Zero Waste Kit for Beginners

Mar 4, 2018 | Create, Lifestyle, Sustainable Living

Living on a remote island, you would think that sustainable living comes naturally. And it should. That’s the beauty of a simple island life, right? However, these days so much waste is generated for the ease of convenience. For example, fast food culture has become the norm here, and so even at a Sunday to’ona’i (family feast gathering), you’ll commonly see styrofoam takeaway plates. These are single use items that do not decompose, cannot be recycled, and have a life span of a few hours. Then it’s off to the dump where it will sit forever – along with the plastic spoons and forks and straws that are also used for convenience – and seep harmful chemicals into the soil.

PS- Did you know that American Samoa’s landfill is unlined?

Zero waste kit for beginners | Nerelle.com

What is zero waste?

Zero Waste (or ZW) is a lifestyle practice of eliminating or minimizing single use disposable waste.

There are a lot of reasons to consider going zero waste. For me, it’s because I have always been interested in all matters of going green, recycling, and sustainable living, but putting it into practice daily is the challenge.

Which is why I put together this Zero Waste Kit for Beginners. It’s something I take around with me as much as possible to prevent waste.

Zero Waste Kit for beginners:

Drawstring bag
Spoon and fork
Chopsticks
Reusable straw
Tote bag

Optional:

Tupperware
Water bottle / Mug

Baby steps.

Being 100% Zero Waste is very very very difficult. Just doing groceries creates waste. Local cherry tomatoes are sold in a ziplock bag. There are times when I forget and I’m already in line at Koko Bean and the lady is scooping my BBQ chicken into a styrofoam plate. Or when I order an Arnie Palmer and forget to say “no straw please” until the glass is sitting in front of me with a plastic straw. Then I think of the turtles. Teardrop.

But that’s why this ZW kit is so great!

It’s easy. It’s convenient. It makes sense. And it’s something I can do NOW to make a small but meaningful impact. And I hope you try it out too! The best part is you can make it your own. Carry a cute tote bag around. Sew your own drawstring bag (I dyed my own fabric using turmeric!). Pick your favorite utensils. Drink out of your most loved mug. And you’ll make the world a better place.

CREATE: DIY Natural Turmeric Dye at Home

Sep 5, 2017 | Create, Sustainable Living

A good friend of mine introduced the craft of tie-dying to me 2 years ago, and since then I’ve only tried it twice. I don’t know why I haven’t been doing it more often, because I loved it.

Yesterday, I felt inspired to DIY a natural dye with things that I had at home. I’m still in the process of collecting onion skins, beets, and avocado pits, so for today, I decided to try dyeing with organic turmeric powder, which I already had at home.

Natural Dye vs. Synthetic Dye

We live in a colorful world, and if you look hard enough you can find every color of the rainbow in nature.
Natural dyes were used as far back as 2600 BC and colors varied by region and resources. Lichens, roses, beets, turmeric, and so much more. Natural dyes are safe and are easy to do!

Today, synthetic dyes make up over 90% of textiles produced for sale. The resulting wastewater is extremely toxic and the environmental impact is hazardous. Not only that, but production of textiles using synthetic dyes is often dangerous for people and can end up in rivers and oceans.

As people are becoming more aware of the effects of synthetic dyes, the craft of creating natural dyes is sparking interest in those looking for more sustainable fashion.

DID YOU KNOW?

The color yellow is the easiest color to create using natural dyes. It is the most common color to be produced from nature. And ironically, though abundant in nature, Green is the hardest color to produce from plants?

DID YOU ALSO KNOW?

Synthetic dye was accidentally invented by a 15-year old English chemist by the name of William Henry Perkin? He was trying to find a synthetic cure for malaria using coal tar, and realized he had created a purple-ish color he called mauveine (today known as mauve).

What You’ll Need:

Turmeric powder
Vinegar
Water
Large bowl
Two large pots (avoid ceramic as it will stain)
Tongs
String
Never dyed fabric (pre-washed)
Recommended: gloves

How I Did It:

Pour 8 cups of water and 2 cups of vinegar into a large pot and boil. Carefully place your fabric inside the pot, making sure to get full coverage. Set to simmer for 1 hour. The vinegar mixed with water will allow the dye to adhere better to the fabric.

In the other pot, boil ½ cup of turmeric powder and 8 cups of water. Stir the turmeric powder once boiled to make sure the turmeric is dissolved. Leave to simmer for 30 minutes.

Use tongs to remove the material from the pot and transfer to a large bowl. Because it was very hot and the soaked material was heavy, I did this outside so I could stand over the pot.

Rinse the material in lukewarm water to get rid of some of the acrid vinegar smell.

Once you’re done with boiling the turmeric, now comes the fun part – the dying!

You can choose to place the entire fabric into the turmeric dye (while still hot) and leave for 5 minutes. For a more vibrant color, leave in for longer. For a more muted color, leave in for only a little bit. I had one large piece of fabric that measured about 40”x30″ and four smaller pieces that measured about 16”x12”. I did a full dye on the large fabric, and for the smaller pieces, I used shibori dying techniques.

Once you get your achieved color, remove the material from the dye, rinse in cold water, and take it outside to dry.

And you’re done!!!

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Check out the color results below!

THE RESULTS

(isn’t it so pretty?!)