I feel like my whole world changed when I saw a video about the 'zero waste home' family's journey. So rather than reinvent the wheel, I thought I'd add my two cents on her ten steps for getting started. 

From her post, "How to Get Started"
It is actually not as as hard as it seems, and it is as simple as following these Five R's, in order:

• Refuse what you do not need.

• Reduce what you do need.

• Reuse by using reusables.

• Recycle what you cannot refuse, reduce, or reuse.

• Rot (compost) the rest."

1. Fight junk mail. It's not just a waste of resources, but also of time. 

It felt like every time I went on Pinterest in the last little while there was a link to a coffee scrub. Since my feet were looking the worst for ware, I thought I would give it a try. Except rather than using new coffee, which most of the links seemed to use, I just used the grounds that I used to make my coffee in the morning!

Coffee

I started with this recipe from the little dutch wife, but made some small changes based on what we had in the kitchen. Which included only olive oil. While we have cinnamon and nutmeg, I wasn't really sold on putting them in, although I'm sure they'd add a lovely scent!

Olive oil and coffee scrub

 I mixed enough olive oil in the coffee grounds to make a paste, and brought it with me to the shower. I did a good scrubbing on my feet, and then rinsed everything really well.  My feet and hands were a little bit yellowy brown after putting the scrub on, but it came off easily with a bit of soap and water.

Slightly foggy shower shot

When I get home, I'd love to do something like this as described in the recipe with coconut oil!

Last weekend R and I went to The Hague. I realized that I was going to need another Lush Jungle solid conditioner before I left and I wanted to try their dry shampoo, No Drought, since I left my home-made one at home and read some good reviews about it. I also was looking for some aloe vera for my hair - I put some of the after sun fluorescent green stuff in my hair with pretty decent success, so I was looking to find something a bit more natural to try!

When I first decided to start reducing my waste in 2011, I did a whole bunch of reading about zero waste options for hair care. At the time I opted for the Soap Work's Shampoo & Conditioner bar followed by an apple cider vinegar rinse, and was generally pretty happy with it - it was cheap and worked well for me. The shampoo bar contains palm oil, unfortunately, and I the more reading I did about it, the less I wanted to use anything that used it as an ingredient.

I decided to start using the Jungle conditioner and the Karma Komba solid shampoo bar that R bought me for my birthday full time, rather than just while I was travelling. The thing I like about Lush is that even though some of the ingredients are listed as moderate hazards on EWG's Skin Deep Cosmetics Database and they put a bit too much fragrance into their products for my taste, they're completely open about what ingredients they use. Plus, the staff don't look at me like I'm crazy for bringing in my own containers - often they're quite excited about it!

I also stopped using soap on my face. I use water and a washcloth now, and my face looks and feels better than before. Full disclosure - I've always had pretty good skin, but I find I break out even less now. I use jojoba oil and my homemade microfibre make-up pads to remove any make-up, and a moisturizer from Dr. Hauschka.

The jojoba oil comes in a glass bottle, and when it's done I will see if I can have it refilled rather than buying a new one. I bought it at Selsi at the St. Lawrence Market and they seem pretty cool, so I am hopeful they'll be on board. The moisturizer comes in a glass bottle with a plastic pump. I bought the larger bottle so I'm producing a little less waste, but I need to look into another, lower waste, option. When I first bought the moisturizer they sent me a sample of oil for my face from Suki which I really liked.  After making my own hand and body moisturizer was a success, I may try to make something like it on my own!

I recently moved to a house heated by electric baseboards (yikes!), which means my house is exceptionally dry. When I ran out of my hand cream and the cracks in my knuckles started bleeding where they were cracked (double yikes!), I knew it was time to get on with my plan of making my own. So I started with Minimalist Beauty's DIY Hand and Nail Care recipe, and made a few minor changes.

The recipe calls for equal parts of shea butter, cocoa butter, and grapeseed oil and vanilla absolute oil for the smell.

