ONE YEAR OF A PINT SIZED IMPACT
This week, A Pint Sized Impact celebrates its one year anniversary since it began in October 2019. It brings me back to the notion of why I began this blog space in the first place. I was feeling disheartened by the impact waste and single use plastic has on the natural world, and was wondering how I could begin to make more of a positive impact past reducing my own household waste. I wanted to be able to share with the world my research, savvy tricks, and how I continue to slowly transition to a more environmentally friendly way of living. Upon exploring options of how I could intersect my passion for teaching, writing, and reducing waste, A Pint Sized Impact was born!
A question I do get occasionally is, “why is your blog called A Pint Sized Impact”? The answer to this question is twofold. The idea that many hands make light work, meaning every person has the ability to make a small impact everyday in the choices they make. Being low waste is not about being perfect, it is about every person doing small actions added up over time to make a large change. The word ‘Pint’ resonates with me as an avid preserver of foods, using and reusing pint jars. So, A Pint Sized Impact came about from wanting to make a small (or a pint) difference in others lives, and in turn the planet.
This blog has been an incredible space for me to share my knowledge on low waste living, create a hub for creative DIY projects and reusing material, and learn about the vast range of topics within being eco-aware. Over the past year, I have spent hundreds of hours researching and writing about topics that were new to me, and that I wanted to become more knowledgeable and aware of. This experience thus far has certainly been an eye opener in many different ways.
The first is the sheer amount of plastic waste created and disposed of poorly throughout the world every day, equivalent to about a dump truck load each minute. It is estimated that 17.6 billion pounds of plastic leaks into our natural spaces each year, which is just one of the reasons to change the way each and every one of us live our lives.
The second eye opener has been the projects, inspiring people, and eco driven companies that focus on reducing their ecological footprint, and making opportunities for creating a world with less waste. Seeing these projects is a reminder that every person has a responsibility to make the world a better and less wasteful place by doing small actions in their own lives, and contributing to the larger picture of change. These projects are not only making a difference, but also providing hope that there is still a chance to reverse the negative impacts humans have had on the world.
I have learned greatly from this past year of researching and sharing, and I hope that every reader of this blog is able to take something away from it. Whether it be a recipe, fast tip, or just the informative aspects some of these blog posts carry to help each individual make more well informed decisions.
I’d like to share my own and the readers of the blog’s favourite posts and topics from the past year. Here we’ll return to some of the most informative or fun topics covered, each linked in the post’s description.
Thank you for supporting me on this journey, and of course creating a pint sized impact yourself!
10 Revisited Posts From the Past Year
I’ve added this article specifically because it is about being thankful, and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. This post was written for Thanksgiving 2019, and was the third post on this blog. It is also written from a place of heart and has some good tips for reducing waste at a holiday.
How to Find out How Much Waste you Generate
To reduce your household waste, you first must figure out the largest areas contributing to your total waste. A waste audit is a great way to find out how much waste is generated in your house. This exercise is great for the home, workplace, or school (maybe outside Covid-19).
The Inside Scoop of Plastic & Alternative Bag Types
Following Sobey’s phase out of disposable plastic bags in January 2020, this article discusses the various differences between bag types including single use plastic, polypropylene or synthetic fibre, cotton bags, and paper bags. It serves as an article providing information so readers can perhaps make more informed decisions when choosing the right bags or materials for them, and knowing the impact each has on the Earth.
At a time of spring, or if you are an indoor gardener, this post has tips for reusing household items in your garden. These ideas not only save you money, but help the Earth too.
Camping is a wondering year round outdoor activity, but the convenience of single use items becomes more common due to being away from our home necessities. Dish soap, utensils, cooking methods… our regular routines are altered when camping. There are many great ways to avoid waste while in the great outdoors, from food preparation to setting the table! This post is a go to if you will be spending time sleeping in a tent!
8 Zero Waste Items to Help Reduce Waste Everyday
Just as it sounds, this post combined the products I have found the most helpful for reducing waste. Focused on bathroom and kitchen items that reduce packaging, food waste, and create more eco-friendly alternatives. Stasher bags happen to be one of these great items!
This article sheds light on a forgotten part of waste… food. Food waste is often not discussed due to food being compostable, however, our food takes many resources to create and transport, making it important not to waste. In here you will find information on best before dates, responsibly discarding food waste, and great tips to shop smart at the grocery store.
A spring themed post with information on pollinators and helping them thrive in your own yard. Make a DIY bee house from reused materials to provide shelter for busy bees.
This post was written to provide fresh ideas for low waste snacks that didn’t focus just on fruit. No one can be perfect when it comes to reducing waste, and it is difficult to continually be baking and making your own snack recipes all the time. So this snack post contains ideas for easy to make snacks, and also snacks that can be purchased from companies and brands that are making an effort to reduce waste. Besides, who uses an apple as an alternative to potato chips anyways?
If you have been working at reducing your waste, you probably have noticed that your jars from packaged foods may start to pile up quickly. This post gives 10 creative ways to reuse jars, as well as two different ways to better remove labels from store bought jars. If you know how to reuse jars, you’ll rarely throw them out and will never have to purchase jars for the jar itself again (this is coming from someone who has over 150 jars being used in their house… I promise, I counted)!
SHARING MY GARDEN
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