Greening Up My Act: A Sustainable Living Podcast

Journey with your favorite sustainability podcast into the world of online consignment shopping like thredUP and learn more than you ever wanted to know about why fast fashion is THE WORST. Bonus: find out what FFF means to us and start chanting it under your breath every time you pass a clothing store. 

Sources: 

• US News and World Report: 7 Top Online Consignment Shops for Selling your Clothes 
• The Guardian: ‘It’s like a death pit’: How Ghana became fast fashion’s dumping ground 
• Better Business Bureau: Complaints about thredUP, Inc. 
• The Roundup: 17 Most Worrying Textile Waste Statistics and Facts 
• Green America: What Really Happens to Unwanted Clothes? 
• The Good Trade: How does textile recycling work? 
• Reader’s Digest: This is What Really Happens to Your Used Clothing Donations 
• Vogue: How Sustainable Is Consigning Clothing? The RealReal Is Glad You Asked 
• We Hate Waste - Visible Mending is Trending 

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We examine reusable straws, beeswax wrap, and silicone sandwich baggies to figure out if they're actually more eco-friendly. Is the benefit worth the cost? Find out in this fun overview from your favorite sustainability podcast. Spoiler: The real impact depends completely on how you use it.

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What We Mentioned

• Metal straws
• Stasher bags
• Bees Wrap

What We Recommend

• Reusable fork/utensils (or better yet, grab some from your drawer)

Sources

• Anthropocene
• International Journal of Lifecycle Assessment
• Vox 
• Stanford on straws
• Stasher bag website
• Our episode explaining the two-basin method of cleaning dishes
• What to Waste

Patreon: patreon.com/greeningupmyact
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In this fun mini episode, learn how to reuse glass jars faster than you can say Classico marinara. Reusing is great! But it can be a pain in the patooty. That's why your favorite green living podcast is bringing all the tips to make it easier for you. Get rid of any lingering smells, obnoxious labels, and junky lids to be able to reuse your jars over and over... and over... and over.

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Some links below are paid links.

Source
Nancy Birtwhistle's book, Clean & Green

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Join your favorite green living podcast on their first-ever cocktail hour recording as they explore alternative household waste collection service Ridwell! Drink along with a glass of rosé, red wine or a G&T and find out if this subscription service is better than Netflix or not worth the effort. 

Sources: 

• Ridwell
• OPB: A Seattle-based startup challenges the status quo for garbage and recycling pickup in its expansion in Oregon
• Reddit: Opinion: Ridwell and Other Subscription Recycling Services Don't Address the Real Issue
• Willamette Week: Who's Afraid of a Ridwell Box?
• Ask MetaFilter: Paid recycling services -- verifying what they do, and best total impact? 
• KGW8: Ridwell adds campaign yard signs to growing list of recyclables
• Wastedive: Specialty recycling pick-up services flip the script on items accepted curbside

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There's still hope, we promise! In part 2 of our exploration of the dim world of plastics recycling, you'll learn:

• Where we are today and how we got here
• Whether recycling plastic is worth it
• Three proposed solutions -- and why there's always hope
• And more!

Ride along with Tiff and Kat as we figure out whether or not plastics recycling is pure green hooey in this green living podcast.

Sources

• Greenpeace petition on international plastics treaty
• Scientific American on plastics treaty
• BBC
• The Week
• John Oliver's Last Week Tonight episode on plastics
• WasteDive on packaging legislation
• How to Give Up Plastic book

Patreon: patreon.com/greeningupmyact
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It's not an accident that there are actual mountains of plastic waste all over the world: it's advertising, baby. In part 1 of 2, meet the fourth horseman of the recycle-pocalypse: plastic. Plow through the dirty, ad-filled past -- and present -- of plastics recycling while Kat and Tiff provide a shoulder to cry on, or a bag to punch, on this entertaining green living podcast.

