365 Sustainable Decisions Challenge

I was inspired by one of my friends to use deodorant as a cream. She told me that it is also very easy to make yourself. For now, I decided to buy it and give it a try. And it works really well!

In the Netherlands, Santa Claus is coming soon, and after that Christmas. This means present time. By giving vouchers for activities instead of objects, I do something good for our environment and make sure to have great times with those who are closest to me.

Whenever I can choose between a product that comes in a plastic bottle, I look for the same product in a glass bottle. Of course, this is not always possible, but when it is, I am happy to save plastic.

To make sure that the toxic contents of batteries are taken care of and don’t land in our environment or can even be recycled, I bring my batteries to a special battery disposal place. I found this box at the supermarket, so it’s easy when I go there anyway.

When I wash my hands, I do so with cold water as often as possible. Only when I freeze, I use warm water to warm up. I do this, because warm water often doesn’t make a difference and therefore saves energy. And it saves water as it usually takes a while before the warm water arrives in the tap.

When I am in a supermarket and have a choice to buy a product with plastic wrapping or without, I buy the non-plastic version. To carry the grapes in this case, I use a net (#39) or nothing at all. Saves me again a lot of plastic waste.

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During shopping for the week, I decided to go the counter to get the exact amount of cheese. If I had chosen prepacked cheese, I would have had to buy two, meaning more plastic, more waste and probably food leftovers.

When I am in a supermarket or at home and need something from the fridge, I make sure to close the door as soon as possible. This keeps the cold in and therefore save energy.

I found a place with quite some buried waste. I decided to dig it out to be able to throw it away. It turned to be an awful lot! Afterwards, I felt really pleased having done this; I also felt sad that there are probably many more places like this where waste is still buried.

I found a place with quite some buried waste. I decided to dig it out to be able to throw it away. It turned to be an awful lot! Afterwards, I felt really pleased having done this; I also felt sad that there are probably many more places like this where waste is still buried.

During my holiday, I decided to watch some fish. What I saw were fish, but also quite a lot of waste on the bottom of the see. So I took a net that I normally used for shopping (#39) and started fishing. Later I found out that this is called strawkling. I was shocked to see how much it was and also what it was: plastic cups, lids for these cups, a shoelace, small plastic pieces and even a condom!

Whenever I’m in a restaurant and can’t finish my meal, I take the leftovers with me. I don’t want it to be thrown away and I can still eat it at a later time. I noticed when taking the food this time, that it would even be better to bring my own container, as this produces waste. I hope I’ll think of that next time.

As it is autumn, it is time again for leaves to come down the trees. And instead of blowing them away, I rake them. It is nice to be outside, it is good exercise and saves a lot of power.

Salad is one of my favorite meals. As I’m apparently one of many, I can buy tasty salads in the supermarket. But I avoid buying these as much as possible as they come with so much plastic. This makes me sad, which in turn make them taste less well.

I have put notes on my mailbox that I don’t want advertisements. I know that if I nevertheless get some, they move from my mailbox directly into my paper bin. So it is not helpful anyway and saves a lot of paper.

Of course I have often heard about biological foods. But to be honest, I don’t really know why this is more sustainable. So after having bought this biological milk, I did some research. I found out that products that are produced using organic farming can get this label. Organic farming means that the production is based on methods that intend to be environmentally friendly and enable animal welfare. Excellent, this sounds as if it is perfectly in line with my challenge.

When doing dishes, I capture the water and soap in the sink. This saves a lot of water and as I use warm water, it also saves a lot of energy. Furthermore, I start with only a little water, as the amount increases anyway when I rinse the soap off.

After getting the wrapping off my butter, I noticed that there was quite some left on the inside. I decided to scrape it off. It turned out to be enough for one slice of bread.