Blog Archives

Recycle beauty and skincare product packaging at Nordstroms

1/27/2022

Recycling is a thing of beauty! Nordstrom has partnered with TerraCycle® to create a national program to recycle and eventually reuse empty containers and packaging from all brands of beauty and skincare products. Their goal is to recycle 100 tons of beauty packaging by 2025. You can drop off items in collection bins in the beauty department of Nordstrom stores, including those located at King of Prussia Mall and Christiana Mall in NJ. Bring your empty shampoo and conditioner bottles, skin moisturizer tubes, and makeup palettes. See the BEAUTYCYCLE website for a complete list of items that they will accept.

Prevent food waste while saving money: use the Flashfood app to get discounted food at local supermarkets

1/20/2022

Grocery stores throw out a huge amount of perfectly good food that is not sold as it approaches its “sell by“ date. Flashfood is an app that allows shoppers to buy this food at a discount and pick it up in store. Both Giant grocery stores in Springfield (on Baltimore Pike and Sproul Road) participate in this program. Once you download the app and choose your location, it shows you participating stores and a list of discounted food items. You make the purchase through the app and pick it up in the store. Because you pre-pay, the visit at the store is brief. You can also bring along your own bags to take it home. According to their website (Flashfood.com):

“The problem

When food ends up in the landfill, it gets covered by other garbage and rots in an anaerobic state - meaning it doesn’t get any oxygen while it decomposes. This creates methane gas, which is a leading cause of greenhouse gases that are making a noticeable gaping hole in the ozone layer and significantly contributing to climate change.
‍
Grocery stores are left with a surplus of food items that are reaching their best before date on a daily basis. The timing of when food is deemed unsellable is based on store policy; it typically ranges from a few days to 1-2 weeks.

Diversion efforts
Grocery retailers have taken steps to divert potential food waste through improving procurement and operating procedures as well as shortening supply chains to keep food fresher, longer. Retailers also partner with food banks, food recovery and rescue agencies.
‍
With all their efforts, grocery retailers are still left with a significant amount of food which typically gets sent to the landfill.

The solution
By selling this food at 50% off the retail price through Flashfood, grocers are able to recover costs (i.e.: reduce shrink), and significantly reduce their carbon footprint.

Consumers are able to take advantage of healthier food items like produce, meat and prepared meals that they would ordinarily deem too expensive. It's a #winwinwin for all!”

Photo credit: Sharon Hahn Darlin, Flickr

Buy less clothing and minimize laundry: take the One outfit,100 day challenge

1/13/2022

Tired of washing loads and loads of laundry? Annoyed with trying to decide what to wear each morning? Julia Mooney, an art teacher in NJ modeled an alternative by taking the One Outfit, 100 Day Challenge. Wearing the same dress for 100 days, she raised awareness about consumerism, fashion, and sustainability. She posted on her website:

photo credit: Aqua Mechanical, Flickr

“Let's think before we buy, wear, discard, and buy again. Can we buy clothes used? Buy responsibly? Buy LESS? Learn to sew a few things? (Stop shaking your head. Everyone's great grandmother used to, so you can too. Boys too.) Do we really need so many new outfits? Are we just perpetuating a culture that defines us based on what we're wearing rather than what we're doing? What if we spent our energy trying to BE good, interesting humans instead of trying to LOOK good and interesting? ”

According to clothing industry sources, 40-80% of GHG emitted during the lifetime of clothing is from washing, drying, and ironing. Overwashing cloths wears them out faster, leading to a shorter lifespan and earlier disposal.

The dress company wool& offers a gift card incentive for completing a similar 100 Day Dress Challenge. Their merino wool dresses are odor resistant and quick drying, making them suitable for continuous use. Over 1500 women have completed their challenge, many finding that they needed to wash their dress infrequently if at all during the 100 days of continuous use.

Recycle beauty and skincare product packaging at Nordstroms

Prevent food waste while saving money: use the Flashfood app to get discounted food at local supermarkets

Buy less clothing and minimize laundry: take the One outfit,100 day challenge

Categories

Archives