Some ingredients may be missing from our refrigerators after ten days at home. With a little creativity, we can find alternatives in our cupboards. Zero waste can also be done with what is already available!
Vegan cooking has long gone without eggs and butter. Now is the time to be inspired by them! Here are a few examples of ingredients that can be interchanged:
Alternatives to eggs
½ banana replaces 1 egg
Chickpea water to replace egg whites (aquafaba recipe)
Potato flake purée for savoury preparations
1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed in 2 tablespoons of water that is left to soak for a few minutes replaces 1 egg
Alternatives to butter
Applesauce
Coconut oil
Almond puree
Alternatives to cream
Greek yogurt
Coconut milk
Most substitute ingredients are used in the same proportions as the original. However, there is no precise rule. It’s up to you to experiment and above all, have fun!
Making your own laundry has many advantages: it’s very easy, economical, and ecological! Whether you are a beginner or a Zero Waste expert, doing your own laundry is useful and accessible to everyone!
Mix the finely grated soap or soap flakes with the baking soda and salt.
Remarks
Sodium carbonate can also be used here as an alternative to baking soda. However, it must be closed tightly, as it reacts with moisture in the air and tends to agglomerate. Laundry sodium carbonate is also much stronger and is therefore more suitable for heavily soiled clothes.
For whiter clothes: add 200g of sodium percarbonate. To remove odours (tobacco, perspiration): add a small glass of baking soda directly into the drum. For softer laundry: add 1 glass of vinegar in the softening compartment of the machine. Add lavender essential oil if you want the laundry to smell good (more effective than in laundry).
Making your own laundry has many advantages: it’s very easy, economical, and ecological! Whether you are a beginner or a Zero Waste expert, doing your own laundry is useful and accessible to everyone! The homemade laundry can be used for hand washing as well as for machine washing.
What you need
Heat-resistant metal bowl or saucepan (3 litres or more)
Kettle, water heater
whisk, tablespoon
1 bottle or old washing powder canister (2 litres or more)
Ingredients for 2 litres of liquid detergent
2 litres of water (1 litre + 1 litre)
35 g of real Marseille soap
35 g of liquid black soap
2 tablespoons of soda crystals
Cautionary note
Important: Excess soap can damage your machine or clog your drain lines. It is important to dose the product correctly. If the water in your area is very calciferous (they say the water is “hard”), the PH value should be increased by adding soda powder (Sodium bicarbonate) to improve the effectiveness of the soap and reduce deposits. Please also read this information carefully !
Method
Boil 1 litre of water.
Grate the soap into a container, add the black soap and pour boiling water into the mixture.
Let stand for a few minutes, then stir until the soap is dissolved. Add 1 litre of tap water (cold).
Add the soda crystals, mix and leave to cool for a few hours.
Put the detergent in a canister. If desired, scent with essential oil.
If the detergent thickens too much, it can be diluted with a little bit of water the next day.
Shake the canister well before each use. Use this detergent in the same dosage as any other detergent.
Remarks
For very dirty laundry:
You can rub the Marseille soap directly on the stains by moistening it with water. It is an excellent stain remover. You can also add 2 tablespoons of Sodium Percarbonate (solid hydrogen peroxide, made from natural raw materials) in the drum of the machine.
For the fabric softener:
Alcohol vinegar is perfect as a fabric softener, put 1 tablespoon in the softener tray. Be careful not to use too much, as it can damage the elastics of your clothes.
Making your own lip balm is actually easier than it seems! Just buy a few ingredients and trust their natural properties to say goodbye to dry lips, all at a low cost! Here’s a recipe for a moisturizing lip balm that’s completely homemade and quickly prepared!
Ingredients
½ tablespoon of almond oil (or other oil)
2 tablespoons of beeswax flakes
7 drops of vitamin E oil (grapefruit seed extract)
Spring is here – and with it whole fields of wild garlic in the woods. This spring plant is very useful in cooking: wild garlic in risotto, spätzli, soup, but also in butter, salt or oil, and in many other recipes.