I did a small bit of research (aka reading reviews of the products from New Directions Aromatics) and decided that I didn't want my hands to smell like cocoa for fear I would constantly be craving it, so decided to substitute aloe butter instead of the cocoa butter. Even though I requested they use as little packaging as necessary, I still felt there was way too much. Especially for a box full of plastic containers!

I also substituted lavender essential oil rather than vanilla, because it was something I already had in my possession, and therefore didn't need to buy. Less waste and less money!

I also went to my local thrift store and got a lovely super thick walled small pot to use. It cost me a whole of $5, and means I don't need to worry about mucking up my cooking pots with these types of experiments.

As per the directions, I put the butters and oil into the pot and put it on the lowest setting to melt.

Butters and oil in the pot

 Once they were melted, I turned off the stove, and let it cool just a bit.

All melted!

I added the lavender, then split up the mixture into small screw top aluminum containers that I got for this purpose. I needed something I could throw in my bag without worrying that the top would come off!

Individual container of liquid hand butter

I then let the containers cool overnight. When I woke up, I had two containers filled with hand and nail butter! No more need to buy hand cream!


After using the hand and nail butter, I decided the formula was too oily for my liking, so I scooped up all of the butter from the containers and put it back into the small pot to melt it down again. I then added another 1.5 oz of each butter and another 10 drops of lavender once the new mixture was cooled.

I am very pleased with the final results, and will continue to make this instead of buying hand cream! It still feels a little bit oily on my skin after putting it on, but it's much better than the first iteration.

Materials to make this cost me $7.37 for 7 oz or approximately 210 mL. Less than half the price of the body butters at the Body Shop, and I have control over the ingredients.

P.S. The containers I got only hold 2 oz each, so I put the remaining 3 oz into a washed out yogurt container. Not as pretty nor transportable, but much better for reducing waste.

I got a Neti Pot last Christmas, and I`m so happy to have it!  A neti pot is used to treat sinus problems, colds, allergies and post-nasal drip. You basically pour a saline solution in one nostril, through your nasal passages, and out the other.  It feels really weird the first time, but it becomes normal really quickly.


The neti pot can be a really nice alternative, or augmentation, to cold medications. When I feel a cold coming on, and throughout, I use the neti pot every morning until my nose has stopped running and the cold has passed. Except in extreme conditions, I manage to avoid having to take a any medication at all. That being said, when I get a cold so bad that I can't breathe when I lie down, I'll take a NiQuil so I can sleep!

There are plastic neti pots out there, I've seen them at the drug store, however my neti pot is ceramic. I like that it can be sanitized with  boiling water and washed in the dishwasher. I buy the salt to make a saline solution in bulk from Selsi Sea Rosks at the St. Lawrence market.

In combination with my homemade handkerchiefs, it's my zero waste way to deal with a cold.

About 6 months ago my mom decided she was going to make her own powdered bathroom cleaner. Apparently her cleaning lady requested she buy some Comet, and my mom wanted to find a slightly less toxic version. She made her own, and also mixed me up a small container for me, and I love it! The tiles and counter are clean and don`t smell chemical-y (like my roommate`s Pine Sol, which hurts my nose and who knows what else) at all!

The recipe is simple. Mix equal parts of baking soda, borax and washing soda. That's it!

This should last me a long time!

I got my baking soda, borax and washing soda in bulk at Grassroots. This is a minimal waste cleaning solution!

Soap Making Essentials suggested adding liquid soap and essential oil, and since I had some Eucalyptus Essential Oil sitting around from a previous project, I added it as well. It smells lovely, but I don`t expect it will make much of a difference to this concoction`s ability to clean.

Back in August when R was here I took him to `Tastes of the Danforth.` In addition to eating some amazing Greek Food, we walked into the Riverdale Grassroots Store, which is where I bought my Diva Cup (more on that to come later). I was so happy to find bulk vinegar, washing soda and so many other cleaning products that I actually gave a little cheer and jumped up and down, to R`s dismay. He is very typically Dutch in liking normalcy, and not standing out!

