r/ZeroWaste • u/Middle-Definition106 • 6d ago
Tips & Tricks What is your favorite zero waste hack?
I'm looking for simple and family friendly ways to reuse, repurpose and save money. Please tell me your favorite ways on everyday items.
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u/Automatic_Bug9841 6d ago
Hang drying clothes to keep them looking nice for longer, plus it lowers your energy bill!
Meatless meals are much cheaper in this economy, and much better for the planet.
r/noscrapleftbehind for ideas to reduce food waste, r/anticonsumption also has some great general tips for reducing waste and saving money.
Get a library card and join your local Buy Nothjng group — you’d be surprised how much you can get for free instead of creating demand for new stuff.
Switch to bar soap! Less packaging waste, lasts longer, less expensive in general. Same with powder laundry/dish detergent if you can find it.
Bidet!
As long as you’ll use it before it expires and have space in your home to store it, buying home staples in bulk sizes creates less packaging waste and is usually a cheaper per-unit cost. Costco is great for this!
Buy secondhand whenever possible, and if you have to buy something new, get something built to last so that you’re not constantly replacing it when it breaks. r/buyitforlife has good recs.
Not every reusable swap is a money saver, but these ones definitely have been for me:
- Replacing paper towels with a combo of cleaning rags/dish towels/cloth napkins
- Reusing the same Tupperware instead of defaulting to ziplock bags
- Switching to reusable makeup eraser wipes
- Loose leaf tea instead of tea bags (cheaper AND better quality)
- A SAFETY RAZOR (regular razor blades currently cost at least 10x more)
- Reusable menstrual products (expensive upfront cost, but quickly pays for itself!)
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u/foreverburning 6d ago
Bar soap has been such an easy switch. I don't know why I ever used body wash and a disgusting plastic body pouf
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u/camioblu 2d ago
Get a small mesh drawstring and put the small soap chips into it. When it's full you draw the string tight and scrub away - exfoliate at the same time.
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u/Objective-Audience24 10h ago
Wait that’s so genius omg thank you
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u/camioblu 6h ago
You're welcome - fair warning, it takes forever to "fill" so use it whenever you want to exfoliate. Or even put a full bar in and add a new bar as needed.
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u/immapotato2842 6d ago
And cheaper a lot of the time. Two years ago I bought 3 bars of soap from tj maxx. I am down to one bar. It was $7
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u/massgirl1 6d ago
“One thing no one mentions about being an adult is how much time you debate over keeping a cardboard box because it's a really good box.”
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u/oceanjog365 5d ago
Reminds me of my mother whenever a new item is bought. " It's better to keep the box because you never know ". Never know what exactly?
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u/Synaps4 6d ago
I looked at my trash can and 95% of it is food packaging.
I have a local grocery store that sells food in reuturnable glass jars instead. Cuts our household waste by half or more. If you dont have that, you can still look for ways to buy in bulk using your own containers, from the bulk section that most stores have. For things that cant be bought bulk, look for glass containers, as glass recycling (peanut butter or salsa for example) is easily and completely recycled unlike the plastic jar versions.
The other big chunk of waste comes from things ordered online. A lot of that is recyclable, especially if you get it from ebay, but being active on your local buy nothing and craigslist lets you buy things with no packaging at all.
But its mostly food.
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u/freezesteam 2d ago
I have a grocery store like this too! Are you in the Denver area or are more of these kinds of stores popping up?
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u/Not_l0st 6d ago edited 6d ago
This works best for me because I live in a rural setting, and I have a garden and chickens. But all of my food waste, cardboard and newspapers go to my compost or the chickens. Ai shred paper and cardboard and use it as bedding in the chicken coop, then put in the compost. Food waste is sorted into two categories: chicken food or compost. I don’t have any food waste and minimal paper waste as a result.
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u/HarmlessHeffalump 5d ago
My mom has chickens, and basically everything (food scraps, cardboard, and paper scraps) goes to them. Its wild to watch them pick apart basically everything we throw away.
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u/Adabiviak 6d ago
At work, the shared refrigerator (by a few hundred people) is cleaned on Tuesdays. If anything inside isn't labeled with a name/date, it's thrown away. If there's a container, it's set on the lid of the nearby trash bin until Friday, for someone to claim their stuff before it's thrown out. I hit this in the mornings before things are thrown out, wash the crap out of it, and have some nice, small, glass containers.
