Declutter vs. Zero waste - can they co-exist?

I noted there are quite some controversial articles on web discussing darkside of decluttering.  The article claimed that people purge their clutter unmindfully, which harms the landfill or people regret afterwards.  I may not be in a position to comment as decluttering could be a personal journey and my significant half just believes the same, and thus keeping more than purging, selling or giving out.  This makes my decluttering journey not smooth as I expect.  Nevertheless, I still attempt to find a way out to purge in a more mindful way or make full use of my clutter without jeopardizing achieving the zero waste goal.

1. Before buying, I really try to think through before going ahead.  Home space is limited and new items could just be my headache in the future.  Recently I was tempted to buy a laminating machine for preparing homemade teaching materials for my little monster.  Eventually, I used an iron with cork board, and a cloth napkin to make this happen.  After all, I don't need to laminate stuff daily and making teaching materials isn't my daily job.  The extra laminating pouch being bought could be a limit for my future headache.  Another temptation was a child standing easel at deep discount amidst of covid-19.  While my little monster shows much interest in drawing recently, we don't have extra space for the child easel.  After discussing with my another half, no conclusion was made.  I then hanged my cork board with a ribbon onto her learning tower, added three empty glass jars for her color pencils etc, and provided water color dried on several empty eyeshadow palettes.  Hope she like her new art corner.

2. I tried to sell valuable items via web, or give them to my friends who may find the items can be of use.  Why not?  You may not be able to sell them or giving them out immediately but decluttering is never a race! We couldn't have a quick fix anyway. Why don't we do it slowly and progressively? The platforms I used in Hong Kong and Singapore including carousell, freesth, and Facebook marketplace. You may find one or two suits your need in your countries.  Power to sort and search could be crucial to find a suitable platform but culture of users is also important.  After all, you don't want to be stood up or disappointed all the time.

3. I always try to buy from the second hand platform.  Not only that you may buy the item at deep discount, you don't have to create additional wastes to Mr. Earth.  You also may have to wait for the suitable item to pop up and this waiting period can serve as cooling off period.  So you may think through before committing. The process will let you know more about the item (you may talk to the seller discussing on the item), the place and culture if you are new to a place as now I am experiencing.  That could be a funny experience.

Boc n Roll

Cannot believe that I left my series of eco wrap aside when writing up the first article about my zero waste journey.  Probably coz I use this series of products so frequently and they are indeed part of my life.

Trying these in early 2016 coz I always dining out at that time while I haven't yet married.  I didn't want to leave leftover as food waste in the restaurant but sometimes it could be quite heavy to bring a glass food container along whole day.  Again, I hated dealing with plastic containers provided by the restaurant if I didn't bring mine.

Boc'n'Roll, recommended by my sister, apparently suits my need. I could put this almost weightless wrap in my handbag so I could use it whenever I need.  For examples, wanna buy pastry and bread from bakery, pack untouched spaghetti if my family ordered too much, pack freshly made panini from cafe near my office, pack fruit back to office, surely also leftover from restaurant.

After using Boc'n'Roll for a little while and I confirmed that I loved to use this product, I got a chance to redeem more from Delifrance. Four in total! Eventually I gave one to a flight attendant so she could pack unfinished meal from flight, and another to my auntie living in Paris who loves bread very much.  Right now all of them would be used to pack homemade bread.

(My previous posts on using Boc'n'Roll:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154066329772311&set=o.995618230509780&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154022582267311&set=o.995618230509780&type=3&theater)

The second product I own was Snack'n'Go snack bag. This was bought for my boyfriend coz he didn't get used to eating bread in a wrap when he was driving, which could be too messy for him.  Again, the first was redeemed from Delifrance.  The second one was redeemed for packing milk bottles as I became a breastfeeding mom who needed to pump everyday in my office.  Last year, my child loves to eat a slice of homemade bread packed in Snack'n'Go snack bag after school and sometimes I would put kid's cutlery into the snack bag when dining out.

The third product I obtained was Snack'n'Go pocket. Really forgot why I took it but eventually it is perfect to put all my medicine in after visiting clinic.  Two pocket design allows me to separate drug in liquid form, or in pill or capsule.  This product however should be no longer on the production line.  I couldn't find this on the Rolleat webpage.

The fourth product I tried was Snack'n'Go tube.  Why expanding my collection?  Being called as a monster of soup, I just wanted to use it to fit my Joseph Joseph soup pot so I could reduce use of plastic bags.  Now it is always used as my child's snack bag as she is able to firmly hold the ring as the tube opening.  Again, I think this is no longer on the production line.

The fifth product I had was Eat'n'Out.  It was a bit silly of buying this and I didn't think through before making the decision.  Yet, we now always use this for packing my child's meal when dining out.  After all, the adjustable shoulder strap provided allows you to make it as a cross bag or shoulder bag so you can have free hands to hold your child.  Quite thoughtful design.

Last product of my collection was Grab'n'Go.  I was invited to join a focus group discussing design of the product at that time so surely I love this product.  The first one I bought was for all my sterilized pumping accessories.  I felt far less guilty during my entire breastfeeding journey as I used almost no plastic bags.  My child also loved to play with the buckle when she was about 1 and now uses it as her little handbag.