Source

Note: I don`t know this dude. It`s still not second nature to me to take photos of these types of things for my blog - I promise to take a picture next time I go back!

As we were leaving, the girl at the cash asked me why I was so excited, and I told her. I didn`t have any containers with me at the time, but I knew I would be back for some soon enough.

And that time was this weekend! I ran out of cleaner last weekend when I was cleaning (shocking, I know!), so grabbed some jars and went back to Grassroots and got some washing soda, borax, baking soda and cleaning vinegar. I remembered to weigh my jars before I left so they could be tared when they were full with product.

Hooray for bulk products!

I`m going to have to label these jars - the baking soda and borax look very, very similar. Thankfully only the baking soda reacts with vinegar, so it was easy to confirm which was which. Another win for science!

Well, we're now well into October, and I haven't updated my love list since the beginning of March. I think a quarterly update is a bit overdue!

Grow a garden on our porch
I started tomatoes, zucchini, peppers and spinach from seed. The tomatoe sprouts were looking great until I left for the Netherlands for a week and my roommate didn't water them as I requested. The zucchini and peppers fared a bit better, but got snatched by some raccoons before I could harvest them. The spinach never sprouted at all, and the wildflower seeds I planted just looked like weeds. Needless to say, this was a less than successful experiment, but hasn't deterred me from wanting to try again next year. Although I probably won't start from seed. And I'll be in an upper level apartment where there will be fewer pests, but less space and probably less sun.

Read more novels
I think that I've done a pretty good job of this. My Aunt has kept me well supplied with books, as she is a voracious reader. My dad also passed along his BlackBerry playbook (since he is now an iSnob), which has the Kobo Reader app on it. Since all books out of copyright seem to be free to download, I started reading Sense and Sensibility. I also have Fifty Shades of Grey to read, only because I have to know for myself just how horrible it is. After reading this review at GoodReads, as suggested by Eco Yogini, I'm strangely intrigued. And scared.

Learn (and practice) to cook well
I have discovered this year that I actually enjoy cooking - I just don't like deciding what to eat! R and I have already agreed that if we ever live together he'll decide what we're eating and I'll make it. He said it with a sparkle in his eye, though, so I suspect I'm going to have to learn how to cook lots of complicated Dutch meals...

Learn to speak Dutch
I think that self-teaching a language is not very good at all. At the end of my last trip to the Netherlands, however, my Dutch was getting a teeny, tiny bit better. But not much. That being said, my Dutch I class at the U of T started last night! While the first night was a little bit unorganized, it was interesting to hear why the 9 other people in the course were there, and I think it will be very useful to have a designated 2.5 hours to learn, and have homework. I was a bit of a keener in school (not surprising to those who know me!), so the fact that there's homework to complete, and tests to write, means I'll spend at least some time doing that outside of class! And R promised he'd help me practice, which is good because there are 2 couples and a father/son combo in the class, who have each other to practice with!

Get rid of the junk in my bedroom and the garage
I spent this past weekend organizing and purging from the garage. I took a trunk load of stuff to the Value Village, have some board games that friends have expressed an interest in taking, and have some eWaste that the City will recycle for me. I now have to figure out how to get my hands on one of the eWaste bags, because the City website is not very helpful. Once I figure it out, I will put up a post!

Simplify my wardrobe
In addition to the trunk full of stuff I took too Value Village from the garage, I also took 3 bags of clothes that don't fit within my wardrobe anymore. I went thrifting with my cousin Ali this week and got some great basics and a beautiful pencil skirt, but each item fits within the framework I have set-out for my wardrobe.

Finally get my Professional Engineer designation
Fail. Epic fail. Nothing done but refute a whole bunch of nagging by my dad. And my mom. And my sister. And R. And my sister's boyfriend... You get the idea, I'm putting this off.

Pay off my debt
By the end of this month my MasterCard will be paid off, and never used again! That means that the money I was putting on it can now go to my VISA to get it paid off! I'm very excited to be heading in the right direction. Mint has added some features, so I can now see my debt over time. Look at it go down!