I keep these containers in my car in my re-usable grocery bags, and use them when buying bulk foods. Because they're glass, I had to kind of train some of the cashiers and deli workers how to use the tare function on their respective scales, but I also tell them not to sweat it if it's going to be awkward (they're in a hurry or something).
I also keep medium sized ones in the vehicle for restaurant dining for leftovers, and large ones for to-go items, because no restaurant (around here anyway) will let me preemptively give them containers (which I totally get), I will dine in, then put the food immediately into the container(s) and leave.
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u/PasgettiMonster 6d ago
This isn't for everyone but more one of my favorite ways to reduce waste - a lot of hobbies are extremely wasteful on supplies - quilting/sewing especially leaves a LOT of scrap or unused fabric. I've got bags of fabric scraps from another quilter, and I have been picking through it to make cute stuff. And yes I keep all my cutoffs/trimmings from these pieces too - they get used to stuff pincushions and ornaments. Very little that enters my sewing room gets thrown away.
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u/orangecouch101 3d ago
In a similar vein, I am knitting toques for donation to charity from donated and thrifted yarn. A friend saw me knitting at a conference recently and gifted me a huge bag of yarn from her stash.
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u/bangingbodyhottamale 1d ago
How did you learn to sew?
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u/PasgettiMonster 1d ago
I grew up in a home where my mom sewed. Even though she didn't do it consistently it was something that happened whenever needed. So I learned the very basics from her. She never actively encouraged it though but because it appealed to me, I first taught myself from books and patterns, and later once YouTube came into being built my skills watching other people sew and trying things out.
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u/caitlowcat 6d ago
Rely on your community.
Need something? Ask for it locally. Good chance someone around you has the thing you need.
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u/_haha_oh_wow_ 6d ago
Shopping bag sized trash cans: This drastically cut down on the number of trash bags we buy and also puts old shopping bags to use.
Mason jars & similar for storage: Vastly superior to tupperware and you can even freeze stuff in them (just keep it below the freeze line). They're perfect for stuff like freezing servings of chili and make reheating pretty easy.
If you don't have a washing machine and dryer, you can wash your clothes in the bathtub and hang them up to dry. I did this in college all the time when I was trying to save money. Laundry detergent works but you can even use dawn dish soap if you don't have any detergent (just don't go crazy with the soap and be sure to rinse it all out).
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u/One_Measurement1517 6d ago
I make a lot of nuanced baking ingredients to save money/time/plastic/trips to the store. You can make brown sugar on demand from molasses and granulated sugar. Powdered sugar is just granulated and cornstarch blitzed up. Instead of storing honey, agave, maple syrup, etc, I choose one and use it interchangeably in recipes. There’s a lot more but this is just the stuff I do most frequently.
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u/MeanderingAndLost17 6d ago
Considering if I am mostly paying for the product or mostly paying for the packaging. Some stuff is so ridiculously packaged that there is more trash I’m paying for than the thing I wanted.
Always have a shopping bag with me and keep the bags by the door. I usually have one in my car or backpack or purse. I try not to get them at the grocery store or if I do I use them to line my bathroom trash can.
I try not to buy things new. Thrift or buy nothing groups are amazing.
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u/FluffyPurpleThing 6d ago
There is a youtube channel that I absolutely love (and I'm not affiliated with in any way) that shows how she uses old items for a variety of things. I got a lot of ideas from her and really started looking at and using potential trash in new ways. This is her.
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u/Clear_Issue1863 6d ago
I LOVE candles. Whenever I burn one down completely, I melt down the leftover wax and make refillable tea light candles out of them. I’ve also made wax melts this way using cute silicone molds (dinosaurs, hearts, etc :))
I also save the skins from my onions and garlic bulbs (I cook a lot), dehydrate them, and blend them to make my own “garnion” powder :)
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u/Leading-Tone-863 6d ago
How do you dehydrate the skins?
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u/Clear_Issue1863 6d ago
I put them in the oven on a baking sheet at the lowest setting possible (mine is 170) and check them every 2 or so hours. Once they’re crispy enough to break when you try to bend them, they’re ready to blend.
