Tag: zero waste

Furoshiki – waste free wrapping/carrying

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Learning and drooling at the beautiful fabrics, all at the same time

Recently, I went to a free class run in Bern by Live Green, to learn the Japanese art of Furoshiki. I love a good course/class and jumped at the chance to learn about this versatile technique/skill.

Furoshiki is a brilliant, no waste option for wrapping and carrying things. The fabrics come in different sizes, to be used for different purposes. Our teacher, Ye, said most Asian (Japanese, Chinese, Koren) households used to have one or more and they were used for everything. But her husband Mike noted that, unfortunately, this is a tradition of the past and plastic products have taken over. He said in Japan it is currently experiencing a revival with the Zero Waste movement, which is great to hear. Continue reading →

Charcoal water filter

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Charcoal is not just for chicken!

While in Australia over the 2016-2017 festive season, we found a store with all sorts of goodies I like, especially this one. A charcoal water filter.

In Switzerland, our water is of a very high quality, but it has a lot of lime/calcium in it and often I’ve noticed a strange smell.

Voila! Slip one of these little babies into the jug and after five hours the water is purified. No smell, no taste – just that clean water sensation. Delicious!

Here’s the one we found, but I’m sure there are plenty of other brands selling them. I like that this comes in cardboard with minimal packaging. The sticks are fragile though, so you need to be careful they don’t splinter when putting them in the jug and pouring from it. By pure luck, the first one I used sits nicely under the rim and doesn’t move.

Minimal packaging
The remaining two sticks

Here’s a short version of the blurb: “This package contains several sticks of kishu binchotan … it absorbs chlorine and heavy metals. It also alkalises water.”

Each one lasts about two months (I’m going to stretch mine for longer and see if I notice a change). For me, this is way better than a plastic set up where you have to buy the plastic-coated filters. And once it’s done it’s job, the stick goes into the compost. Or the packaging says you can put it in the fridge to soak up smells.

Do you use charcoal sticks? Or do you have a different water filter system?

Wishing you a wonderful day.

No more throwaway utensils

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At the end of 2016, I bought a sewing machine – something I’ve been wanting for ages. When the mood to sew strikes, I now have no excuses! (Before, I borrowed a friend’s.)

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Leo and I are now set for zero waste foodie adventures

For Christmas, I made my family zippered cutlery pouches (men) and wraps (women) to eliminate using plastic utensils when on the go.

The bamboo cutlery, chopsticks, stainless steel straws (the bigger one is for smoothies) and napkins are light enough to keep in your bag all the time.

I really enjoyed doing this! Here’s what some of the others looked like. Mine, above, was the prototype, using The Rogue Ginger’s pattern, here.

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Waiting to be filled with the cutlery and straws

For me this is a really sensible, practical and easy step in reducing waste.

I’m sure they would be available to buy on sites like etsy, by searching “cutlery wrap”. Maybe one day I’ll make them to sell too?!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

A Tale of Two Sicilys … Part 1

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IMG_7487Sicily … oh, Sicily … the name conjures up all sorts of images – blue seas, blue skies, scarf-wearing nonnas, ancient villages, the mafia, sun-ripened tomatoes, vineyards, fresh seafood, and if you like detective stories, you’ll be thinking Inspector Montalbano too.

We’ve just come home from another fantastic two-week holiday, but it isn’t all of the above. There’s another side to Sicily that is never promoted. And why would it be? I feel torn about writing this post, because I couldn’t wait to go back after last year’s initiation, but it needs to be said.

Sicily is trashed. Majorly trashed.

This is what we are led to believe it looks like …

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Waves and sunshine and boats and ruins … what’s not to love?

Continue reading →

How much does it cost? Week 2

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That’s not a zucchini … THIS is a zucchini 😉 Homegrown goodness!

Finally I have time to write about week 2 of the “as organic as possible, waste-free grocery shopping” experiment.

As mentioned in week 1, some people are concerned that waste free = expensive. Buying organic also costs more than normal produce, so I’m going to do a little experiment to see how much I spend each week on groceries. This unfortunately not unfortunately will be hindered by the fact we’re on holidays from 21 August, but hey, it’s still worth doing the sums.

Continue reading →

Our new friend, the butcher

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We live in a small village, just outside the centre of Switzerland’s capital, Bern. During the week we don’t really eat meat, but on the weekends in summer it’s nice to throw a sausage on the barbecue or have a lasagna with salad.

During the first week of Plastic Free July, I took my own container to the meat counter at one of the two big supermarket chains. It was their main store in Bern. I chose some lamb and asked if it could be put in my glass container. The man refused, citing health and safety regulations. I tried to “strike up a discussion” (notice I’m not using the word argue!) that I took responsibility for my own actions and it would be fine as I would be eating the meat that night. He said no (man, I hate that word!), and because I had no (there it is again!) time to go anywhere else, I accepted the lamb, wrapped in a thin sheet of plastic and put inside a waxy, one-use-only paper bag.

As I walked off, feeling verrrry disappointed, I heard him tell a co-worker I wanted to use my own container. I didn’t hear any more of the discussion, but I hope it got them thinking! But this little exercise inspired me to hurry up and find a plan b … to refuse the refuse … because there’s always a plan b, right? Continue reading →