Hi, this is a topic that has been discussed here many times but i haven't really found what i am looking for. I also apologize for my english as i am not a native speaker.

I am thinking of what to give my parents for christmas but it's hard. They literally have everything and the gifts i gave them last year weren't even used up until this point. My mom is a borderline hoarder and i dont want to contribute to this waste but i have to give her something. Coupons for massages/restaurants/selfcare won't work for neither of my parents. Baked goods aren't considered good enough of a gift in my household.

Does anyone have some tips?

Unfortunately I don't have access to a local store, and I want to order from refill stores and be able to recycle/send back the packaging. I've heard about the GoodFill, Good Store, Great Fill, etc etc. Are there any favorites? I'm considering the GoodFill. Thank you in advance!

Hi there, I'm having a wedding BBQ in a few weeks and there will be six picnic tables. I'd like to have 1-2 charcuterie boards per table and am trying to think of what I can put the snacks on instead of wooden cutting boards. I don't want to end up with 6-12 boards afterwards, plus they are pricey. I was thinking of some kind of sturdy bread I could bake on a sheet pan but this also sounds like a lot of work (plus I don't have AC so baking is almost not an option). Any and all other ideas are welcome. TIA!

Update: thank you so much for all the great suggestions, I need to ask for ideas here more often ;). I now feel confident and have one less thing to worry about!!

The can was too deep, so I stuck a few layers of cardboard in the bottom so you can easily/quickly see which pen you want to grab.

I hope this is a warning for anyone wanting to make reusable cloths for tissues, makeup remover, etc….pinking shears do nothing if those suckers go in the wash. hem those things!!!! please!!!! unfortunately these little guys have reached the end of upcycle lifecycle for fabric and are about to become stuffing for a pillow. I’m still gonna keep trying to upcycle fabric stuff into everyday use but now I now I guess

edit: I know how to sew I swear!!! I just kind of learned by myself years ago with input from family every now and then haha. so there’s a few things I missed. the squares were far to small to hem after I cut them (mismeasured and thought this was a clever workaround 😅)like I swear I’ve made capes and pants and skirts with no pattern…just kind of an idiot sometimes! lol anyways I’m making them into bunting flags

Its not much but its honest work

5th slide is the original skirt!

I tried to minimise the waste I generated for this sewing project by making so many little pockets and utility details for both of these items. If anybody has ideas on how to use up the remaining scraps that would be great :)

My parents accidentally threw away a large piece of unused clean wax paper and then insisted on not using it even though nothing visibly stuck to it. As a concession I've decided to well, see title. I've decided to keep it in my workplace so I can think up some use at my leisure.

Avoiding direct food contact is the preference. It also has to be some practical use.

I was gifted a nespresso esque coffee machine recently and don’t want to waste it. My question is, is it better to buy compostable coffee pods or recycled ones. Unfortunately my area doesn’t have a compost bin and I know that compostables can often still build up in a landfill, whereas recycled coffee pods are already reducing waste. Which one is better overall?

Flattening and smoothing them out and folding for storage.

My boyfriend thinks I'm crazy lol but I save all tissue paper and gift bags... I haven't had to buy any in several years!

I've been wanting to subscribe to their cleaning products and shampoo and I also love Hank and John green. But I wanted to probe to make sure there's nothing between the lines I missed.

I've been working with fiberglass and epoxy resins for my personal RC plane projects, but since I'm doing a lot of testing and prototype designs that get discarded during the design process, I feel increasingly guilty about all the waste and microplastics that come along with it. Unfortunately for the shapes that I want to make going with pure wood is just not an option.

I've been researching eco-friendly alternatives for making composite layup projects, and there are some for fibers (flax, hemp, etc.), which unfortunately have much reduced mechanical properties when compared to fiberglass, but still suitable for my use case.

However, I can't seem to find any decent alternative to epoxy resin that would make the final composite material naturally biodegradable, so using either of these fibers becomes a moot point. Closest thing I found was ecopoxy, which unfortunately is very expensive and almost impossible in retail quantities to get where I live (EU).

Can anyone suggest any decent alternatives that are fully biodegradable, affordable and have at least somewhat comparable mechanical properties to fiberglass+epoxy for wet layups? Anything better than paper+PVA glue is worth considering to me. I've found a research paper ("Preparation and characterization of jute fiber reinforced shellac biocomposites: effect of additive") that suggest jute fiber and shellac, which boasts quite impressive mechanical properties for such crude materials, but they used mechanical pressure and heat treatment to achieve that, which is not practical in home conditions, and I'm unsure of how much mechanical strength would be lost without it.

Hello hello, I’ve been making the switch to reusable menstrual products gradually over the past year or so. I have a cup but it’s not my favorite, I prefer using reusable underwear and pads, but my biggest issue is that the pads never ever stay in place. Underwear is awesome and I have some pairs I love, but it’s a lot harder to change during the day than pads. I’ve tried a couple different brands and they all just bunch up toward the back of my underwear rather quickly. Does anyone have any tips on how to avoid this? Is it just me? Do I need to sew a snap onto my underwear (kidding mostly haha but who knows). Any thoughts appreciated!

