Becky Striepe
We use a lot of paper in our day to day, but it doesn’t have to be that way!
[Creative Commons photo by Eunice]
Americans go through 700 pounds of paper products per person on average every single year. That’s a lot of trees! On top of things like paper towels and tissues, billions of menstrual products end up in the bin. In 1988, a field study found that 6.5 billion tampons and 13.5 billion sanitary pads and their packaging end up in America’s waste stream annually. You’ve got a weapon to fight all this waste right in your craft room: your sewing machine or even a simple needle and thread! Here are a few ways you can stitch your way to less waste.
- Make your own cloth napkins with this simple tutorial by Chara Michele.
- Give paper towels the boot! Sew, Mama, Sew! shows you how to make your own patchwork kitchen towels.
- eHow has a great tutorial for making your own rolled hem handkerchief that doesn’t even require a sewing machine.
- Whip up a few cloth pads with this tutorial on making menstrual pads! If you’re concerned with switching to cloth pads, Pleasure Puss has a great resource page on how simple caring for cloth pads can be.
- Not a seamstress but want to make some cloth napkins? That’s alright! Birmingham Bargain Mom’s got you covered with her no sew cloth napkins!
Whether you make just one or two of these changes or decide to tackle them all, good on you for working to reduce your contribution to the landfill!
As much as I would love to be on board with the cloth menstrual pads, I just can’t – it thoroughly grosses me out. My ‘green’ alternative is the Diva Cup. I find that it works just as well as a tampon with no waste.
As far as sewing to have less waste, I’ve taken to refashioning clothes that don’t fit (like jeans that are too short, into a jean skirt) or patching holes . . . etc etc. If you don’t have to buy something new and you keep what you already have, you get less waste!!
I sew up fabric bags for both groceries and produce. (I’m in the process of redoing the tutorials on my site- will even include some videos to help make it crystal clear.)
And I think the best thing about how sewing can reduce waste is how you can fix tears in clothing as well as reuse fabrics like thrift store sheets and divert it all from the landfill.
Elizabeth – I’m so glad you mentioned menstrual cups! I wanted to work that in somehow and wasn’t able to. I am also a Diva Cup devotee!
Great ideas for sewing to reduce waste…mending clothing is such a huge one.
Menstrual cups for the win!!! Changed my life, did the Keeper. Diva Cup is the same thing.
I can’t tell you ladies how great it is to see some good menstrual cup feedback!
I like the cloth pads myself–tampons never worked for me, and I figure it can’t be any grosser than cloth diapers, right? (No kids myself, but I know a bunch of people who do and are getting into the cloth diaper thing.) I haven’t managed to convince myself to use handkerchiefs over tissues yet, but my family does use cloth napkins and cloth towels for most things–except for stuff like cooking bacon.
We haven’t used paper napkins or paper towels in – gosh, 15 plus years. I just switched to cloth pads – so much comfyier. And a diaphragm makes a perfectly good menstrual cup, btw. (and your insurance might pay for it.)
To have an eco-friendly period, I’ve switched to the Diva Cup. It’s a menstrual cup that’s super comfortable, easy to use, and last for years. No more trash and no more carrying around multiple tampons everywhere you go. I wrote a blog about my first experience using it at http://www.mymagicaljourney.com/eco-friendly-period-diva-cup-diary-tmi-alert/ I love the Diva Cup!
I also made super soft tissues out of cotton flannel. They are awesome! I had a cold last week, and when I went to my mom’s for a day and used the traditional tissues, my nose became really sore and dry. I had allergies as a child, and that happened often. I thought it was because of my nose. When I got home and used my super soft flannel tissues, I realized it was because of the tissues! My nose cleared right up! We made lots so we can use them just like tissues (instead of using one handkerchief over and over). We have a bag where they collect and just wash normally with our homemade detergent (ooh la la! http://www.mymagicaljourney.com/homemade-laundry-detergent/ ).
This is a great post!