When I first tried living more sustainable I wanted to go from 0 to 100% and I think that’s a mistake a lot of people tend to make because your primary motivation will vanish quickly. For me personally it works so much better to adjust one or two things at a time. The little changes will add up eventually and you‘ll be so proud.

I remember back in the day (5+ years ago) looking for a specific handmade product on etsy and I kept seeing “ZW” in the description of many items. I had no idea what that meant so I looked it up and learned a l’il bit about the modern zero waste movement. I grew up in the 60’s & 70’s in a family that didn’t have much money and parents who were raised in The Depression and The War. I remember thinking to myself “Well, I’m gonna rock this ZW thing because this is my frugal, make it yourself, reuse & repurpose childhood all over again.” Now-a-days I feel the value of my upbringing and am quite thrilled to have the skills and knowledge on how to be low waste, thrifty, and planet-kind. Great video today Gittemary and Happy ❤️ to you & Jens and to all your viewers here today. 🌎💦Ⓜ️ary💝

I also felt like if I didn't make all my trash fit into a mason jar, I was a failure. I had to step back and look at the reality of my life: we have no bulk bins or package free shops where I live. I finally realized that if I do the best I can: refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, rot, I was doing so much more than most. I cannot save the world, and I just need to be okay with doing what I can access, what I can afford, and what I am able to.

I remember years ago watching a zero waste family demonstrating how they keep their trash to such a small amount and it was ridiculous. If they were in a store they would decline their receipt but the receipt was already printed so they were just making the waste someone else’s problem. They did it with some other situations too. It was like they thought if it didn’t go home with them then it ceased to exist. I wonder how many people felt inadequate because they had more trash without realizing this particular family were really only accounting for garbage generated within the confines of their home. I prefer to look at the type of garbage my family are generating. If it is food waste how can we use things up before they go bad or can we preserve them for another time, those that we can’t make use of can they be composted? If it is packaging can we buy the item packaged in a better way by shopping elsewhere? Can something we need/want be bought second hand which means it won’t come with packaging (or likely less packaging).

I think some of the so-called "Ugly Sustainability" isn't ugly at all. My mismatched second hand dishes and silverware look so much "prettier" than Styrofoam plates and plastic utensils. And, no, Ohio has still not banned Styrofoam (!) Thanks for this video. You have helped me to stop "preaching" at people (which takes a great deal of effort)!

As I was washing my hair this morning with cruelty free, vegan, good shampoo that is made in my country but comes in plastic bottles, I realised that I have let go of the plastic (though recyclable) guilt in favour of supporting a small local company, and I felt such relief. I was also thinking that almost everything I buy is a compromise, except for local veg at the farmer’s market. We’ve just got to do the best we can.

So true about the whole "natural is good"..... arsenic is natural, uranium is natural...... this is so true

Can we take a moment to consider how evil (yes, evil, even if it's a strong word) social media are in terms of ads? Like, they now exactly what to show to you, and this is totally part of the "sustainable aestethic" thing. Now, when I scroll and see an ad, I'll remind myself that the most sustainable option is not to buy tha pretty, fancy swap in the ad, but to make use of what I already have. Thank you Gittemary!

I have to admit, I really enjoyed the dig into "trash jar heroes" as they really made zero waste seems like something unaccessible from other planet. I even read the book from BJ and it made me feel like - OK, nice, but I can never do that - and I'm not even sure I want to. We need to keep it real here, so thanks for your great work!

My biggest mindset shift since I started trying to reduce my impact: zero waste is mostly a shift of the blame onto consumers instead of on the corporations and politicians that are really murdering our climate. We can use our consumer decisions as votes for the future you want but if you spend all your energy on your individual impact you are only helping the powerful people that want to keep your attention and blame off of them.

