A little over a year ago I started working towards a “zero waste” home. I’m not nearly where I’d like to be, and I know I’ll never reach 100% zero waste, but we’ve made strides. When we shop, we bring our own totes, cloth produce bags and bulk containers. At home we use seed stitch clothes in place of paper towels (well, most of the time. I haven’t completely weaned my family off the convenience of disposable towels). I try to purchase products with minimal or glass packaging whenever I can and I try to keep laundry simple with powdered detergent that comes in a cardboard box (though it does have a plastic scoop too). I’ve eliminated those chemical infused household cleaners and replaced them with vinegar, baking soda and castile soap. Over all, I think we are doing a decent job. My husband (hi dear) would be quick to point out that I go through a lot of toilet paper. Let’s just say I like to be clean and leave it at that. I also have a lot of disposables packaging that come in with shipments. I hate shopping. And so I end up buying most of my goods online (other than groceries). Everything from clothing, household goods, supplements and chicken products are purchased from my computer and shipped to my home. No, this isn’t the greenest way. I depend on Amazon way too much and need to learn to source elsewhere and make do. The problem is, it’s just too darn convenient.
After chiding myself for “slipping” a bit on my zero waste goal, I decided to finally fix the three vintage Esterbrook fountain pens I’ve had sitting unusable for the past year. I purchased them to replace the plethora of plastic pens that were scattered around my home. Yes, they too are plastic, but its plastic that’s over 50 years old and I rather keep them out of the landfill. I also enjoy using a fountain pen. When I was working AND going to college, my hands would frequently cramp up from all of the typing/ writing. Fountain pens are kind to your hands, as they glide across the paper while ball points require you to use some pressure on the paper to write.
The only problem with fixing my pens was that I had to order more stuff to fix them. I needed replacement pen sacs, orange shellac, pure talc – the lilac scented stuff I already had wouldn’t do according to the experts – silicone grease and for one pen, a replacement J-bar. Ack!
After I ordered all of this stuff – mostly from (gulp) Amazon – I started to wonder if this was any better than just using disposable pens. I mean, here I am generating garbage and buying more stuff and having it shipped across the country in order to fix three pens.
After wrestling with this question for a bit, I concluded that while this initial purchase may be perturbing, I now have the materials I need to fix my pens for years and years to come. Plus, talc, grease and shellac are useful materials to fix other items as well. So while I’m not happy about the extra cardboard boxes and plastic bubble wrap I have to deal with, I am happy with my fixed pens.If your interested in this kind of stuff, I found a really good tutorial for installing new ink sacs in Esterbrooks here.
Those are fancy!
I get things off Amazon also and wonder the same thing. Just ordered some bulk shea butter and jojoba oil to makes lotions and such with. I figure it has to be better than a bajillion new future bottles of stuff.
It’s a process and a balance of time, energy, and resources, so don’t beat yourself up about it. I buy paper plates and we use them a lot. Some would argue that’s wasteful – maybe so, but then i don’t use soap, time to wash, and water. Sometimes, time spent with family is more important than worrying about ‘wasting’ paper. Your pens are lovely and if you enjoy using them rather than disposable, then, by all means, repair them. I think that’s awesome! Bags – yeah, i take my cloth bags for shopping – hate shopping, too. main grocery shopping is once a month when i go to town and meet the coop truck. Other stuff usually ordered online. I try to conserve by asking myself, ‘ is this something i can build or create using something we already have on hand?’ sometimes it takes me a long time to figure it out, but it usually saves money and results in less clutter. Disposable packaging can be used to ship stuff out if you list stuff on ebay or some such, plus you didn’t actually drive somewhere and burn fossil fuels. Kudos on making your own cleaners. Reuse containers you already have, plus, really all that premade stuff is 99% water. I make my own soap, so shavings of that are turned into laundry soap. Keep sharing your thoughts on this – we can all use practical (emphasis on ‘practical’) ideas.
It’s all about give and take! I like to compare the concept of zero waste to sustainability. It’s funny, sustainability as a concept isn’t a concrete thing. There are various versions of it floating in the world. However, one thing almost all agree (in academia at least) is that sustainability is never truly achieved. It is a goal and a something we should all work towards, but there is no “aha, we’ve made it” moment. Same with zero waste. There is no true “zero waste” just the journey to reduce and compromise in a way the leads to less disposable stuff cluttering our lives.
There are too few who understand this as you do!