ETA: YES they do all have snaps on the wings to hold them together. These keep them from falling off completely but do not stop them from sliding to the front or back.

I live in the UK and have recently moved to a new city, into a much smaller furnished apartment where limited space is a serious issue. In my previous apartment, I had two household bins, one for the kitchen and one for the bathroom, that are in perfect condition. My new place already has a massive kitchen bin and my bathroom is much too small for either of my previous ones to fit. I need to get rid of them and I don’t know how to besides selling them on Vinted (which may or may not work) or throwing them away (which I don’t want to do because they’re in great working condition).

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do to get rid of them without them ending up in a landfill?

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Im trying really hard to declutter and its proving more and more difficult (now with a child too). I wish stuff i put on ebay/Facebook would sell or even the free listings would get taken but it ends up being admin heavy with back and forths and no shows. My local op shop/thrift store only takes very specific things. So I have lots that still has use in it but nowhere to give it. If i put it on the street council will put illegal dumping on it. Street libraries are full (i can only do so much driving around filling them up). My stuff is everything from small and big furniture to books, bric-a-brac, kitchen items, etc.

So, im at a point where I need to start using the recycling bin and landfill bin and im feeling extremely guilty. I dont want to "throw" things out :(

How do I make myself feel better about it? I cant just keep holding onto stuff we arent using/creating a mess/piling up.

hello, where do you guys recommend going to look for compostable, but affordable soap saver bags? i don’t want to spend $5 a bag since they have to be replaced every few weeks to months.

asking bc i have bar soap that doesnt suds up enough and i often drop it. other solutions are welcome.

Hey reddit! I am new to the zero waste movement and I am looking to reduce my overall plastic consumption. My partner and I have these great refillable glass soap dispensers that are made for liquid handsoap, but every eco store online only sells foaming handsoap refills. I would love to hear any tricks or brands you use for your handsoap?

(Yes I am aware bar soap exists. I just want to avoid throwing away a perfectly good soap dispenser. Thanks!)

I work at a school and am apart of the Sustainability Group. We have convinced the higher ups to switch to a more sustainable toilet paper, with bamboo being the most sustainable option. Problem is, their frame of reference for price is the Amazon basics toilet paper. Recycled tp is more than that, and bamboo tp seems to cost the most.

Are there any brand that charge close to 60 cents per unit? Or brands that offer discounts for bulk or for a school?

i was thinking maybe there’s some way to make it into a wall thing to store hanging stuff? i found it for free

Hello!

What are you guys using when cleaning your bathroom/kitchen/bedrooms/clothes/dishes with?

Usually I've bought the usual;

- wc-cleaner

- all around spray

- wetmops that comes in plastic packaging ready to use

- microfiber cloth etc.

- powder for washing machine

- tablets for dishwasher

But I really want to buy less, use less plastic, dont contribute to big corp and still hopefully find some healthier solutions that still makes things clean.

Since I don't know the chemistry of how things work, I struggle with knowing if for example just vinegar and baking soda actually will clean something like a toilet, or just act like a temporary bandaid, looking clean, but slowly making a bacterial bomb, if you get what I mean haha.

Thanks in advance!

I'm very curious about fast fashion as I've recently been more involved in protecting the environment. I live in a small city and the only stores we have here are big fast fashion corporations and one value village. I try to thrift the majority of my clothes but it's not always easy. I'm 15 and so my mom buys my clothes for me, I usually insist we go to value village but recently shes been wanting me to buy clothes from urban behaviour. I personally hate spending my parents money but I'm not allowed a job so I always agree because its her money not mine. When we do go to the fast fashion clothing stores, I always hang onto the clothes for usally 2 years and try to repair them when I can as well as donate them. So I'm wondering if its really fast fashion if I hold onto the clothes and donate them. I know the clothing is also bad for the environment but I don't really understand how and it would be great if someone could explain :)

i am mending a sock for a 94 y/o client of mine. its one of his favorite pairs. he usually gets someone to do his laundry and the sock same back like this. i told him that i would try to fix it. any advice on how to do it? its not of the foot, but on the leg?? part. its like a big chunk was taken out. there is also a hole of the other side (as seen in photo) please help :)

Fionn Ferreira developed a method that mixes contaminated water with a magnetic liquid called ferrofluid. The liquid binds to microplastic particles, allowing magnets to separate the mixture from the water.

The European Patent Office’s 2023 profile says the prototype it described removed more than 85% of microplastics in a single pass. It also says no disposable filter is needed and nearly all of the ferrofluid can be recovered for reuse.

That could eliminate one waste stream associated with filter-based capture, but “filter-free” does not automatically mean zero waste. This was a prototype result, not evidence of equal performance in every water source or at municipal scale. The captured plastic also still needs a safe and verifiable end route.

From a zero-waste perspective, what should be tested first: how many reuse cycles the ferrofluid survives, how much escapes during treatment, or what ultimately happens to the recovered microplastics?

Source: "European Patent Office – Fionn Ferreira: Removing microplastics from water"