(For some reason one of my accounts isn't showing up in the summary for January and February - this really is a downward trend)

Track the waste that I produce each week/month
Once again, an Epic Fail. I found it quite difficult to track with a roommate who would likely contaminate my results, not out of spite, but just because she wouldn't pay attention. I move into my own apartment in December, so the waste tracking will begin again in earnest in January, when I can have a dedicated garbage and recycling container for just me.

With the new year fast approaching, I'm also starting to think about what I'd love to do next year. Being organized is certainly on the list, as is running a half marathon, but I think there will be a lot of repeats from this year.

This weekend I took the very first step in having my own garden.

Yesterday morning I went to the City of Toronto Commissioners Transfer Station and picked up two totes of leaf compost. Compost improves the quality of soil by improving its structure and texture and enabling it to better retain nutrients, moisture, and air. And best of all, it was free! Yay!



This morning I bought some potting soil, little peat pots and tomato, zucchini, green bean and cucumber as well as some everlasting pea lathyrus and wildflower seeds. While I would have rather made the potting soil and harvested the vegetable seeds myself, I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew to start. Imagine my disappointment when I found the tomato seeds were double packaged...

The seeds were small, but it still seemed silly.

Because I had no real idea what I was doing, I generally followed the directions on the little pots. I started by mixing the potting soil and compost in about a 50/50 mix and filled the little pots. I then 'watered' them to the point the sides of the pots were wet.

Dry and filled

I then put 3 or 4 seeds in each pot, covered them with more soil/compost mixture and watered them thoroughly.

These are four of the everlasting pea seeds (if you can find them)

Covered with soil

Watered thoroughly

I have them all stored in the lid of a rubbermaid on top of my book shelf for now. They're supposed to stay warm until they germinate. Then I'll have to find  them a spot in the sun so they can grow until I put them into the ground.


I'm probably about a month behind on this process, but better late than never. Keep your fingers crossed! (and stay tuned)

As I mentioned in my February Love List update, I started making my own toothpaste. The first attempt wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. I've since made another batch and I think I'm ready to share the very simple recipe.

4 tablespoons baking soda 2 tbsp vegetable glycerin 5 drops of organic essential oil in peppermint

Simply mix all the ingredients together in a small container. I use the small stainless bowls I got from Lee Valley Tools for Christmas a few years ago. Thankfully my family understands that I like to get useful items as gifts!

I buy my baking soda in bulk at Domino Foods at the St. Lawrence Market. They never make a fuss about meat me using my own reuseable bags, and they're super friendly!

4 tbsp baking soda

I purchased my vegetable glycerine and peppermint essential oils from New Directions Aromatics. While it`s not completely waste free, since the glycerine came in a plastic bottle and the essential oil in a tiny glass one, it`s still less waste per tube of toothpaste than going to the store to buy a tube.

2 tbsp vegetable glycerine

approx 5 drops peppermint essential oil

In the first batch I used too much glycerine. It wasn't runny, but it separated over the time I was using it. This time I used more baking soda and less glycerine, so I'm hoping the consistency stays about the same.

Mix

I put my toothpaste in an extra GoToob that I had from my travels to store my toothpaste. I used a whole bunch of Toobs when I was in Peru, but my recent foray into zero waste means I use significantly fewer bottled products and don't need all of the Toobs I have anymore. You can bet I'm happy that I've found another use for one of them! They're wonderful for traveling with because they don't leak, are super easy to fill (unless you're trying to fill and take a picture which results in a totally blurry photo as evidenced below), and you can mark what's in the bottle by spinning the top around. Unfortunately "toothpaste" isn't one of the options yet.

Put in a reuseable container.

GoToob filled and ready to go

While this toothpaste takes a little bit of getting used to, I especially like it in the morning. I've never been much of a morning tooth brusher (sorry if you find that gross), but this toothpaste's flavour fades quickly, which means that it doesn't interfere with the taste of my breakfast. R will be happy! :)

You can find other homemade toothpaste recipes at Zero Waste Home and Say No to Trash.

