Campus Race to Zero Waste is here. To celebrate, I’ve gathered 7 simple tips to help you get started in living a more low-waste life. The best part: they cost you (practically) nothing!
Regrow your vegetable scraps
I don’t remember the last time I bought garnish and herbs at the grocery store. It’s been able to save me so much money as a college student. I also can’t explain why it brings me so much joy being able to make a dish then say “Oh, let me throw some garden basil on that.”
I also wrote a blog post about regrowing food scraps that you can check out here.
Cook using food you already have on hand
When looking through your fridge and pantry, you can try to think of what you can make with the food you have left. This is great because you’ll be using everything you paid for while helping reduce food waste. Especially during COVID, this is a smart way to avoid going to the grocery stores as much as possible!
Lately, I’ve been enjoying feeding my sourdough bread starter every morning and making pancakes with the discard that I have. This trick prevents me from not throwing my discard completely in the trash while serving me a yummy breakfast. I like to pour my starter in the pan then toss in a bit of salt and pepper, za’atar seasoning, and sesame seeds on top.
Reuse jars and containers to store food and other things
Best thing about this tip? You’ll see what you have on hand by simply glancing at fridge and pantry. Storing food in glass jars increases the possibility that you’ll finish your food rather than stumbling upon something that you didn’t realize was there and tossing it in the trash.
Also you’ll never have too many jars from what I’ve learned.. In our apartment, we like to use jars and old takeout containers as Tupperware to store food and hold things. We also reuse our glass bottles as flower vases and water globes. If you find no need for your glass bottles and they are unbroken, you can also recycle them at Berkner Hall (BE) and Science Learning Center (SLC)!
Veronica Lugtu from Office of Student Volunteerism made a video about using bottles to create a self-watering system (“water globes”) if you want to learn more:
Make use out of old fabric, sheets, and towels
Fabric, old sheets, and towels towels are so nifty! If you’re into sewing, you can repurpose fabric to make items like reusable cotton squares, a foldable silverware pouch, tote bags, and so much more.
I’ve also seen people using sheets of fabric to make beeswax wraps as an alternative to plastic wrap. Or people using their old t-shirts to make rags!
Be mindful when using electricity
With quarantine and everyone staying at home, we start to see how our electricity bills can add up. Increasing natural light in your space, turning off lights/fans when you’re no longer using them, and being mindful of vampire power can help with this problem!
Vampire power refers to the energy usage of electronics simply by being plugged in. House appliances and our work desktops still take power despite being “turned off.” The best way to solve this and to lower our electricity use (and bill!) is to unplug devices when we’re not using them. Former Eco Rep Sophia Boisvert also wrote a blog post about vampire power that you can read to learn more.
Freeze and properly store your food
Freezing and storing our food properly really does go a long way!
When storing berries, washing and storing them in a dry container (rather than one that’s wet) keep them lasting longer.
If your bananas are about to get brown and mushy, it’s a good time to store them in the freezer for later use! This is also the case for other fruits. I saw in a video (11:53) a trick to prevent your frozen fruit from sticking together and it’s a game changer. If needed– wash and completely dry the fruit, have them to your desire size, freeze them on a baking sheet, transfer them to a container, then leave the containers in your freezer. And the fruit will not stick together again!
Written by Yen Pham
The Greenhouse Blog 