10 ugly sustainability habits // realistic zero waste hacks (that are also free)

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[Gittemary]

What was the most and least ugly zero waste hack in your opinion? 💚 btw lots of love and happy Monday 🌿

[Sunha]

When I was in college, I saved all the paper that students left on the printers that were only printed on one side and blank on the other side, and one-sided handouts from professors. I used the blank side for scratch paper, to do lists, notes, etc. before recycling. It’s been 4 years since I graduated and I still have tons of paper left that I still use

[lizmednick]

Ugly sustainability tip: When my pajamas or cotton shirt wear out I tear them into rough squares or rectangles and use them as handkerchiefs. I don't bother hemming them. They're always super soft, easy on the nose, iron up nicely and I get decades of use out of them. When they're finally in complete tatters, I compost them.

[jeannettelee]

I’m a 60 yo Afro American woman from Winterville NC USA and I been doing everything you do, I learned from my grandmother, I’m retired and have a very good pension, some people call me cheap but I live a life in comfortable luxury. Thanks grandma for teaching me common sense.

[micivalantincic]

Also adopt the black cat/dog. They are less desirable, in my local shelter they are always left. And they are just as nice as the white/beige ones. Go look for perosnality not the looks. Our black dog sleeping next to me agrees:)

[Winter_Boomershine]

We do all of these! 
A few more:

I make and gift junk journals out of paper, cardboard and tag board waste. 

There is a 49 cent rack of clothing in my local thrift store. Anything that doesn’t sell at 49 cents is thrown into the trash. I purchase all the clothing I can and turn it into cloth napkins and quilts that I donate to our Free Store. (The Free Store helps victims of domestic abuse set up their new, safe homes) I use thrifted sheets and blankets to back the quilts, flannel shirts are especially cozy for quilts. Cotton and linen fabrics make terrific napkins. I often embellish them with a bit of pretty embroidery.

[Hannahrose]

All this time I thought I was just poor for reusing everything. Turns out I’m sustainable!

[dreamingscarlettm]

Some of my ugly & free sustainability habits:
1. Saving showerwater and the water of the spinning programm from the washing machine in buckets to flush the toilet
2. Reusing plastic joghurt cups and empty food cans as pots for propagating my houseplants or for growing vegetables from seeds
3. Using food scraps to make homemade vegetable broth
4. Donating jars I no longer use to bulkshops (for custumers who might have forgotten their jar at home)
5. Saving and resusing every cardbordbox/envelope as packaging for my old clothes, books etc. that I sell at online second hand platforms
6. Using the water from washing homegrown food for watering the garden/houseplants
7. Making a "Frankensoap" using small soup scrapes

Not really ugly ones, but:
- making art out of trash
- upcycle old clothes, furniture, etc
- propagating housplants instead of buying new ones (you can even have a plant party with your friends to exchange plants with each other)

[pixireads]

I thought I was the only one who saved napkins! So glad to find I'm not alone after all. My friends think I'm crazy for saving them all.

[AnuschkavanDijke]

My grandma used to cut up envelopes and cardboard boxes to have little pieces of paper for quick notes, shopping lists. I think she did it because she knew scarcity during the war, not from an environmental point of view. Either way, I find I have assumed this habit from her and am grateful she lead by example whatever her motive was.

[Szynszula]

For chopsticks - I've bought stainless steel ones and I'm taking them with me every time I go for sushi. Some places in warsaw with korean food like Yache or Hesu have stainless steel chopsticks, but everywhere else I saw wooden single-use ones. I also try to write opinions on google maps which include suggestion that it would be cool if they had stainless steel chopsticks. I encourage you to write it on google maps too, the more of us, the bigger possibility they'll listen to us.

[marycharlebois]

Sadly, the “disposable era” of the past few decades has established a mindset of “toss out the mess… hassle-free”. This needs to Thank-you Gittemary for addressing the “ugly” aspects of living a low waste lifestyle. I grew up in a home where my Mom dyed and cut old nylons into strips to make “yarn” for knitting slippers, laundry was hung on an outdoor clothesline, milk bags were washed out & used for snack bags or sandwich bags, everything was re-used and upcycled. “Ugliness” and repurposing saves money and saves the planet!! I loved this video and am uber-thrilled to see how you adopt these practices into your daily living!! 🌎💦Ⓜ️ary💕

[janetstonerook]

I use water that I have cooked my veggies or pasta in (no salt added) to water my plants with. I dilute it a bit if it's too potent. So there are usually jars of dirty water sitting in my window sill waiting for the next watering! Life is messy and that's okay. 😻👍

[Anna_ForFutureAdventures]

YES and also gardens that are more sustainable and less neat, many people call them ugly but I love the look. It's just more natural in the purest sense. My grandpa calls this aesthetic "wild-romantic" and I adore this 😂🌿

[blancaluna]

I love mismatched tableware! You get more options, sometimes you feel like using a colorful bowl, sometimes a plain plate, sometimes fancy, sometimes rustic, it's a lot more fun, i prefer it this way :)

[fannya]

For years, I brought old paper bag to my tea shop so they can refill it with tea in bulk. But due to the pandemic, it's not allowed anymore. So I got a new bag and new piece of metal to close it each time. And I use them to stake my tomato plants. I also use big plastic yogurt pot to transplant my seedings or to gift some plants to friends. I reuse chopstick, paper towel (also stored on a zipbag), wrapping paper (+ ribbon, rope...), dog treats containers, candle jar (to make home made candle), I cut old print paper into square to make notes, convert old linen cover into wrapping bag/produce bag/ tissues. Berries cardboard containers are turned into drawer organisers, and I keep safety pins, cardboard...
I also buy the ugly vegetables at the farmer market, the produces that are about to go bad at the grocery store
I do not reuse glass jar because I already have a ton of jars, but I wash them and bring them to the charity shop, I give them to friends and neighbors...and I bring back metalic hanger to the dry cleaner's. So, sometimes my tiny appartment can be a little bit messy, but sustainability do not need to be pretty.

[MzEllaful]

When I was in college I got all my food from a dumpster. All that ugly produce you see. I think the staff knew because all the food was neatly place in the dumpster and the bathroom trash was always double bagged. This was a time before excessive surveillance cameras. I had to do my dumpster trips at 3am, which can be exhausting. One week the store wasn't throwing any food out, so I had to go back to the dumpster every single night for a week. I had to get very creative on how I ate. It's a shame that some companies will go to great extremes to keep people out of the dumpster, but that's how some people feed themselves. Dumpster diving is the ultimate zero waste activity.

[vashtanerada]

Oh yes, ribbons! My family does this as well, we usually keep and reuse gift ribbons 🎀 Last Christmas we noticed an especially festive one and realized that it was one my grandmother had bought already 40 years ago 😊

[cherryjuice]

The fact, that all of this "messy and ugly" things are my aesthetic. Like, my mom always made us safe napkins, plastic and glas jars and buy "ugly" food (as long as it is not expired), so this is nor quite something new for me, but this is definitely helpful for others :)

[Little_farmhouse]

Yes! The drawer of chopsticks and napkins for sure! I also have a jar of twist ties that I use with different things as well.