Seeing as it's now the 2nd of February, I figure it's time to take my first look back at my love list from the beginning of the year.

Read more novels
So far this year I've read The Girl who Played with Fire (of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy), Catching Fire (of the Hunger Games trilogy), and Sleeping Naked is Green. I've already started The Girl who kicked the Hornets Nest and am in line to read Mocking Jay to finish up my trilogies. My Aunt and I have done some book trading, so I also have three or four novels from her to read.

Learn (and practice) to cook well  
I made my mom's 'speckle' meat loaf, so called because there are lots and lots of carrots in it.  While it was a step in the right direction, I haven't done much else!

Learn to speak Dutch
I am now on lesson 30, the last one, of Pimsleur's Dutch. I`ve learned how to say `I love the Netherlands`(Ik hou van Nederland), and I want to stay in the Netherlands (Ik wil blijven in Nederland), neither of which my family will be too happy to hear, I suspect! I also learned `Nee, het is te duur`, which means No, it`s too expensive, an important thing to know in Dutch according to R

Get rid of the junk in my bedroom and the garage
I went through two boxes in my garage, and labelled them as garage sale. My parents are planning on having one in the spring, so I thought i might partake. Anything that doesn't get sold will go to a reuse store or on freecycle. Nothing I own is nice enough to put on consignment!

Simplify my wardrobe
Rather than reducing my wardrobe in January, I added... But I added thoughtfully and with purpose. I bought two v-neck sweaters whose arms go to my elbows (just like I like them), one black and one purple, and one light blue button down shirt with the same type of arms. If it had been cheaper, I would have bought the light purple one as well. I also got some new underwear to replace some old stuff that needs to be replaced. February will be for eliminating the parts of my wardrobe that I don`t need.

Finally get my Professional Engineer designation
Work has been chaotic, which is why I've been a delinquent here, and a delinquent with my PEO application.

Pay off my debt
About a year ago I started tracking my spending with Mint. It's a pretty easy to use system, and there are cool graphs, like the following:


As you can see, my net income has been in the positive for the past 4 months! Which means, slowly but surely my debt is being paid off. When it gets closer, I`ll share the page of the net worth. It`s too depressing to share at the moment. The giant dip into the red was from when I went to Peru. A trip very much worth it!

Run 10 miles
Seeing as I'm already signed up to do one third (10km) of the Around the Bay Race as part of Team Spatula Runners, I might as well add it to my love list! I've been trying to run 3 times a week, and it hasn't been terrible. I'm going to have to start increasing my distances soon, seeing as the race is in March.

I also signed up to do the Tough Mudder with my Wipeout Canada family in August. I didn't quite realize what I was getting myself into when I signed up, but needless to say I will have to get my butt in gear to prepare for it. 10 miles?! Yes I can!


Track the waste that I produce each week/month
In January,  I generated 702 g of landfill and 1,202 g of recycling.Weight wise, that's about as much as a 2L bottle of pop. Volume wise, it's probably much bigger.

Now I've got a target. There's still lots to do, but I've made a lot of changes to help facilitate that. And you're going to hear all about them, whether you want to or not!
I ended up tired of weighing my waste every day, which is why there`s a giant weigh in at the end of the month. This is how I'm going to operate going forward.

On a related note, I share garbage bins with my roommate and our upstairs neighbours. It drives me bonkers that they seem to fill up 2 'medium' sized bins, while we only use a small kitchen catcher in a two week period. I'm half tempted to label them as 'upper' and 'lower' to see if anything changes, though it's probably too passive aggressive. Maybe I'll suggest to my landlord that he replace one of the 'medium' bins with a 'small' bin for us!