So at my work place nobody cleaned the forks and knifes they used. And at a time i was just feed up with cleaning others dirt because i wanted to use it. So i wanted to bring my own stuff to work and store it in my bag. So i was thinking „should i buy wood, or this or that or second hand or or or“ for over 2 month. Until it came to my mind! „I have one whole set (knife, spoon, fork) in my draw, that looks different than the rest because it is from set previews of kitchen stuff (giftet from mother in law, probably 20-30years old) since then i have this in a selfmade case in my Bag. Made from felt and a Bandana i never wore. This was the moment i startet to see things different.

The trash jar was definitely what drew me in! but I first heard of it from a sustainability video that trashed the concept of it. I remember thinking, “wait what?” lol. I was feeling very proud that my trash bin only had to be taken out once per week tops and here is some lady doing a jar per year. Its impossible for me and I have learned to live with that. Thank you and a few others for helping me through that. Im becoming better and better by the day. I have never considered myself a wasteful person but I was definitely not conscious of my decisions

Thank you for saying the thing. AHH! The aesthetic is getting under my skin because I just fill my jars. Old pickle jars, mayonnaise jars, Tupperware for deli chicken, etc. It’s not pretty. And to your punk comment!… I’ve always been known as “the Wednesday Addams of my friend group”. I like black, I like creepy, it is what is. So when I wanted produce bags but didn’t want to spend a bunch on designer ones, I just got an old Hot Topic dress out of my closet and used the fabric to sew my own produce bags. Even I used the straps as tie closures for the bags. Easy peasy, sustainabreezy. 🥰

“Sustainability happens outside of what we can buy.” *mind blown* Girl- I love that you said this! Thank you.

I really appreciate your (very classy) call out of a certain "Girl Boss Cut-Throat-Capitalism, but make it *eco-chic*" influencer. Starting your own business to hawk unnecessary designer-style goods to other rich New Yorkers so that you can all having matching rich-New-Yorker marble and reclaimed old-wood kitchens to model in decor magazines is NOT sustainable. "You're killing the environment if you don't buy this fancy glass thing I'm selling" is just another advertising technique that's made another millionaire, and there's no reason for that to be the face of Zero Waste.

something I find funny in modern zero waste is how some people (mainly americans) act as if they reinvented the wheel by doing things like reusing glass jars when other communities (like mine, for example - im brazilian) have been doing these things for ages lol

I'm totally guilty of buying rice or legumes in plastic but then transfering it to glass containers in the pantry😂 honestly it feels much more organised for me and I avoid things spilling when moving things around the pantry. I'd really love to be able to shop everything in bulk but it's sometimes out of my budget unfortunately.

Luckily, I started my "journey" because of great content creators like you, and I was able to start off with the big picture and see the invisible impacts as well. Thank you so much for what you do and how you inspire others to do better!

I really like this video and the realness. When I first started learning about zero waste I really wanted to fit into the mold, even if that meant buying a mold in which to make my own soap from : 0. It's taken a long time for me to realize that I can't control everything in my household and prevent trash from being made. For instance I live with my Dad who does not respect zero waste, won't even put a toilet paper roll into the recycling no matter how easy I try to make it. I find myself surrounded by waste and meat and unhealthy lifestyle and it makes it really easy to be sad with myself when I can't compost all the food scraps and waste. Can't even have a space in the freezer for such things. Anyway, I love that this video shows that it's a process to lower your overall consumption and use of resources made readily available to you. I'm still growing into this process and having to slow down to notice the things I'm doing right instead of focusing on the things that I cannot really control. Anyway loved the realness in this video! Thank you! #stillworkingonit #stilltrying

When I get given a plastic straw anyway, I only have one metal one, I just save them and reuse them when I make smoothies etc for family or friends, clean them with my strae cleaning brush, and keep them. On occasion they become useful in some project, and there you go!

