Our team at MASS Environmental Services Inc. is committed to making changes in our daily lives to reduce our negative impact on the environment. Day-in and day-out, we eat, sleep, and breathe Waste Diversion. Limiting the amount of material that we send to landfill through reduction, re-use, and recycling efforts is imperative to us. This truly is the backbone of everything we do. A part of this effort for us has been looking at what alternative products we could source as individuals to help us to create less garbage (especially in the face of the current Global Recycling Crisis).
Below, we have linked some of our very favourite products that each of use in our own homes, as we each work diligently to achieve a Zero Waste Lifestyle.
The Food Cycler
What Is It?
The Food Cycler is a small unit (it looks sort of like a bread maker!) that can fit right on the counter in your very own kitchen. It comes with a removable pail that you can fill with food-scraps throughout the day. When the container is full, close the lid, and turn it on. In 3-5 hours, the unit will cycle and create a nutrient rich soil amendment that you can use as compost in your gardens right at home.
Why Do We Love It?
Many municipalities still do not offer a curbside program for organics collection. This gives anyone who does not have a program the ability to create compost right at home. We love it because there is absolutely no smell, it is super quick, and insanely convenient! When food waste goes to landfill it creates SIX TIMES it’s own weight in methane gas (which is one of the most harmful greenhouse gasses that can cause climate change). We can each reduce our own impact on climate change by diverting our food-waste from landfill, and treating it as the valuable resource it is!
Collapsible Coffee Cup
What Is It?
A BPA Free Food-Grade Silicone Coffee Cup that collapses into a small, portable version that you can carry with you everywhere. Use at coffee shops and on-the-go instead of disposable cups that will fill up our landfills and litter our environment.
Why Do We Love It?
Let’s face it: most of us probably already own more travel mugs than we know what to do with! But they are big and bulky, and all-too-easy to forget at home. We believe that in order for sustainability to be effective, it must be manageable. A small, portable cup like this fits the need of convenience. We can throw it in a bag and bring it with us wherever we go without a second thought! How awesome is that!?
Food Storage Containers
What Is It?
Reusable Food Storage Containers are another product that many of us already own. But there is no reason not to keep your shelves stocked if you are putting them to good use! These containers are a convenient way to store food in your home and on the go.
Why Do We Love It?
So often, when you get take-out or bring your leftovers home from a restaurant, the container they give it to you in is styrofoam (which has a very limited recycling market). By taking these with us when we go out for a meal, we always know we will be able to bring home our leftovers without filling our landfills and oceans with single-use plastics that must go to waste!
Stainless Steel Straw Set
What Is It?
A set of stainless steel straws including the bent style, the straight style, the wide style for smoothies, a cleaning brush, and a carrying case. This provides users with an alternative to the plastic straws that are often seen harming marine life, and filling our landfills.
Why Do We Love It?
We love this set in particular because of the variety that comes with it! Bent straws are preferable for many people for comfort, whereas others like the straight style (especially for beverages like cold brew coffee). The smoothie straw can also be used for bubble tea (which we are a huge fan of!) The cleaning brush is easy to use and make keeping hygiene a priority super easy. While we know not everyone is able to make the switch to reusable straws like this, those of us who are should definitely consider the option! Each of our choices has an impact on the earth. Making positive ones to mitigate our environmental footprint is always a good idea!
Beeswax Food Wrap
What Is It?
This is a reusable food wrap made out of beesways from Abeego. It comes in three different sizes to fit your varying needs. This product is an alternative to other plastic food-wraps (example: saran wrap) that you may be currently using in your kitchen that are non-recyclable.
Why Do We Love It?
You can get about a years worth of use out of this product (even more if you take good care of it! Then, when you are ready to replace it, it can actually be composted, which makes it especially awesome in our book! Plastic food wrap is a product we found tricky to replace at first, but this makes it easy and convenient for everyone!
Mesh Produce Bags
What Is It?
These polyester mesh produce bags are intended to be used as an alternative to the plastic bags that are given out in the fruits & veggies section of the supermarket. They can be used both to transport / carry produce, and to store it at home, after purchase.
Why We Love It?
It’s interesting that while most of us made the swap to re-usable grocery totes years ago, reusable produce bags are only just now having a surge in popularity! These are so convenient because of their small size, you can even put them in your coat pocket so as to avoid forgetting them when you go for groceries. We also love bringing them to the Farmer’s Market and using them to carry local produce as we shop around.
Collapsible Water Bottle
What Is It?
This is a BPA Free Food-Grade Silicone water bottle that conveniently collapses so that you can carry it with you everywhere you go! Stay hydrated on-the-go, without contributing to the plastic crisis we are currently facing as a global community.
Why Do We Love It?
Like so many of these products, we love this water bottle because of it’s convenience factor! As with the coffee cups, most of us own countess water bottles already, but they are big and bulky, and can be annoying to lug around. This collapsible version eliminates that problem when it becomes small and compact enough to be thrown into any purse or bag! This eliminates the need for use of plastic water bottles, which is a win for everyone!
There you have it! Those are some of our very favourite Zero Waste Products right now! Comment below and let us know what your current faves are … & let us know your favourite Zero Waste Shops to check out! Together, we can make a difference.