I work for an engineering consulting firm. If you've seen office space or read Dilbert, you've got a pretty good idea of what I deal with on a daily basis. The company I work for is pretty good about being environmentally conscious. Most of the company's buildings are either LEED Certified, or are in the process of certifying, we report our Carbon Footprint yearly, are pursuing ISO 14000 certification (boring reading, if you're interested), and have a yearly commuter challenge. We can sign up to have our pay stubs electronically through e-post, rather than by mail, which of course I did!

At an office level, the printers are automatically set up to print on both sides, there is a bin in the main kitchen for compost and recycling in addition to garbage. There's also a lot of ceramic mugs, plates, and for everyone to use. And so long as there isn't a lunch 'n' learn going on, there's usually cutlery as well! Our office usually does pretty well in the commuter challenge, and could easily do better if people would participate. (I'm a joiner, always have been!) Not surprisingly, there are things that I'd like to add, like a compost/recycling program for the paper towels in the bathroom, but all in all, it's not bad.

It's also a really cool looking office, it was converted from the old McGreggor Sock Factory. Check it out!


I've also made some personal changes at work to try and reduce the amount of waste that I personally produce. A lot of my job involves comparing something to a code or standard, like the LEED Reference Guide or ASHRAE Standard. Or both, on a good day! I requested (and got) a second screen so that I could avoid having to print those codes and standards.  I also put a 'references' toolbar on the menu bar for the codes and standards I use the most so they're as easy to access as the binders I used to keep them in.

I also added a 'projects' toolbar to access my project folders so that I don't have to keep project binders. My old boss loved to have project binders. So much so that he would print everything, including emails, and store them in the project binder. And I work in the 'Sustainable Buildings' group... It drove me crazy!!! I have since filed most the relevant documents and recycled most of the rest.  I did keep a few binders for active projects as a test to see if I use them in the next 3 months. If I don't, they're all going to be filed, and I will no longer keep paper copies of anything!

I keep single sided prints, both mine (when I have an odd size of pages to print) and the ones I see in the recycling box in the printing room, and keep them as scratch pads. I know our Ottawa office keeps ALL single sided prints and every once in a while someone makes scratch pads for anyone in the office who wants one. My goal for this year is to start a similar program.

I keep a 750mL glass bottle at my desk for water. Having it there reminds me to drink the 8 glasses I should be drinking in a day. I also have a personal mug for my coffee and tea, and I brought one of my extra hankies to work to cover up food I put in the microwave rather than a paper towel.

I use One Note to record my phone calls and teleconferences, rather than keeping them in a notebook. They're much easier to search through, if needed, and there's obviously far less waste. My next challenge will be to try to do this in real meetings. I'm not a big fan of laptops in meetings because it feels like they put up a barrier between the user and the rest of the group, so I'm thinking about requesting a tablet for taking notes. I've only ever used one for games, so I don't know if it's a viable option, but I can't think of any other. The key will be to remember to turn it off when it's not in use!

Lastly, I got a power bar that has an on-off button and plugged all of my electronics to that.  That way my monitor, computer, desk lamp and cell phone charger are not drawing phantom power while I'm not even there.

I mentioned in a previous post about waste that I felt better about using aluminum cans for my cat food rather than plastic bags because it seems like more of a recycling process rather than a downcycling process, but I never got into any more details about why.

I define recycling simply as the processing of waste materials into new materials or products of the same quality. So from this, you can probably guess that I define upcycling as the processing of waste materials into materials or products of better quality, and downcycling as the processing of waste materials into materials or products of lesser quality and reduced functionality.