You can also make wild garlic paste to add to your dishes and have it on hand all year round. For example, the paste can be used as a base for pesto or as a seasoning for different dishes with garlic.
Picking wild garlic – what should you think about?
In many places, wild garlic grows in fields or in the shade in the hollow of leafy trees. A wild garlic harvest can therefore ideally be combined with a seasonal walk in the forest. Therefore, there are a few points to consider (which also apply to the harvesting of other wild plants) :
Choose the harvesting point carefully. To find plants with as little pollution as possible, keep at least 50 metres from busy roads or fertilized farmland. On popular trails, it is best to pick plants slightly off the common track. This reduces the risk that x number of dogs have already urinated on them.
Don’t harvest everything. Wild garlic spreads so quickly that it is almost impossible to harvest everything. Nevertheless, you should only harvest as much as is necessary so that the plants can continue to reproduce and the next hiker can also enjoy them.
Beware: wild garlic look like autumn saffron and lily of the valley and both plants are poisonous. The easiest way to make sure you are picking what you are looking for: rub a leaf between your fingers. If it smells strongly of garlic, it is a ramson and you are safe.
You can find more information on harvesting and using wild garlic in the garden journal.
Recipe for wild garlic paste
Wild garlic should be processed as fresh as possible. It is therefore best to start preparing it immediately after returning home.
What you need
Clean glasses of the desired size
Blender (or a board and a sharp knife)
Ingredients
100 gr of wild garlic
85 ml of vegetable oil
12 grams of salt
How-to
With a blender
Mix the wild garlic, oil and salt in the blender until a fine paste is obtained.
Pour into clean glasses.
Without a blender
Cut the wild garlic into as fine pieces as possible with a sharp knife.
Mix it with the oil and the salt until the salt is dissolved.
Pour into clean glasses.
Don’t forget to label! It is best to keep the paste in a cool place (in the cellar or refrigerator).
We wish you a lot of fun picking, preparing and tasting the wild garlic!
Waste nicely collected in a jar, chic metal tubes, elegant coffee-to-go cups, a beautifully sorted food cupboard – that’s what “Zero Waste” looks like on Instagram. Critics complain that it is a lifestyle for people with a lot of time and a bigger budget who want to salve their ecological conscience. With little or no effect at all, since waste is not a problem in Switzerland. Cleanly collected, our waste incinerators produce energy – and thus save oil. A new study by the University of Applied Sciences in Rapperswil even comes to the conclusion that waste in Switzerland has a positive climate balance.
It’s time for an explanation: what does “zero waste” mean? Can lifestyle change anything?
Waste is not just waste
There are arguments about the “Zero”: does it make sense? Wouldn’t “minimal waste” be the better term? Is that how you want to set absolute goals? We think so: What’s important is to have the right understanding of waste. The common translation to “waste” is not complete. According to the Oxford Dictionary, “waste” is: “An act or instance of using or expending something carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose”, casually translated is:
“Waste”, a carefree, wasteful approach to things.
That’s where Zero Waste comes in.
It’s not about the jar of junk (ref. to Bea Johnson). At its core, it’s about how we treat our environment. Do we treat our living space, our possessions and our fellow human beings with the respect they deserve? Do we value these things? Usually not enough, because many things have become a matter of course.
Anyone who also understands “waste” to mean the handling of our valuable resources such as water, electricity, energy, working hours, etc. will notice a big change. Consumer behaviour will become less, more conscious, fairer and more sustainable. “Zero Waste” combines sufficiency, the desire for a sustainable circular economy and the striving for the highest possible efficiency.
80 billion clothes are produced in the world every year.
Their manufacture has a much greater environmental and social burden than we might imagine, as we can see on the picture on the left which shows what is needed for the production of a single T-shirt.
In Switzerland, more than 100,000 tonnes of new clothing are sold every year (source), while at the same time 57,000 tonnes of used textiles are collected by organisations working in the textile recycling industry. In addition, a large proportion of these garments are irreproachable. On average, around 11 kilos of textiles per person are thrown away (source FOEN).
