How To: Zero Waste Coffee
I love coffee. I drink it every day and have since I was about 15 years old. It was my saving grace in college and kept me sentient during many a sleepless night. Unfortunately, my addiction love, for coffee used to come with a high price tag, both for me and for the environment. I used to buy my coffee every…
My Trash Jar: Two Weeks of Trash
This post has been a long time coming. Over the past two weeks I have kept all of my trash in a mason jar to start documenting my output. I am going to keep doing this until the end of the year and see how little I can produce! So this is it. I have a small pile of about…
Zero Waste Pasta Recipe
On my way to a friend’s wedding, I stopped at the 4th Street Food Co-op to buy some bulk Organic olive oil (so far the only place in the city where I can find it), and ended up leaving with a free squash. A squash the size and girth of a bowling ball. AKA the most awkward thing try and…
28 Ways to Upcycle a Twist Tie
We all know them, Twist Ties. They come wrapped around veggies or bread and can be found at markets to close plastic bags. They could seem like nothing but trash, but I recently realized that they are far more useful than I ever thought possible. Here are 28 new ways to use them: My favorite, to organize unruly cords as…
What is Waste, Anyway?
How do I define waste? Probably the most obvious question that I have never answered. But do do so, I first wanted to see how others define waste to better understand what I consider it to be: Waste(s) is a pejorative term for unwanted materials. The term can be described as subjective and inaccurate because waste to one person is not waste to another.…
Zero Waste Dental Care
I recently saw an advertisement that said there are 4.7 billion plastic toothbrushes produced annually with each brush lasting about 1000 years. I saw a second piece, which said that over 80 million pounds of toothbrushes are thrown into North American landfills each year. Please note, while I could not track down the reviewed sources of these statements and can…
Interview with The Daily Slope
My friend Natalia published an article yesterday for The Daily Slope called “Recycling Tips from “Trash is for Tossers” (No longer available) which talks about NYC recycling, composting, and ways to stay green as the leaves start changing. “While we are all excited for flannel plaid jackets, pumpkin-spice everything, and that familiar smell of turning leaves in Prospect Park, the cool…