinds, some are like hobbyist conservation, while others are demonstration-centered or community service -centered. I volunteer in the guides and scouts, it's like a hobby and influencing thing at the same time.
Lol at the shade about access with a certain someone’s video in the background 🐸☕️ I think we all know who they were referring to doing a talk 👀
Our nearest bulk store is 1 hour and 45 minutes away 😩
Now I’m just confused.. do I pick things wrapped in plastic, paper or glass now 😫
Im also not sure, and its subjective where some are better and worse in each their area.. I personally prefer to reduce plastic mainly due to the direct damage it does to wildlife, and that causes both great suffering and threatening species with extinction. I personally also think of wood materials as the most environment friendly (not saying perfect, and this excludes wood from rainforest), especially since I actually live in an area with industrial forest, and to me it doesn't look bad on the environment in any way (the forest itself). Its still a pretty wild area with a variety of birds, insects, squirrels, moose and deer living within the forest. And I have never witnessed artificial watering of that forest (so even it its high water use technically, it means nothing cause its all just rainwater and not causing drought, that's something people miss talking about when it comes to water use) and at any time there are much more older trees than areas with recently cut forest.
But I can also say with experience from my own workplace (I work in a kind of wood factory) wood production is not necessarily plastic free because the materials often get wrapped under plastic to keep moisture, protect it from the weather or just keep things together. Of course there are pollution from transporting stuff too, but that is all wares.
Another wonderful video!
Before plastic bottles we used to use glass bottles for soda and would send them back to be washed and refilled. I wish that would come back
The thing about bulk is that many places don’t allow self service so everything’s in plastic bags and containers anyway.
I agree with a lot of your statements but I think within the sustainability movement we need to distinguish between different forms of pollution, when you guys were comparing the income brackets and talking about plastic the graph you showed was actually carbon dioxide emissions within those brackets. I don't have numbers to back this up but people with lower incomes might be producing more physical waste but less carbon emissions (which makes sense as they might use public transportation, bike, walk, etc.). In conclusion, I just wanted to clarify that bc I thought that might be a little misleading and I was slightly confused.
I agree. And I feel people way too often forget the whole WHY plastic is bad in those discussions. Its mainly damage directly to wildlife which is also a huge issue, and there are some uncertainty whether micro plastic could cause health issues. Natural materials break down, but plastic doesn't and create permanent waste.
And for discussing water use, I think its important to look at how much water is added by humans artificially, versus what is just rainwater that would have fallen regardless. Is it in a dry or wet area?
I live somewhere with technically industrial forest, occasionally a segment of the forest is cut down and used for something. And I dont relate to these forests being bad for the environment from what I see, its still a pretty "wild" area where a variety of wild animals live withing. We have a fairly wide variety of birds living there, insects, squirrels, moose and deer etc. And there is at any time way more older trees than recently cut down forest. I have never witnessed artificial watering or fertilization of those trees. It may depend on how and where its run.