This is one of your best videos in my opinion. Just awesome. Every ZW or sustainability beginner should watch it. I started my journey about 4 years ago and had many of the same experiences. Still one of the hardest things for me to do is using up „unsustainable“ things before switching to a sustainable alternative. As soon as wie make the decision to live more sustainably, we most likely want to change everything right away. But it takes A LOT of time to convert a home let alone a life (or a family) into a more environmentally friendly one. So everyone: keep going one step at a time, but don‘t rush it and don‘t be too hard on yourselves. ❤️🌱🧘🏼‍♀️

oh, God! that jar! thank you for raising that up. It makes you feel a failure before you even start

Yes please, more content on Ugly Sustainability! Ugly Sustainability seems to be much more accessible to the average person who can't afford to look the like the "Instagram" Sustainability

I struggled/still struggle with plastic bags. I had so many 😏 i wound up cutting them to thick ribbons and stretching them out.if youre handy with a crochet hook they make great outdoor rugs at mats. I get my daughter to plait them and we weave them into rugs and mats for camping and for the pets... its a great way to get use out of them if you still have a lot. Now i get my friends to give me their plastic bags cause i always need more 🤣🤣 i have beach bags and shopping bags that will NEVER break and dog camping mats that cant be destroyed 🤣 and i just blast them with the hose to clean them. I even made a hammock thats suprisingly comfortable... may say they're ugly. But i think theyre cool 😁

I’m less than a year into my ZW “journey” and already see myself in this lmao. Definitely my first mistake was not considering upstream waste, which is MUCH higher than downstream waste. Reusing plastic containers as storage containers rather than buying new ones makes more sense than buying brand new jars, which creates waste to produce.

Really good video. I am so fed up of avoiding plastics when the society around me is not conducive to achieve that. I am now looking at other ways on how I can be sustainable instead of focusing only on plastics.

we grew up living quite poorly, a lot of the things my parents got back then I still use till this day. we are talking about old food containers from the supermarket, some are at least 20-30 years old but they still work wonderfully well. does it fit a beautiful minimalistic aesthethic? no of course not. who cares. people need to be realistic. let go of perfectionism, just be realistic and practical and don't care about how it looks

Glad I didn't make any of these mistakes because from the beginning on I had great people like you and Shelbizzle to tell me what to do 😁

Speaking of sustainability coming from certain groups... yeah poor people. We grew up in poverty and reusing food containers, having reusables is something we did anyway. Buying bulk quantities too! Just means the "journey" hasn't been far from my normal habits. Only small changes.

i feel like the imperfect zero waste lifestyle is more aesthetically pleasing

I love bringing up the intrinsic waste conversation, like is it more sustainable to buy package-free lettuce from across the country or the packaged lettuce from 20 min away. From a ZW perspective, the package-free version is better because no package. But I think buying local, even in a package, has a better impact. I'm not buying package-free pears from Argentina (I don't live anywhere near Argentina) just because they're package-free. Where your food comes from has a big impact too, not just its container.

My husband use to make honeywine by himself and bought a lot of the same honey, same packaging. We washed the glass containers and use them to store. So we do have kind of a pleasing aesthetic in a very easy way. Sometimes it's simple!

One thing I live by now is that just because something is 'natural' does not mean that it is good for the environment or your body.

I agree we should not favour aesthetics to the detriment of practicality / frugality / common sense. True, zero waste goes together with having a low income and doing the best one can with it. However, when I can’t find something in bulk or paper packaging I will buy it in plastic and I will transfer it to my aesthetically pleasing jars, because it will benefit my mental health, which is important too. Thanks for sharing your thoughts 😊

And again ... thanks a lot for the proportions. For me personally the thing with the jar only prevented the beginning of the process. And please ... more content on Ugly Sustainability!!!

We started our journey with swapping rags for napkins and paper towels. I bought a 100 pack of used cotton rags for $15 on eBay. They key since we have kids that we needed a lot so we always had some clean. They are not pretty but they work great and our kids are 100% used to this now. Then we started composting. We are making one change at a time, but still getting there.