You want to make sure you’re not overlapping them so that they can dry out properly. That being said, I have a baking sheet with a rack that fits on top of it, so I do “layer” in that sense.
I also often cut up some thin slices of onion and garlic (whatever variety you like btw!) to dehydrate in every batch. Those take longer, but they add a lot of flavor. I’ve found that though more tedious, laying them out on a towel and pressing them to get as dry as possible before going in the oven, makes the dehydrating time go down a lot!
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6d ago
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u/Chance-Work4911 6d ago
Using a glass jar or bottle with drink powder and water. They make those single serving “add to a bottle of water” packets that are convenient, but they waste a plastic bottle and the packet material itself. Instead just get the big tub of drink powder and figure out the measurements to make the drink in single servings in reusable containers. I like pint mason jars because they fit my car cup holder but have repurposed swing-top glass bottles too.
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u/Inquisitively0918 6d ago
Meal plan, knowing what you’re going to have and only buying what you need for those meals cuts back on food waste. Also sticking to it, if you have a busy week and know there are some days you might want fast food then plan for that so you’re not wasting food and getting eating out.
If a meal goes farther than you anticipated, freeze the left overs to eat at a later time instead of getting fast food. Saves on extra waste and money.
If you have a dishwasher, just buy the generic powdered version of the dishwasher detergent. It typically comes in a box that can be recycled instead of a plastic tub. It’s cheaper and still gets the job done over buying liquids or the pods. Same for laundry detergent (if you can find it).
Definitely don’t panic buy or impulse buy (if you can help it). I know bulk buying is super popular but it’s not realistic if it’s not something you’ll go through quickly enough and it ends up going bad.
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u/Ambitious-River963 6d ago
Bar shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and … soap.
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u/bluepancakes18 6d ago
Car kit! Have a set of plates, bowls, cups, cutlery etc in the boot of your car ready to go.
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u/Exciting_Contest_222 4d ago
Silicon ziplock bags. Patches for kitchen rags, to prevent buying paper towels. Instead of buying new laptops, get linux to prevent ewaste. Tablet toothpaste instead of plastic tubes. Bringing a reusable bottle for your drinks. Many ways
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u/ultracilantro 4d ago
Shopping used first. I love sites like vinted. I save a TON by shopping used first, and everyone can do this.
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u/Evoke_Life 15h ago
Composting food scraps. We got composters on marketplace. It immediately cut down on trash bags and stinky trash
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u/camioblu 2d ago
I try to thoughtfully purchase
- jar foods with the ability to use canning jar rings/lids later
- dry goods almost all come plastic now, so I choose the zip kids that are extra thick or two layers and reuse them to freeze prepped produce
- bar soap, becaue the leftovers go in a small mesh drawstring bag to be used to exfoliate
- face creams that come in metal-lidded clear glass jars which I can repurpose
- powdered laundry detergent, but unfortunately none I've found use responsible packaging
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u/ladybohogirl 1d ago
I bring my own containers to restaurants for the inevitable leftovers. No styrofoam to-go boxes for me! The bonus is that I don’t overeat as much. When I go out with friends I’ll bring containers for them too.
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u/Ok-Investigator3051 6d ago
Family cloth. I only use it for #1 but I cut up old towels and have them by my toilet w a bin for the used cloths. When it fills up, I just wash in hot water w other rags. I have cut down our tp usage so much that I don't realize how much less I use until I have girl friends come/stay over and whole rolls get used up so quickly!
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u/KhakiPantsJake 6d ago
Piss in the sink and the water you use from washing your hands washes it down the drain so you save water.
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u/WiseAfternoon1678 6d ago
This Is veering towards unhinged but it…still has a hinge. I think. At least a good rationale.
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u/Kiva37 6d ago
Could also practice “if it’s yellow let it mellow” or use grey water (like a bucket in the shower) to flush. Even better, if there’s a spot outside you could use.
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u/contessa_zapdash 5d ago
I started cutting up old t-shirts and using the scraps as toilet paper. I really wish I had done this a super duper long time ago!
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u/karr76959 6d ago
I save glass jars from things like sauces and use them for leftovers, spices, or storing random little things. I also keep old T-shirts and towels for cleaning. There’s also this weirdly satisfying feeling when I don’t throw something away and find another use for it, like I’m saving the world or something