I’ve been trying to reduce the amount of waste that our household produces, including items that can be recycled. Having a kindy aged kid (note to everyone else around the world, this is the year before formal schooling) helps with this as everything can be turned into art projects – lids are highly prized at the moment, as are toilet paper rolls.
We use the toilet paper rolls combined with supermarket catalogues to create new “food” for our toy kitchen – when I was little my mum used small boxes from my dad’s work to build me a supermarket, I think boxes would work better but we’re using what we have.
I follow Purging Plastics: Journey to a Waste Free Lifestyle and it has made me more aware of the plastic that I am using. Today I took home a plastic container from a lunch that I ordered out so that I can reuse it at home. Yes, it’s a super small thing, but I figure that small steps are better than nothing.
Through a friend’s recommendation I also ordered toilet paper from Who Gives A Crap – besides the amusing name, the toilet paper comes wrapped in colourful paper, delivered in a sturdy cardboard box. It is made from recycled paper, and they give half of their profits to Water Aid. The toilet paper is made in China, but I couldn’t find any recycled paper toilet paper that was made in Australia, toilet paper is light to ship, and the donation to Water Aid won me over to give it a try. It shipped here super fast (was at my house less than 24 hours later) and is really great! The way that it looks nice stacked up on the toilet windowsill is a bonus too.
We used the box as a cubby for a while, it’s now cut in half in the backyard for a reason that I can’t quite remember. Perhaps it was a boat? The toilet paper was also popular for stacking into a pyramid, leading me to utter the words, “If you don’t pack the toilet paper away, you can’t play with it again tomorrow.”
All small stuff, but there’s less in our bin, so it must be having an impact.
Any suggestions for other small things that might help lead to less waste?
Mumma, Did You Know? 
I’ve also been trying to reduce plastic. It’s been difficult, and I must admit I abandoned my cause due to life stress with a new baby who hates sleep, but I’m hoping to pick it up again when things settle down.
It’s difficult because it seems everything comes in plastic, and the closest bulk food place is over 3 hours away. Not really a budget friendly idea.
Also, I can’t even shop at that bulk food place if I wanted to, because I have coeliac disease and they have cross contamination for gluten 😭. Why does everything have to be so difficult?
I started a while ago and also abandoned the cause due to a baby who hated sleep! I’m working on it again now that I get sleep again. Food coming in plastics is hard to change if your options are limited. Maybe there’s something else you could look at, or just look at reducing what you buy – after things settle down and you’re getting more sleep, of course.
I make most food from scratch, so just fruit and vegetables which reduces our plastic consumption a lot. But I use A LOT of spices. My spice draw is mental. I’m still trying to suss out all my options when it comes to spices, rice etc.
I guess just buying in bulk might help reduce it? I can’t think of any solutions for the spices that don’t involve bulk places that might have the cross contaminate risk for you.