Gittemary, your videos became so wholesome. Those things is what pushed me back and made me miserable for years. I always forget to say I don't want a straw because they put straws in the weirdest things like hot chocolate. And felt so bad about it. Now with a child people give me so much trash and I start being more relaxed. And this actually helps me to do better because I am able to focus and prioritize. So thanks.

Speaking of things we already have, my bulk dry goods like rice and beans are stored in PLASTIC old peanut butter jars. The big ones. Saves them from being just thrown away, they work super well, and I don't have to worry about getting glass ones or really them ever breaking. Its also dry goods so any worry abput the plastic breaking down into the food is pretty minimal.

This is just what I wish I knew about sustainability to begin with. Loved the video!

This is probably the best video on sustainability that I have seen. You are totally right on all of your points, I think that people love the look of zero waste but don't look into what it really means to be sustainable. There are many things that we can do, but sometimes we just need to realise that we can't control it all. I can totally relate to your straw situation in a restaurant 🤦, I would sometimes forget to tell the waiting staff to not bring a straw and then feel disappointed in myself 🙄🤦. But if the look of zero waste gets you on your journey then let it. 👏👏👏👏👏👏 Thank you for your honesty 😁

I really like the look of a mix matched kitchen. And have really been enjoying getting stuff second hand. So many cool things already out there 🌏💜💚🌿🔥

I love your channel so much. I've always figured I couldn't go low-waste because of lack of money, health issues, that it buys into obsessive habits, etc. I really love that you promote the idea that moderation and compassion can exist in low-waste lifestyles

I couldn't love this video more! I would love more videos about the foods you cook from supermarkets.. I only have these and local shops due to disability but would love to make vegan recipes that aren't pretentious and something my meat loving husband would eat! I am currently living with my Grandmother who is 95 and she was 'saving' things just in case and it took over her house - it took me while before I realised that she grew up with nothing and lived through ww2 on rations and everything had to be saved and reused - nothing was wasted! She doesn't like the way the world is today and neither do I. The Earth doesn't belong to us - it belongs to our Grandchildren x

I just starting my low impact journey (bit too late,but better late than never) and this video really helped me avoid some mistakes as it was how I thought about zero waste (hey Pinterest)

I started watching your videos almost when you started, I saw you comenting in Lauren Singer's blog and I began to read yours... I kind of feel that we've been growing up together in this "zero waste" world! Your content is the best of all the sustainables youtubers! 😍 No one have your political approach! 🙌🏽

Thank you very much for making this. Almost all of what you touched on has driven me positively crazy with the Zero Waste Influencer crowd over the last few years, and honestly made me stop taking the movement seriously. A trust that I am just starting to rebuild. Every solution being a shiny 50 dollar stainless steel thing, or you must refuse every tiny scrap of plastic you might not have control over, and the general lack of mainstream discussion on accessibility and other issues (still something the movement needs to work on). Drove me up the wall. Thanks again.

Thank you so much for this video

I made these same mistakes too & was frustrating myself. I'm living in the States in a apartment now. Finding your channel has helped me so much! Thanks bebz♡

Ive only been on the sustainability journey for a little over a year and I've already made a few mistakes, like falling for a few greenwashed items at the store, and buying a few overpriced sustainable things I could have lived without. Ive learned since then, its its something you really have to educate yourself on and learn as you go. I think most people will make mistakes at the beginning, but having more people doing sustainable things imperfectly is better than no one caring at all. More progress will be made that way. Now I just try to reuse things and get the longest life out of the stuff I buy. Some of the products I buy are expensive, but they are usually reusable or last several months so it makes it worth it to me. I also love the point you brought up about being able to be goth and sustainable! I have been goth for several years and I also live as sustainably as I can, but I let go of my guilt for band/music related merch and thats one of my exceptions for buying new, I like to support bands and thats important to me. Keep making your great videos, people can learn a lot from you!