(My previous post about breastfeeding with Snack'n'Go snack bag and Grab'n'Go:
https://www.facebook.com/995618230509780/posts/1889400854464842/)

Some people indeed asked me a lot about this product and I don't mind at all to lend them to give a try before committing.  They can make a more sound decision afterwards.  I recalled a mom said she didn't want to have a Snack'n'Go for her son after trying.  Instead, she could modify the design and made a tailor made snack bag for her son.  Nanny of my child and my helper asked me separately to buy them one or two Boc'n'Roll for their family.  Why not share your joy and experience with others who wanna try a taste of zero waste life?

May be you would challenge me that they are made of plastic. Shouldn't we avoid plastic?  I have no definite answer but as long as I can reduce the use of disposable plastic bags, why not?

Here comes with some useful links if you want to know more about this brand and get more ideas how to make use of them to help you achieve a zero waste life!
https://rolleat.com/asia-world/
https://rolleat.com/shop-online-reusable-food-transportation-products/
https://www.facebook.com/ecowraphk/?tn-str=k*F

MoonCup

I am not an expert on mooncup but just an experienced user who have been using this for more than 5 years.  Because so many friends asked more about this product,  here comes with my story and my tips for first time users.

When I considered using mooncup, there's not so much about environmental consideration.  Just that I felt itchy when using sanitary pads, probably because production line has been moved to the mainland China by then.  Being affected for a short period of time, my boyfriend, now my husband read a newspaper article about mooncup and suggested me to take a look.

It wasn't easy to accept this at first but the monthly challenge was really annoying. Finally I made up my mind and searched a bit on website where I could buy a mooncup.  At that time this wasn't too popular.  Yes, you might be able to get one but the cost could be much higher than now.  I had to commit for at least 2 years to make this investment worth (comparing with cost on buying sanitary pads).  Turn out I bought one from UK mooncup (the original silicon menstrual cup), size B which is for a woman under the age of 30 who have not given birth vaginally.

When it arrived, I spent quite some time to read the online instructions. Okay, you just
1. need a small pot to sterile it (by putting it into boiling water for 5 to 10 min)
2. need to know that you cannot have it inside your vagina when going to no.2
3. need to trim the stem to fish the mooncup when you want to empty the cup every several hours (which implied that some practice can be made to adjust length of the stem).

I did give a try before that important day, with a biology lesson given by my boyfriend (He got a better public exam result in biology 😂)  With his verbal assistance, I successfully put it into my body and took it out. Okay, another round of sterilization.

Finally, it was the day. A little bit discomfort coz the long stem despite I had adjusted beforehand based on my cervix on the day of practising.  But it was still too long.  Never mind, I could adjust more with a pack or two alcohol wipe, a scissor and headed to the toilet cubicle.  Sucks! All surfaces inside cubicle could be too dirty for putting my mooncup on.  Okay, packaging of the alcohol wipe would do but I would buy a milk bottle, with a ring lid so I could put the mooncup in together with the rinsing tap water.  Why not buy a glass milk bottle from second hand market? Perfecto, all set!

I recalled this was a hot summer in Hong Kong with high relative humidity.  I experienced three or four carefree menstrual cycles that summer which I have never experienced in my life.  Since then, I needed not to be annoyed by the hot and wet weather, and to worry about night time leakage!

A year after using this little product, I bought another 3 for my sisters and a size A to myself to plan for the future.  At the same time I gave all my pads to a young girl.  Since then I have more space in drawer under bed, and need not pack so many (pads) for my long overseas trips, and I could describe exactly volume and color of my menses to my doctor.

A taste of zero waste life since May 2014

Though I had been trained to be an environmental professional, after all these working years, I found making people's lives easier would be far better than condemning people or to make people feel guilty when trying to change their (including my) behaviour or consumption choice.

Purging would definitely be easy. Out of sight, out of mind. Yet, I have to sort my waste and bring them downstairs for bins of different recyclable materials. That's really not enough. I plan to have less waste from the first place, also spend less time and money to refill my consumables as far as possible.

Mooncup did help me to have a simpler life! Just a mooncup, a little pot and a pair of chopsticks for sterilization, a 120ml milk bottle for cleaning in toilet cubicle are all I needed. One mooncup can be used for a decade, which means I need not spare half of my drawer to store the pads, spend a lot of time and money to buy various types of pads (morning and night, high flow or not, cotton or polyester, with or without wings... OMG).

6 months after birth of my little angel, the baby needed to be fed solid food. Searched the market, holy cow! Wide range of products to suit different needs of parents, but not the baby! Plastic vs BPA free plastic, silicon bowl, containers for cold fruits and stainless steel jars for hot foods. I was stunned! Finally I made up my mind. One lunch box to be used until the baby grows to a high school student, that she can still use this to pack her lunch! PlanetBox was my choice, and it still is after I became their consumer for almost two years! My angel now enjoys her snack time every day at kindergarten with snack container from PlanetBox!

The third sweet experience was about stainless steel containers. My kitchen was flood in 20 to 50 plastic boxes for take away food in the past (Yes, being a mom of newborn, I really could not afford cook every meal esp. when my helper was on leave). I didn't want to throw them away with one time use only. So I kept them for buying food from supermarket, putting raw food into the fridge and so on. But I was really tired of matching all those lids with the boxes that could never close properly! Not to mention lots of space were occupied by different shapes and sizes of plastic containers. After using 4 stainless steel containers (2 round and 2 rectangular shape) for buying takeaway, my life was getting much easier. I also brought them along as rice bowls when my family moved to Singapore for the first 12 days that our shipment hasn't yet arrived. Light weighted, air tight, great for food! What else you will ask for? When I took a photo of them, my family including helper thought that I planned to sell them on Carousell and they were about to protest!