For now, I`m  happier with the aluminum can because there is no limit to the amount of times an aluminum can can be recycled. An aluminum can that is thrown away can still be a can 500 years from now! Yes, it still needs to be processed, which takes energy and creates waste, but it`s still better than mining bauxite from the earth, don`t you think?

source

"Plastic" is a very generic term for a wide variety of materials which have very different physical and chemical properties. This is one of the things that makes them so difficult to recycle. Plastic Identification Codes (PIC) is the system that identifies the different types so they can be separated for reprocessing. However, just because a plastic has a PIC on it does not mean it can be recycled. Mixing plastics during reprocessing can weaken recovered plastic, which makes it less appealing to manufacturers to use in their products. Even if it is sorted by type, plastic can only be recycled a limited number of times and it is often used to produce items that are not themselves recyclable.

source

Don't get me wrong, downcycling has its place. I would much rather potentially useful materials are reused a few times rather than just being sent to the landfill immediately. But at some point, that material has an end of life. It will no longer be useful and will end up in a landfill or ocean garbage island. Yuck.

source

Here's a wee hint from my dad, who's a bit in the know about waste management. Leave the lids off your plastic bottles when you throw them in the recycling. They're made of a different type of plastic that can't be recycled. It's apparently a problem for recyclers.

Check out My Plastic Free Life. Beth is doing a much better job that I am at cutting plastic waste from her life.

The results are in, and, while I obviously could have done better, I could also have done a lot worse too! This week, I chose to eat out at the bakery close to work that uses local produce and packages their sandwiches in paper bags rather than the Thai place that uses styrofoam when I forgot my lunch at home. I also went to the St. Lawrence Farmer's Market to get some local produce, where I was complimented for my use of reusable bags!


On a somewhat related not, I just started reading "Sleeping Naked is Green," which is the book based on the blog "Green as a Thistle." The author, Vanessa Farquharson, challenges herself to make one green change to her lifestyle every day for a year. The description says she goes to the extremes of selling her car, unplugging the fridge, and washing her hair with vinegar, but she also does easy things like switching to an all-natural lip balm. I only just hit the part where she turns off her freezer, though. It's supposed to be an honest look at what happens when an average girl throws herself into the depths of the green movement, and so far, I like it.

I have been very diligent about returning mail that is sent to my house to a different addressee. Except for two of the letters I sent back, got sent to me a second time, with the "RETURN TO SENDER" right on it, the amount of this type of mail I get has gone down significantly. It has not, however, reduced the amount of junk mail/unaddressed admail I get. After weighing the junk mail I put into my recycling yesterday, I am (hopefully) putting a stop to this.

Canada Post has an opt out program for admail. I did as they suggested, and put up this notice from the red dot campaign on my mailbox stating that I do not want to receive unaddressed admail.

If I keep receiving admail, I am happy to report that I can call Canada Post to report that it's still being delivered to my house!

I also signed up with the Canadian Marketing Association's Do Not Contact Registry in an attempt to reduce the number of addressed marketing offers sent to my address. Canada Post is required by law to deliver any mail that bears your address, so hopefully this in combination with the No Junk Mail sign will result in me only getting mail that's addressed to me.

And lastly, I signed up to get my pay stub electronically. I always thought it was odd to get paper pay stubs, especially since I get paid directly to my bank account. When the option became available, I think I was one of the first to sign up. The next step will be to convince all of my co-workers to do the same!

Do you do anything to reduce the amount of admail you get?

addition: I have started returning solicitations with a prepaid Business Reply Mail envelope. As suggested on the Red Dot Campaign FAQ, I wrote "Do Not Solicit" on the letter containing my name and address, signed and dated it, then put it in the prepaid envelope and mailed it off

On Sunday, friends of mine hosted their 3rd annual New Years Day party, which this year was preceded by all you can eat sushi. I used disposable chopsticks, and forgot to ask for no straw. I also ate an excessive amount of individually wrapped chocolates. I'm not sure to do about my compulsive need to eat chocolate, but I do know that next time I plan to eat sushi, I will bring my own re-useable chopsticks. I have some that friends of mine gave as wedding favours!

Monday I recycled a paper bag from a coffee shop breakfast, a cat food can and a subway transfer which I took accidentally. The cat food cans will be a reoccurring item, because I'm pretty sure I can't find a zero waste replacement. I'm content with the cans for now rather than the plastic bags that the dry food comes in. I feel as though the process and end uses for aluminum cans are more of a recycling process, whereas the process and end uses for plastics are more of a downcycling process. But that is another post for another day.


