Happy recycle week guys! I am a huge advocate of recycling in any and every way since my sister first came home from her environmental club while she was still at school and taught me all about recycling! At my university recycling was practically a normal way to dispose of waste, with not much thought going into it thanks to the colorful bins on campus. Implementing it into your home can be a bit more challenging though! To celebrate I wanted to share my final conscious collection look shot with Tegan as well as my tips for easy and effective recycling that you can implement into your home, office or classroom starting today!
Let’s start with the recycling tips first! Recycling is challenging at first if you’ve never done it before. The biggest challenge is wrapping your head around separating your waste into different bins and a compost heap if you want to recycle natural products like tea bags, egg shells and vegetable and fruit waste. When I first started I would often put my waste in the regular bin and then have to go remove it and transfer it to the correct recycle bin.
It’s important to know what is recyclable and what is not. For a great snapshot of what can be recycled check this link out here. Recycling is NOT boring and really a positive way to make a difference in the world. Find my starter guide below and comment if you have any questions or motivational stories for newbies if you’re already a recycler .
TO START
A great way to start is to buy a new rubbish bin to place next to your regular bin so it makes recycling in your home a lot easier. In my home we have a regular dirt bin and an old wooden piece of junk box that we are using as a recycling bin. So you don’t have to buy something new as long as you have a container to place your recycled waste into, thats the most NB. If you want to be really glam about it I would get two identical bins and label the one recycling.
AVOID THE STINK
My mom taught me this great trick to rinse out milk and other food containers before placing them in the recycle bin this way you avoid stinky food smells in your home and won’t be grossed out by exposed waste if you don’t have a bin that closes.
TAKE IT TO THE CENTRE
A great recycling center in Cape Town is the oasis center in Claremont. The centre employs intellectually disabled staff who could otherwise be unemployed to sort your recycled waste into piles of paper plastic and glass. This is a great way to help your community while doing something good for your environment. We usually pile recyclable waste in black bags in our garage and take loads away when it gets too crowded. This will usually happen once a month. To find out more about the Oasis Association click here.
GO THE EXTRA MILE
About 5 years ago my family started recycling natural food waste to create a home compost. It’s something that took a while to get used to but now it’s second nature! My mom was the pioneer of this in my home because she is really conscious of managing her waste in the most productive way and doing something good for her environment.
In our house we place any vegetable and fruit waste like peels and seeds as well as tea bags and egg shells into our compost container. When it gets full our helper or my mom will distribute it onto our little garden. To find out exactly how to do it check this link click here.
We use simple containers to build our compost but you can get a great beautiful compost tin from most home stores. It doesn’t have to be a grubby affair you can make it totally chic! You can find beautiful compost tins on Yuppiechef.com and the @home store.
Happy recycling all!
About This Look
We shot this at Babylonstoren in the most beautiful lavender and herb garden. My makeup was inspired by the dress using Zac Posen for Mac’s exclusive collaboration range. The lipstick is really one of my favorite shades! The dress is by H&M for their conscious collection collaboration which is still available exclusively at the V&A waterfront store.
Photography Tegan Smith
