We Tried Wellness, an original podcast from Schmidt’s, takes on the latest and greatest trends in wellness and discusses their merits. Our podcast is all about investigating practical tips and hacks we come across on social media and in our communities, and seeing how they fit into our lifestyle. Each episode, we’ll try a wellness trend and talk to influencers and experts in the field.
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Episode 11: Chloe Lepeltier + We Tried a Trash Audit
Happy New Year, folks! Alison and I (p.s. this is Jillian speaking) were chatting New Year’s resolutions and have some mixed feelings. Setting an intention for the year in the first month is decidedly unsustainable. In today’s age of mindfulness, try setting intentions each day. Smell steps! Instead of resolutions this year, I set some general goals, and then got really organized and created tactics to help me achieve them this year. For instance, one of my goals for 2019 is to be better at keeping in touch to feel more closely connected to my friends and family from afar. So, I’m going to start by sending snail mail birthday cards, and setting reminders to call friends and family around certain times of the year. We’ll see how it goes!
In this timely goal-oriented episode of We Tried Wellness, we chat with conscious living, zero/low-waste expert Chloe Lepeltier. Inspired by the minimalist life she lived in Europe, Chloe aims to inspire and motivate her community to live a simpler, greener and happier life. She leads a community of 800+ like-minded people on a journey to zero-waste, while organizing Portland’s Zero Waste Conference and showing anyone visiting or living in Portland a tour of her low-waste home. After listening to the episode, you’ll want to follow her style and advice on Instagram.
Here’s some of the other things we chat about:
First and foremost, here is the Racked piece we keep talking about (this is about the third time we’ve mentioned it on We Tried Wellness). The $95,000 of free swag that these beauty and fashion editors received in just six months weighed the amount of a polar bear, and the packaging alone weight 309 pounds. That’s a lot of waste from publicists and brands. We can do better!
Did you know takeaway coffee in Europe is pretty rare? It’s very much an American thing to take your latte to go. So, if you don’t have time to sit down for your coffee or tea, try bringing your Klean Kanteen or reusable mug in for your caffeine fix and spare a paper cup (Starbucks will give you a $.10 discount, so it’s worth asking your local barista if you can rewarded, too!).
The Think Dirty app is an excellent resource to help you shop a little cleaner.
Ok, so who composts? Alison and I have been talking about this a lot recently. As apartment dwellers, it makes composting a little more difficult. Did some research and here’s a thorough guide to composting in an apartment. The Kitchn has a great guide, too.
Oregon has a master recycling program! If you’re local to us, check this out on how to become a Master Recycler like Chloe and become a leader in your community.
Any low-waste resolutions for your fashion? Chloe participates in the Instagram-friendly 10x10 challenge, which we’re totally considering to try (seems easy enough!).
We also tried a trash audit. The exercise consists of dumping everything that’s in your trash on the floor at the end of your auditing period (3 days to 1 week is a good start) and taking a hard look at it, dividing it into categories and sorting it by frequency. The audit helps give you an idea of your consumption habits, and helps you find the easiest ways to reduce your waste and make small changes in your own home or workplace. My most wasteful item was food and food storage. So I’ve since invested in this reusable food wrap (Chloe makes her own — here’s her DIY) and reusable bags.
P.S. Resident hummus lover, Alison, needs some advice on how to make her own hummus so that she doesn’t have to deal with all her empty hummus containers. Anyone?
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Articles and podcasts from The Natural should not be considered medical advice. If you have any questions about your health, please consult a medical professional.
