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5 things I no longer buy

Zero waste handkerchiefs

Posted on October 10, 2016April 22, 2022

Autumn has officially begun and for many of us this means sniveling and blowing our noses. And what do you use for that? Handkerchiefs (I hope)! Unfortunately a single use handkerchief doesn’t live a long life, you blow your nose once (or twice?) and hop, into the bin (often to landfill (!), because in The Netherlands handkerchiefs can’t be recycled). There has to be another way; zero waste handkerchiefs!

Having a Cold

Just like any other human, I have a cold every now and then. When this happened I used to get up in the morning and the first thing I did was to blow my nose. So I went into the bathroom, grabbed some toilet paper, blowed my nose and flushed the paper through the toilet. Wait! Stop! I haven’t even started my day properly and I have already polluted the world?

Zero Waste Handkerchiefs

There had to be a different way. And maybe you can guess what the alternative is? Right, a cotton handkerchief. I have to say, the cotton handkerchief has a bit of an old-fashioned image, the only person I knew who had one was my grandpa. But who cares, I wanted to give it a try. And so, I hopped onto my bike (yes, green and all) and I biked to the city centre in Enschede*.

Maybe I am a bit of a perfectionist (*kuchkuch* more like a lot), but I wanted the handkerchiefs to be made out of organic cotton. If you do sometimes, you might as well do it right, huh?* I would recommend organic cotton if you are searching for handkerchiefs, but I could not find them myself. Eventually, I bought six new* handkerchiefs at HEMA for 2,75 euros (big plus, they’re really cute). Not expensive if you consider that you only have to buy them once and never ever have to buy single-use handkerchiefs anymore!

Wash and Reuse

Okay, so I have six cotton reusable handkerchiefs. The amount you need depends on how often you do your laundry. After having them for a while, I’d say I need a maximum of three (and so, I shouldn’t have bought six). They can easily go with the regular laundry, just like the zero waste cotton pads I wrote about earlier. I am very lucky, because even though I still live with my parents, my dad is sweet enough to wash them.

My experience

I really like these zero waste handkerchiefs. The result is just the same as with the single-use handkerchiefs, except for the fact that the cotton handkerchiefs are a little bit softer for my nose. I always keep a handkerchief with me. For blowing my nose, but also for other purposes if they’re clean. When I want to buy a zero waste sandwich for instance.

Zero Waste

The old situation:
– Piles and piles of snotty paper waste (chopping down trees unnecessary)
– Even more waste, the plastic that comes with every single pack of single-use handkerchiefs. It’s around an individual package, but also around the packages all together.

The new situation:
– No more waste!

Tip: if you have some old sheets or any other fabric lying around which you don’t use, cut the handkerchiefs out of this fabric. This saves you money, you recycle old things and don’t have to buy anything new.

zero waste handkerchiefs

*when I wrote this blogpost I was into zero waste, but I didn’t know much about other sustainability issues just yet. And so, I bought the handkerchiefs new. Right now, I would not recommend doing this at all! Buying new things is the most harmful thing you can do to our planet. So, if you want handkerchiefs, please consider using some old fabric for it. 

Yours sincerely,
Romee

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ABOUT ME

 

Hi! My name is Romee Hoeksma and I am on a journey to an eco-positive life. An eco-positive lifestyle is a lifestyle in which I have a more positive than negative impact on the beautiful planet earth. On this blog you can follow my journey to a life with only positive impact. At this blog you can find all sorts of things, from tips to recipes to personal experiences, but most of all fun (I hope!). I write about how I want to change the world, but don’t look at it as if I’m judging you. If anything, I like responses from my dear readers the most, so don’t hesitate to contact me or respond to any of my posts!

Yours sincerely,
Romee

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Eén van mijn favoriete vegan snacks, bij de Lidl tijdens de Griekse week 🇬🇷. Op dit moment is plantaardig eten nog niet de norm in Nederland, helaas. Daarom hebben veel mensen dan ook geen idee wat veganisten eten. Om die reden heb ik de afgelopen week weer eens een eetdagboek bijgehouden, want wat eet ik nou als veganist gedurende de week? Je leest het nu in mijn vegan food diary via de link in mijn bio 🥭. #plantaardig #veganfood #dagboek Verpakkingsvrij wasmiddel kopen, dat hoeft niet moeilijk te zijn! In deze reel laat ik je zien hoe ik dat doe 🧺. Volg mijn account voor meer duurzame tips. Elke maand doneer ik ongeveer 7% van mijn inkomen aan goede doelen, omdat ik dat zie als enorm belangrijk en het juiste ding om te doen 💸. Maar daarmee komt de vraag op: geloof ik dat goede doelen het antwoord zijn op alle grote problemen van onze tijd? Oftewel: is geld doneren de oplossing? Over die vraag én het antwoord schreef ik een uitgebreid artikel die vandaag online staat, de link vind je in mijn bio. #goeddoel #doneren #blog Vegan pizza tonno, hmmmm. Dacht je dat vegans geen tonijnpizza kunnen eten? Think again! 🐟 Een hele tijd geleden schreef ik een artikel over e-mail activisme: een vorm van activisme die je thuis op de bank kan doen. Vandaag deel ik graag een geslaagd voorbeeld daarvan met jullie ✨. Vandaag staat er een documentaire-tip op mijn blog. Disclosure, een documentaire over de representatie van transgender personen in de media 📽. Echt een must-see, want wat wij hebben als cis-gender personen nog een hoop te leren. Lees meer over de documentaire via de link in mijn bio. #disclosure #documentaire #transgender Vandaag deel 2 van de vegan hotspots in Londen 🧆. Wat heb ik lekker gegeten daar, niet te doen! Bubala was mijn absolute favoriet, dus als je iets moet kiezen, kies Bubala. Vorige week verscheen er een artikel over treinreizen naar Londen op mijn blog. Aanvullend daarop verscheen er vandaag een artikel over een ander aspect van duurzaam reizen: het eten. Lees nu het artikel met mijn favoriete veganistische restaurants in Londen nu via de link in mijn bio 🌮. #veganfood #veganlondon #veganrestaurants

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