365 Sustainable Decisions Challenge

During our cycle tour, the bottle with sparkling water I brought – and later refilled with tap water – broke. A leaking bottle is not really helpful, so I wanted to throw it away. But my partner reminded me that it is much better to take it and hand it in so that it can be recycled. And, so we did!  

I was disappointed to learn from a documentary about #recycling that only 5% of German plastic can be reused to create new packaging as regulations do not allow food producers to put products in recycled plastic. 40% can be used in other ways, such as bricks. That is why I keep reducing my plastic waste as much as possible. 

On my way to Thailand for the Water and Waste management conference 2 months ago, I saw this video at the airport. As Germany does a lot of recycling, which is not always easy straight away, I love it that they help travelers find the right bin.

While shopping necessary new clothes, I found some products that claimed to be sustainable. I looked at the label why it is sustainable and found out that the textile consisted partly of recycled textiles. Excellent! 

Have you ever wondered what happens to your old clothes when you send them to #recycling? In this article, I explain the 4 possibilities: https://medium.com/the-environment/how-old-clothes-can-be-recycled-and-put-to-good-use-again-baf752b4323d (credit:  Igisheva Maria  on  Shutterstock )

I learned that Sweden is one of the most environmentally friendly countries in the world. This is one of the many reasons: they recycle efficiently and burn the rest to create electricity. And as they have hardly any trash left, they also help us out by importing more waste! Loading... Twitter Embed Code Retweet text: Sweden 🇸🇪 gets rid of 99% of its trash so efficiently, it's importing garbage from other countries.

Luckily, where I am from, glass recycling is common practice. But what to do when too much glass waste is produced and not everything can be turned into new glass products? In this article, I describe 7 alternatives: https://medium.com/the-environment/7-alternative-ways-to-recycle-glass-waste-7b308b3eb117 Crushed glass waste can be used for many different purposes (credit:  Portraitor  on  Pixabay )

Where I live are containers, which say that you can put old clothes and shoes in there. So, when I have clothes that I can't wear anymore, I bring them there. And interestingly, I don't know what happens with them, so I hope they are put to good use.

I've shared how art can be used to teach children about climate change  ( https://medium.com/@ErlijnG/how-can-art-be-used-to-teach-children-about-climate-change-5fbbb9cc641b ) Here, art is used to draw attention to #recycling. I love it allows us to dispose of - textiles - batteries - electronic devices - lamps - cartridges - phones - bottles - tins

As I’m eating pizza every weekend, I have a lot of glasses left. I decided to keep them as them might become useful. And indeed, when I went shopping in the package free shop (#160), I brought them with me for tea. As they all have the same size, it now looks really neat in the cupboard.

In this video you can see you some clever #recycling: the result looks very strong. And what I love is that it doesn't take long, they need little equipment and no electricity. Way to go! And your daily advent calendar surprise: https://healthyyouhealthyplanet.earth/advent-calendar #sustainableLiving Loading... Twitter Embed Code Retweet text: 1 मिनट के अंदर, पुरानी साड़ी को रस्सी में #Recycle कर दिया सिर्फ 50रु में. Recyling, Rural Entrepreneurship & Innovation की अनोखी मिसाल..

At work, I needed a pencil and saw that there was one made from old CD cases. I decided to use that one instead one made from wood.

I have a few t-shirts that I don’t want to wear anymore, but I also don’t want to throw them away. I decided to cut two in stripes to use them as toilet paper. My reasoning: when I use washable pantyliners (#106), I might as well use washable toilet paper.

On one of my walks, I found this bottle in the fields. I looked very lonely and asked me to be recycled. So, I picked it up and rescued it from being buried alive.  

As often as possible, I refrain from printing something. But sometimes I have to. In that case, I prefer using recycled paper. The color is less white than ‘normal’ paper, but the color often doesn’t matter. I hope this saves trees being cut down.

My mum told me that one of her friends is gathering milk cups for a charity project. We don't know what they will use the caps for, but as I had some at home, I brought them with me to pass them on.  

Someone sent me a book in an old wrapping, so already reused it. Great! And I realized, that this wrapping can be folded into a box, so that I can use it again when sending something else than a book. I love it!  

I have used this bag many, many times. But it got ripped on the side.  So, I left it in the cupboard for a while.  Finally, I decided to repair it so that I can use it again, instead of buying a new one. (Are you inspired and would you like to say "thank you"? > https://www.sustainabledecisions.eu/thanks )

To be able to make my cleaning activities (#43) easier, I have built a waste bin to wear on my back. The backpack was given to me by someone who didn’t need it anymore. The waste bin is the one I’m using at home and the blue ties are some that my dad had lying around. I tried it immediately and it works very well.  

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.