In the beginning, I used to throw a tantrum when I wasn't quick enough to tell the fruit vendor at the farmer's market to not put the produce in plastic bags lol. I also do the ugly sustainability of reusing the shit out of single-use plastic bags as my family really doesn't consider these aspects when doing the groceries so I have to do these small things to somewhat lessen the impact

I dont know why you have 1 million subs already! you are brilliant!

Our county in California is finally letting us throw used paper goods, meat waste and produce waste into the green bin. We have blue bin for clean recyclables. So the straight up garbage can takes about 3 days to get to the brown bin. If I have to use plastic, I reuse over and over again.

Thank you so much for sharing your journey and what you've learned.💜 You have taught me so much!

I love your videos! Thank you for being so real and showing yourself for what you are :) keep going! 🌱

Thank you for that insight! I did the same thing at first with the “aesthetic” piece, almost losing sight of what sustainability is supposed to be about. So, thanks for bringing that up!

Great video, Gittemary. You make very good points. Always good information on this channel. ♥♥♥

I'm proud that I have reduced my waste to one very small trash can per week. I reuse, recycle and compost all I can. And I buy much less to start with which makes me very happy with the money and resources I save. 😊 Feeling good about my efforts and being a positive example to my friends and family makes me proud! We all stumble in this process but it's how we internalize it that matters. I choose joy!

I love your view on sustainability and a reminder that it isn't about the so popular aesthetic idea. In terms of going to a supermarket to buy wrapped things just to then organise these into functional containers. I am one of these people at the moment. Sadly it is out of my financial or free-time reach to do shopping more sustainably at the moment. However, it is training me to have space made for the products that I use and when I will be able to top these up more sustainably, I will. It also gives me an idea of whether containers are too small or too big for my needs. I call it, halfway there :)

Carring about the aesthetics is nice but definitely not ecofriendly. The transition is hard but possible. Its way more eco to use what we already got.

I have often suspected that those zero waste people, who put their year's worth of trash in a Mason jar, secretly sneak out at night and toss a lot of disgusting stuff in roadside trash barrels so that they're home situation will stay so pristinely trash free!! 😝

What a great video. Just recently l decided to get on YT to share what battling with the ‘choice’ is like 😅. I still have so much to learn. So glad to find a low impact channel like yours. 🥰 I totally agree with you. It’s most important to make choices that feel sustainable for your own lifestyle. If it’s exhausting, you won’t be happy and people will feel it’s a wrong choice to make 😄

I just bought cleaners (bathroom, kitchen) in a tablet form. And I saw the excatc problem you pointed out. They have a "starter kit" that includes plastic spray bottles. So they all look the same. Like come on. Who doesn't have spray bottles at home? Mine are all differetn and I keep reusing them until they break but many people think they NEED this perfect set. Like it is under my sink most of the time you know so let them be different:)

Thanks for sharing these 5 mistakes so we don't make the same mistakes. Love 🥰 the video and love 💕GitterMary.

There are other creators that I follow, and love and respect, but this was by far the most informative and enlightening video for a baby in the sustainable lifestyle. Thank you!

I've noticed on some of your videos the videos have marked sections and some don't. Those are really nice and help a lot on the ones they exist on. Thanks for all you do, extra sustainability tips are always great

Ugly sustainability: the ugly stains on all my produce/bulk bags and on my wax wraps. I like veg! I like turmeric! They are all stained.

Would you be willing to make a video on the environmental impact of wild caught fish vs farm raised fish? I feel like farm raised would be ultimately better for environment if you need to eat fish, but I wonder what the statistics are.

Exactly! We have to look at the bigger picture. Take care of our planet.

Ugly sustainability sounds like a fun idea 👍

Loved this, this was very helpful.