To avoid this waste, here are some tips based on the R principle.
Refuse and rethink
Instead of a shopping spree, offer other activities such as a walk in the forest, a visit to an exhibition, a movie at the cinema, or just a drink with friends; it will be just as much fun, if not more.
Just before you go shopping (real or virtual), ask yourself the following questions:
Do I really need this garment?
Will I have a lot of fun wearing it?
Am I convinced of this purchase? Maybe I am only tempted because it is 50% off…
If the answer to one or more of these questions is no, then stop wasting your money and get out of the store (or website). You can always come back if you change your mind.
If by habit or lack of ideas you tend to offer clothes or accessories as gifts, here are some ideas to innovate for children’s birthdays or Christmas gifts.
Reduce
On average, 30% of the clothes we own are not worn and sleep in our wardrobes. Is it really useful to own 20 pairs of pants, 30 T-shirts and 15 pairs of shoes? The answer is probably no.
Sort through your clothes and take out the ones you no longer wear. You can donate them to charity (e.g. Caritas distributes them to disadvantaged people in Switzerland). Good quality, old-fashioned clothes will even help you get some money back and these are welcome in second-hand circuits. Avoid replacing them with new ones, a less furnished wardrobe with only the pieces we like is much more pleasant and saves you time.
Reuse and share
Address bookstores, second-hand shops, consignment stores, ad or auction websites, local groups on social networks, etc. There is no shortage of places to buy second-hand clothes and you can find them on our map of the Zero Waste friendly shops.
There is currently such an overabundance of clothing due to the “Fast Fashion” phenomenon that it takes a little time to find the right shops and a little experience to find good quality pieces. That said, the good news is that the prices are unbeatable, so you can save a lot of money while reducing your environmental impact. What’s more, the money spent often helps to create local jobs.
Repair
Your clothes with holes, too large or old-fashioned deserve a second chance! Especially if you like them a lot or the fabric is interesting. A sewing machine is your best ally in these cases (no need to buy one, for occasional use it is better to borrow it). Internet is full of tutorials to transform old-fashioned or too large pieces into unique pieces (upcycling). All kinds of repairs or alterations are also offered by professional sewing workshops.
Recycle
Used clothing can also be deposited in the containers provided for this purpose. Several organisations manage their valorisation and export in Switzerland. The proportion of what is valued in Switzerland or exported depends on this. Here are a few examples:
Textura collects 1,800 tonnes in almost 300 containers in the canton of Vaud and gives the items a second life locally by selling them in Ateapic shops. This is also the case for the containers of the Fribourg Croix-Rouge, which are revalued locally, particularly in the Zig-Zag Boutiques.
Tell-Tex has 3,000 containers in Switzerland and a sorting centre in Safenwil. A small part is donated free of charge to the inhabitants of the mountain regions in collaboration with the Swiss Mountain Aid, but the vast majority is exported.
TEXAID and its subsidiary Contex with its more than 6’000 containers, 35’000 tons collected all over Switzerland and its sorting plants – 1 in Switzerland and 5 abroad – is the biggest player. The garments are exported for resale abroad. According to TEXAID, around 35% of the clothing collected is considered unsuitable for wearing. They are normally recycled as rags (15%) or insulating materials (15%), while 5% are incinerated.
What about a different breakfast? It doesn’t always have to be the old familiar cereal. With oatmeal, for example, you can bake fine muffins with only 6 ingredients:
Recipe for 8 muffins
300 g of ripe bananas
75 g of oat flakes
1 egg
1 teaspoon of baking powder
50 g of berries, depending on season
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
Preparation
Peel the bananas and mash them into a pulp with a fork
Add the oat flakes, egg and spices and mix well
Carefully fold in the berries
Finally add the baking powder, stir and fill into muffin cups
Bake at 180 degrees for about 12 minutes
Remove from the tin and enjoy !
Tip: you can also replace the oat flakes with other flakes such as millet flakes or rye flakes. The spices can also be adapted to suit your taste
