I started reading this book a little while ago called “Zero Waste Home” by Bea Johnson. Yes, the irony of reading a paper back book whose point is to reduce waste. But quit judging, y’all: the book belonged to a friend and after a few pages, I decided to get my own electronic copy on my kindle. Boom! Wasted! Er, uh, not wasted…?

I got on this whole “reduce waste” bandwagon when I saw a video of an NYU graduate that really inspired me. Over the course of one year, she only produced one small mason jar of trash. I produce way more trash than I’d like to admit. It brought awareness to my own habits. So I made 2016 the year of living less wastefully.

One of the first things I did was get a really good commuter cup. It’s from a brand called Keep Cup. I absolutely love it because it’s made of glass, it’s light, and it’s really easy to clean. I now rarely use a paper cup, thus keeping about 365 paper cups a year from reaching the landfill. That’s hundreds of thousands of paper cups in my lifetime!

But there were (and are) plenty of other wasteful habits and products that I use. Perhaps the worst culprit was paper towels because of the sheer amount of cooking I do on a regular basis. So I switched to kitchen towels which are cheap, easy to clean and (of course) reusable.

I keep a bin full of these next to my kitchen sink and I haven’t wished for a paper towel since I made the switch. I got the majority of mine on the cheap from Ikea. Check them out here and here.

Give it a try and let me know how it works out for you! #wastenotwantnot