What To Watch

• 1990s Dupont Chemical ad for plastic recycling
• 1990s American Plastics Society ad, "plastics make it possible"
• 2020s ad that will make you want to rip your hair out after listening

Sources

• The Conversation on pandemic’s affect on plastic recycling
• Financial Times
• NPR & Frontline
• National Geographic
• PlasticsIndustry.org
• What plastic's made of (PlasticEurope.org)
• Alliance to End Plastic Waste (green hooey alert)
• The Guardian & Washington Post on enviro costs of recycling process
• DutchNews.nl and Plastic Soup Foundation on issues with Dutch recycling
• Ecology Center on plastic bags
• AP
• MyPlasticFreeLife.com

Patreon: patreon.com/greeningupmyact
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Email us with questions: [email protected]
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Did you know glass won't break down for a million years? And we haven't even had glass for that long? Find out the #science in this week's look at glass recycling.

Sources: 

• Glass Alliance Europe: What is Glass? 
• Momentum Recycling: How is Glass Recycled?
• Glass Packing Institute: Glass Container Recycling Loop  
• Chemical & Engineering News (C&En): Why glass recycling in the US is broken 
• Eco Promotional Materials: Benefits of Recycling Glass 
• Roadrunner Smarter Recycling: The Decomposition Clock 
• Recycling Center Near Me: Glass Recycling 
• Recycling Coach: Is broken glass recyclable 

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Is recycling paper and cardboard worth it, even if you can only recycle it a handful of times? Kat and Tiffany were skeptical, but it seems like it is! Learn why in this week's look at our second horseman of the recycle-pocalypse, paper recycling.  Listen to Tiffany be terrible at acronyms in this lively episode of your favorite green living podcast.

Sources

•  Citizen Sustainable on paper
• Citizen Sustainable on cardboard
• Science Focus 
• Treehugger
• EPA
• Reuters on paper mill run by billionaire Robert Kraft
• landfill methane 
• NIH: toxic surfactants used during recycling
• Calrecycle.com: “totally chlorine free” (TFC) recycling process
• UNICEF on reducing paper use
• GreenMatters on reducing cardboard use

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Email us with questions: [email protected]
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Check out your favorite green living podcast in their triumphant return to your headphones with a second season! This week, Kat and Tiff explore aluminum recycling as the first in their series on the Four Horsemen of the Recycle-pocalypse (spoiler: this one is more of a Sparkle Pony).  Celebrate AMERICA! by listening to this podcast, finishing your beer, rinsing the can, and throwing it in your recycling bin. 

Source Links

• Aluminum Leader: What is Aluminum? 
• Aluminum Leader: How is aluminum produced? 
• Gabrian: Is it Aluminum or Aluminium? Learn about the metal’s fascinating spelling history
• Green Citizen: Is Aluminum Foil Recyclable? 
• Better Meets Reality: How Much Aluminum Is Left In The World, Will We Run Out, & What Happens If We Do? 
• The Week: Why we will never run out of aluminum: 
• Green Tumble: How is Aluminum Recycled: The Recycling Process 
• Recycling Partnership: Recycling Initiative Drive Captures 4.1 Million New Pounds of Aluminum Annually 
• Republic Services: Two Things You Should Always Recycle to Help the Planet 
• Studies on the Impact of Bauxite Mining Activities on the Environment in Kolhapur District
• Columbia Climate School State of the Planet: Project Drives Sustainability commitments from Guinea’s Bauxite Mining Industry 
• Institute of Physics: Processing red mud as a factor of removing the risk of environmental disasters: RUSAL experience 
• Tomra: Bottle bill states and how they work  
• Seattle PI: Environmental Problems Associated with Recycling Aluminum
• Oberk: Which States are the Best (or Worst) for Recycling 

Patreon: patreon.com/greeningupmyact
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Email us with questions: [email protected]
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Join two marketing writers as they dig deep into our trash piles, look past the marketing fluff, and discover the truth behind our current solutions to waste. In season 2 of Greening Up My Act, learn answers to questions like:

• Did I get swindled into buying a reusable Ziploc bag?  
• Does my trash actually get recycled or is that arrow symbol a bunch of green hooey?
• What's up with this newfangled home composting device called Mill?
• What the eff is Swedish death cleaning?

Hosts Kat and Tiff can't wait to continue your favorite green living podcast by diving into all these trashy topics with you.

Patreon: patreon.com/greeningupmyact
Instagram: @greeningupmyact
Facebook: Greening Up My Act
Email us with questions: [email protected]
YouTube: Greening Up My Act