Wearing Your Sustainability on Your Sleeve

I’ve been wanting to ask this question for a while: How do you wear your sustainability on your sleeve? How does sustainability show up in your life?

To-Go

Carrying a reusable water bottle is, for me, probably the most reliable sign. Mine has one of our Collective Resource Compost Cooperative stickers (a perk of co-op ownership) on it, so it’s working overtime. I’m almost never without it. It’s second only to my cell phone. If I do forget it at home, I’m in a bit of trouble because I won’t drink water from plastic bottles anymore. 

I also have a reusable travel coffee mug that I really don’t use that much. I like to drink out of ceramic mugs so, I seek out coffee places that have that option. If I need coffee to-go, I usually make it at home.

Another item I’m almost never without is my reusable bamboo utensil set.  Shout out to Becky Brodsky, one of our Zero Waste Event staffers and co-op owner, who introduced us to the To-Go Ware Bamboo Utensil Set which comes with a fork, knife, spoon and chopsticks. It comes in a handy canvas case that has a small carabiner, so you can hook it to a backpack, purse, reusable bag or, if you’re a nerd like me, a belt loop. I have customized mine, taken out the chopsticks and added a metal straw. I’ve even stuffed small packets of salt, pepper and red pepper flakes into it.

I’ve been gently suggesting this next habit for years and not because I’m a huge influencer, it seems to be catching on: bringing your own to-go containers to restaurants for leftovers. It helps to have various sizes and your friends may really appreciate it if you have enough for them, as well. 

At Your Front Door

We’re super grateful to the Skokie customers who’ve accepted our invitation to host one of our yard signs in their front yards, to help us spread the word about composting with us. (That’s a photo of one of them above.) We’re going to be moving these around our service area, so think about if that’s something you’d be willing to do. Would that be wearing your sustainability in your yard?

If you’re a business, school or organization, consider applying for recognition of your composting efforts through the We Compost recognition program of Illinois Food Scrap & Composting Coalition. The recognition has been used as a means of getting even more recognition from other sources like news outlets. IFSCC offers vinyl clings of the We Compost logo that stick to glass so that you can wear your sustainability on your front door.

Normalize sustainability

You’ve probably figured out that this blog post is about encouraging you to wear your sustainability on your sleeve, not just virtue signaling on my part. The more that we normalize sustainability, the better off we’ll all be. Because we’re here to help, we’d like to know if you have questions we could answer that would make it easier for you to live a sustainable life.