'No nugget shaped thing is natural' haha, I laughed

zero waste is actually so ridiculously punk rock dude i loooovvee a crustpunk

Love that shirt you've got on today! I think it's very cute and pretty and am jealous I've never been able to find something like it in my local thriftstores LOL 😆

I would also add the mistake of thinking that whatever you do is fine as long as you "offset" your carbon footprint. There is a very misleading narrative going on about it and it has taken me forever to realise that a) some of the lifestyle choices I make would take a lot of money to offset b) the companies offering a "carbon neutral" journey are more likely than not NOT offsetting anything and most importantly c)we are at the very end of the supply chain and it is ridiculous to shift the responsibility of the carbon emissions on us consumers rather than expecting the companies to become more sustainable in their processes

Thanks for making this video 😍

I love your perspective

I am guilty of caring too much about aesthetics haha. I just discovered your videos from a veganism debate you had elsewhere. I'm learning a lot!

I always read your name as GlitterMary and I kind of think it suits you, you have such a sparkly personality ✨💕😊

Excellent video! We definitely learn from each other. My approach to things is to do my best because I’m perfectly imperfect 😁

Id love more ugly sustainability! :D haha. It helps feel like I am doing something right, compared to seeing all these beautiful photos on instagram! As I was watching, I was thinking of sustainable jobs. Do you have a video for that? I have received a job offer but the company sells things that arent sustainable in specific, so I dont really want to take the job. And as I was thinking about that, I wondered what is really a sustainable job and how to implement more sustainable ways in my day to day work life, including the office, colleagues, waste we produce etc.

This is so true!!! I can't believe it 🙊

I get the aesthetic point. But it did set me on the ZW path, so I think I started out wrong, but now I’m on track.

I am new to this journey, although I’m realizing I’ve done some things naturally most of my life, can you talk about cardboard? Recycling, reusing, etc? In America so much of our food, deliveries, etc come in cardboard and I’m curious of what to do with them besides recycling or learning new tips. Thanks!

I literally search glass jars in the trash of my neighbors 😂

It's important to realize that people may do similar things for different reasons. For instance one may be avoiding plastic for health reasons rather than environmental concerns, or simply care more about the environmental impact of plastic as opposed to CO2. So for them it is rational to throw out plastic tupperware and buy steel, even if that has more environmental impact, since it prevents plastic chemical exposure for themselves and their kids. Is that "consumerism" or "superficial"? I don't think so, just somewhat different priorities...

A recent mistake for me was buying detergent strips so that I could avoid plastic- only to open the external paper box and find a plastic box inside. I was so annoyed. I'm thinking most folks that buy this product think its plastic free!

Those were all very good points. Its the difference between fashionable enviromentalism and ... enviroment friendly enviromentalism ;) I just had a sad thought that its unfortunate that at this point of time the social platform itself is not enviroment friendly. Its not a dig at you, you're using it to educate and who knows maybe its in plus. Just more of a thought about general state of the way were so dependant on electricity production

I don't buy note pads. Instead, I save any mail and envelopes that can be reused for notes, grocery lists. Etc.

All jars are beautiful nomatter shape or form ;) ....blows my mind that people buy empty jars where all of them looks the same xD lol

I keep using the plastic straws i have until they are too gross to use!🍹

Like this video a lot!

Hi, have u ever thought about a setting up a podcast. Love your speechs ❤

🌱

Lol it’s so funny you talk about aesthetics cause almost all my Tupperware/my snack bowls are just…plastic to go containers 😅 food fits in them, why throw em out??

Amen.

I started my sustainable journey 2015 too and did every single of these mistakes 😂🙈

Her: bike to work Baby it’s not gonna happen! Them: why? What’d you do to my car? 🤔👀😂

I so bad want that metal lunch box, but it would be so useless. I usually take lunch that needs to be warmed up so I'd have to transfer the food to different dish every time.

A reason why restaurants want you to drink with straws is so your lips aren’t on the glass and they don’t have to spend more time washing them. Bringing your own metal straw would be better probably

Palm oil is natural but it’s really bad for the environment… 😅