CLEANING - DISHWASHER
Hello again,I am feeling much better today. So I hope you enjoy this blog post as much as I enjoyed writing it.
I spent some time today cleaning up and sorting out my clothes. In the last few months I have changed shape a lot. I have lost two to three dress sizes. This means I have a lot of clothes that are not comfortable or even the right size. I spent some time giving a lot of my clothes a go, seeing what fits and what doesn't. It was kind of sad to realise that some of my favourite clothes are actually too big for me now. Which is also a blessing. This will actually lead on to the next weeks theme of FASHION AND BEAUTY. I'm giving you a day or two advanced notice. It is a huge theme so I hope I do it justice. Anyway... back to todays idea and this weeks theme of cleaning.
To end off this weeks theme of cleaning, i wanted to talk about dishwashing.
Sustainable September Day Twenty Three - Sustainably cleaning dishes.
Often there is a lot of plastic when it comes to washing up. Either the washing up liquids you buy come in lots of plastic containers or the dishwasher tablets come wrapped in plastic too, and often wrapped twice in plastic.
There are some different ways to reduce waste and make the way we do our washing up more sustainable
1) buy in bulk. This reduces the amount of plastics that go into landfill. For example, Where you would buy 3 x 330ml bottles plastic bottles of washing up liquid, you could buy a single 1Lt bottle of liquid instead. It is not a huge difference to make but it can actually make a pretty big difference. And this can be done with dishwashing tablets too.
2) Buy an eco friendly brand. If you currently use a heavy chemical based dishwashing liquid, you could simply change to one that uses less chemicals and uses sustainable practicises in its packaging and bottling. If you are not sure what some of these brands are you can check a local (to you) Facebook group that does Zero Waste, or Environmental sustainability. I am part of a few Perth based Facebook groups and i am so amazed by the collective knowledge that this group of people has.
3) Refill a container. I know this because i have done it before. I had one of those previously mentioned small plastic bottles of dishwashing liquid that I took to The Wasteless Pantry. There i got it refilled (which basically made it zero waste. That was one plastic bottle of dishwashing liquid that i didnt need to purchase, and one that didnt have to end up in landfill or at the recycling yard either.
4) buy plastic free Dishwashing tablets. We are yet to find a wonderful option for this, even though we do use dishwashing tablets at home (unless we hand wash stuff - which I tend to do a lot of). We buy an eco brand in bulk (where possible) but the packaging still has plastic, so I wouldn't recommend them here. However if anyone knows where I can get dishwasher tablets without plastic wrappers I would be so grateful.
5) Make your own dishwashing liquid or dishwasher tablets. This is actually the ACTIVITY for today too.
Now I know this wont work for everyone. Apparently some recipes can be a little temperamental so some experimentation is required. But give it a go.
Zero Waste Liquid Soap/ Dishwashing Liquid - This is made with Soap Nuts!!! I mentioned them in the last two blog posts, so if you havent read them yet... check it out.
Zero Waste Dishwasher Tablets - look pretty easy and she shows you how to make Washing soda from baking soda.
I would love to see what you have made and how it looks!
Here is a video about Zero Waste Cleaning. I thought I would include it here because tomorrow is the last day of the Cleaning Theme and I didn't want to miss anything. This is from Kate Arnell from EcoBoost. It is about 20 mins but it is worth it.
I hope you have enjoyed the cleaning theme and look forward to the next one! :)
Much love and kindness to you all.
Love Daena x
Hey Daena,
ReplyDeleteA few more tips to share.
1) Always use a little less detergent than you think you need. It's really powerful stuff, and will shift the grease even if you use a little less.
2) Don't do your washing up in the sink, use the largest pan that you cooked with. That way you will use less water, and the pan will get cleaned by itself. Because you are using less water, the detergent will be more concentrated and work better.
3) If you can arrange it, serve food on plates or bowls that fit inside the pan that you generally use.
4) When cooking, plan the order that you are going to do things so that you use the fewest utensils. There is nothing wrong in serving up a nice hot stew or pasta in the dish that you cooked it in.
Love the blog.
Thanks Dave! Appreciate the extra ideas! :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy! Love Daena x