For the record, I will not be sharing every bit of waste I produce all year, just the things that I've learned how to eliminate!

2012 has some big shoes to fill. The past year was filled with some pretty amazing stuff:

• Wipeout Canada Beauties vs. Geeks aired. I was cut from the episode, but it was still a great experience.
• I met a pretty fantastic Dutch man, a perfect match for me, thanks to a pick-up line from "How I met your Mother'.
• I ran my first 10K with my Wipeout Toronto family.
• I spent 2 weeks in Peru and hiked the Inka trail to Machu Picchu.
• I moved in to an awesome new apartment with a wicked new housemate.
• I spent 2 weeks in the Netherlands working and traveling with my Dutch man.

Not a bad year, if you ask me.

I'm not a huge fan of new year's resolutions, so I made a love list, as suggested on be more with less:

• Grow a garden on our porch
• Read more novels
• Learn (and practice) to cook well 
• Learn to speak Dutch
• Get rid of the junk in my bedroom and the garage
• Simplify my wardrobe
• Finally get my Professional Engineer designation (late addition) 
• Pay off my debt
• Track the waste that I produce each week/month

I like this love list idea. There are lots of studies that show that writing down goals increases the likelihood that I will actually do them. I also believe that it's easier to make small changes to my habits over time, rather than making a bunch all at once. Plus, I intend to blog about the waste tracking, so you can keep me honest.

Happy New Year!

Tonight I went to the grocery store to stock up for the next few days. I wanted to make a casserole that I can eat for the next few days, but failed to plan ahead. I had to buy packaged pasta, oatmeal, chicken and cheese at the grocery store rather than at the market, which was closed.

Lesson learned.

(source)

I love the XKCD webcomic. It's funny and geeky, a perfectly amazing combination for me. Today, however, it makes a pretty sad, yet 'funny because it's true', commentary on plastic bag use that made me want to share.

I was in the mood for a crunchy snack while I was at the grocery store, so I picked up a package of crispy rice crackers. I was a little shocked and dismayed by how much package was involved for these small little chips.

Look at all this packaging!! Source

So I went on a little internet hunt for some crispy rice cracker recipes!

I mishmashed a bunch of recipes together (including the Homemade Senbei Japanese Rice Crackers at Ivy's Feast, Crispy Rice Crackers at Tess's Japanese Kitchen and Homemade Rice Crackers with Nori at Tes at Home) and came out with a really simple recipe. Plus, they go really great with my cousin's Hummus dip! I am hoping to experiment by adding some different flavours like cheese and bbq, and maybe trying to make crispy quinoa crackers, but I'm taking baby steps with this.

I also came across these Best Snacers (and Breeze) ever on Making Love in the Kitchen. They weren't really the type of rice cracker I was looking for, but I'm keen to make these. Plus, if I can really substitute quinoa in these, I'm a happy girl. I love quinoa!

But for now, my version of Rice Crackers.

3/4 cups rice flour 3/4 cups cooked Japanese rice 2 tbsp vegetable oil   0.5 tsp salt 4 tbsp cup water 2 tbsp sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 400.

Combine the rice flour, rice, vegetable oil and salt in a food processor. Pulse until finely ground. 

Fine ground rice, flour, oil and salt

While the processor is on, add the water.

The water made the dough very sticky

Transfer to a bowl and add the sesame seeds. Knead to combine.

Make 3/4 inch balls of dough. Cover with rice flour and press with the bottom of a glass or bowl.  I found they were best when they were about 1/8 inch thick.

I used LOTS of rice flour to keep these from sticking

 Bake for 5-7 minutes on each side or until slightly brown.

The engineer in me hates that they are not uniform

I was pleasantly surprised how delicious these were!! I figure these are healthier than the store bought ones (though I haven't confirmed this yet) and they produced zero waste, thanks to the bulk food store and my homemade drawstring bags! I call that a big success!

Note to self: Put white crackers into a coloured bowl next time!