Julia Grieve is here to celebrate Earth Day with you by helping you not “waste” the day away! She shares tips for avoiding the extra waste you may be making now that you’re home more, and offers a challenge for families to really see how much waste they make in a day.

In the Morning

Food waste is something to think about: 

I can’t tell you how much food we are going through right now.  It’s crazy with everyone home. The average household wastes 140 kilograms of food a year according to a 2017 National Zero Waste Council survey. 

Grow your scraps:

You can take some of your veggies and herbs that you use often and re-grow them. You place them in some water and help them regenerate, it’s a great activity for the kids and for us. 

Coffee Grinds 

No more everyday coffee shop visits, and for those rare trips we do make we can’t use our re-usable cups, so now we’re making all of our coffee at home. So that’s me, my husband and the teens all day.  I noticed last week how much coffee grounds I’m throwing out and I thought I need to get creative! So I’ve got a few ideas for you! We’re going into spring even though it doesn’t look like it, so our rose enthusiasts, can use the grounds for your roses. It’s a great addition to the soil and helps bring the ph level in the soil down, the roses love it.  (No more than one cup coffee grounds to 1 litre water, mix and pour into the soil)

Also for a little spring scrub for the body, you can use your coffee grounds and make your own body scrub at home! All you need is a little coconut oil about 2 tablespoons, 1/4 cup of coffee grounds and 1/4 cup of salt.

Now my last coffee tip is for a little end of the day treat for us parents and adults. We’re going to take 1/2 cup of coffee grounds and infuse it with our favourite liquor. Get creative, I’m doing 1/2 grounds per 1 1/2 oz of liquor, mix and set aside for 30 mins. Start your day with a strong cup of coffee and finish with a vodka coffee. 

During the Day

Tracking Waste

Now we’re going to tackle the waste we make during the day. I’m going to challenge everyone to track their waste for Earth day in a mason jar. This will help bring awareness to what you’re creating throughout the day, nothing like a healthy competition amongst the family to get you excited. There are people who create only a mason jar of trash in a year.

Laundry

I swear I am talking about laundry all the time!  I think it’s because I am doing laundry all the time! As I say, social distancing doesn’t make laundry go away!  And gone are the old days, when Mom did all the laundry. We are doing so much more chores now that we’re all home. I’ve got a full house, we’re 5 people and a big dog! So I’ve been noticing I’m doing more laundry, especially because we have inside and outside clothes now, you know, just more laundry. So I thought how do I cut down my waste here? 

I started air drying, this cuts down on dryer sheets and electrical waste. We have a few more little hands around the house so this is a great chore to give your kids. 

Another idea is to look at your washing process. Do you really need to use 2 products, what kinds of products are you using, what kind of chemicals, all of this goes back into the environment right? I’ve discovered this brand 7th Gen, they use sustainable ingredients that won’t harm the environment when they’re used. You can’t waste the detergent! The bottle has an easy dosing method .

And there is no reason your 16-year-old son can’t do the laundry.  We had a family meeting. This is what  a dark load looks like, this is what a light load looks like.  One squish of detergent. DONE.

If you do want to use your dyer, use wool dryer balls instead of fabric softener sheets.  But if you don’t have wool dryer balls toss in a few tennis balls for real they work!

You can also make your own Fabric Refresher!

• ½ cup of water
• 1/2 cup vodka
• 10 – 20 drops of your favourite essential oil. ( rose, lemon, mint)
• Mix together in a spray bottle, and spray on your clothes to give them a refresh!
  

Evening/Night

Now to wind down for the day, let’s also bring down our electrical use. Turn off the lights, the gadgets, and dare I say, the wifi. Have a candle light dinner, play a board game or read and listen to music together for an hour. That’s it, cut down your electrical use for just an hour, it’s small but it makes an impact and helps us be more aware.

And for us parents and adults, grab your coffee infused liquor, strain really well, and experiment with some ingredients, get creative and make it a competition.

What I really want to bring home, is that it is difficult right now to be super sustainable.  We are all out of whack , and you know we can only do what we can do. So don’t put that extra pressure on yourself.  We don’t need to go into eco anxiety have fun and rest a sure this too will pass.