Juice Warrior & Eco Straws

I want to do a series of posts on this blog about restaurants, shops and companies that do their bit to cut down on waste. The more I get into the zero waste lifestyle, the more I will discover new companies and I want to share as many of them as possible with you.

So to start things off, I thought I would talk about two different companies - Juice Warrior and Eco-Straws.

I've been a Juice Warrior fan for a while now. They sell raw juices, smoothies, salads and cakes. I first discovered them at a vegan festival in Glasgow, but they have since opened up a shop in Edinburgh. The picture above is their flamingo smoothie which is made from pineapple, strawberry, beetroot and ginger. It has a pretty big kick to it, but it's also delicious. And of course, comes in the prettiest pink colour.

Not only does Juice Warrior make and sell amazing food and drink, but they have the a great attitude to waste. They sell their raw juices in glass bottles and use BPA-free PET packaging for food items and smoothies. PET can be easily recycled and it's not a virgin material. They have a great blog about their thoughts on packaging here which will give you more detail about their policies.

The shop also has stainless steel straws to buy to encourage people to stop using plastic straws. The straw in the photo above is actually from eco-straws, a great company that sells lots of different types of reusable straws. I'd say that plastic straws are probably my biggest vice when it comes to plastic, especially since I enjoy a mojito when I'm out, but I have found that eco-straws are helping me cut down. However, I have noticed more and more bars with signs up encouraging people not to take a plastic straw, so the moment to cut down is definitely growing.

Is there any companies you would like to recommend? I'd love hear about places that are working towards reducing the waste they use.

Zero waste teeth cleaning routine

I'll be the first to admit that I was pretty sceptical about making my own toothpaste. I thought it would taste horrible and not clean my teeth as much as the store bought toothpastes I was used to using. However let me tell you that my teeth have never felt cleaner!! It only took me a few minutes to make and there's no way that I will ever use store bought toothpaste again.

To make this toothpaste I used three ingredients!

• 3 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1.5 tablespoons baking soda
• 30 drops of peppermint essential oil

All you need to do is mix all the ingredients together and you have your very own toothpaste. You might want to play around with the mixture a bit as does take a few days to get used to the baking soda, but otherwise it's perfect. If it's still too much, then you can just add more coconut oil.

I also ditched plastic toothbrushes about six months ago and have been using a Humble Brush ever since. The toothbrushes are handmade from 100% biodegradable sustainably-grown bamboo and comes in a box made from recycled materials and even the wrapper inside is made from plants and is compostable. If that wasn't enough, for every toothbrush sold a child receives a toothbrush or alternative oral care. Have you ever heard of a better toothbrush?

So that's my simple zero waste teeth cleaning routine. I hope it helps you on your zero waste journey.

Plastic Tally Challenge

In order to get me on the road to a zero waste lifestyle, I decided that I would take part in the Plastic Tally Challenge. The challenge was set by one of my favourite YouTuber's Hannah McNeely who is also trying to cut down her waste. She set the challenge to find out how much plastic she actually throws away (single use or recyclable) in a week. The idea is that once you know how much you use, you can work to reduce it. Check out her video here for her results.

I counted up all the plastic I threw away last week, and here's my results.

Day 1
Orange juice bottle
Apple juice bottle
Avocado wrapper
Cleanser bottle
Coconut oil lid wrapper

Day 2
Samosa wrapper
Bread wrapper
Q-tip

Day 3
Ice cream wrapper
Orange juice bottle
Nut butter tub
Smoothie bottle
Coconut milk bottle
Vegan chicken packet
Cracker packet
Cacao powder packet

Day 4
Lettuce wrapper
Vegan chicken packet
Houmous tub

Day 5
Chocolate wrapper
Old phone case
Bottle top

Day 6
Produce bag
Straighteners case
Bottle top

Day 7
Bread wrapper
Tortilla wrapper

So I threw away or recycled a total of 27 items which isn't actually that bad. It could be better, but it could also be a lot worse. I think the main thing for me is getting rid of all the current plastic I have in my house starting with cosmetic bottles and trying to find food that doesn't come in plastic wrappers. There is a farmers market in Edinburgh, but it's only on once a week and I'm not always around to be able to go to it. There's also not any shops close by that I can bulk buy from, so I guess its going to take quite a lot of effort to be able to lead a completely zero waste lifestyle but I'm up for the challenge!

Welcome to Zero Waste 30!

Hello! I'm Sarah and thanks for stopping by Zero Waste 30.

I'm had my own blog here for the past few years, but I decided it was finally time to take the plunge and start a brand new blog all about zero waste. I'll be the first to admit that my lifestyle at the moment is not completely zero waste. Some aspects of my life are as I make my own toothpaste and don't use plastic bags or water bottles, however there's still a lot room for improvement. I constantly battle with having to buy food in plastic wrappers and there's a lot of plastic bottles in my bathroom. However, nothing can change over night and this blog will document my journey to living as zero waste a life as possible. I'm also vegan and enjoying spending time outdoors so there will probably be a lot of posts about that too.

I hope you'll go on this journey with me and maybe feel inspired to look at what changes you can make to reduce your own plastic.

Sarah x