Another step on my goal to live a more sustainable lifestyle is to stop using so many products that come in disposable packaging. As a major consumer of kombucha (a fermented Chinese tea, for those of you who haven’t yet come across it), I have consoled myself that at least the drink comes in glass bottles.
But those glass bottles have plastic tops and take huge amounts of energy to create and transport. And then, in the end, you still have a heavy, well-made glass bottle that you toss in the recycling.
…I will avoid moaning about what’s happening, or rather not happening, with our recycling these days!
So here you have it: my second attempt at creating a low-waste solution to my kombucha habit. (I realize that there’s a no-waste solution, but that’s not an option!)
Making kombucha is a natural process. Now that I have my setup—a jar and a bunch of high-quality beer bottles—the only waste will be the packaging that the tea comes in. Since we shop in Chinese tea stores and buy in large quantities, one glass tea jar will last for months.
And since the heating pad will be run on our forthcoming solar system, I don’t even feel bad about that.
I realize that these attempts, like my Homely Green Napkins project, are small things. But I feel that what we need to do is turn back cultural change that happened as a result of the push for convenience and mass production in the 50s. If enough of us push back on our culture-bred tendency to consume and discard, we can shift our weight enough to change course.
A note about failure: Why is this my second attempt? Let’s just say that a dying scoby (a.k.a. kombucha mother) is not a pretty sight! But I am determined to nurture my new scoby by feeding it and supporting its health, which in turn will feed me and support my health.
All of life is a cycle, and like it or not, what we do on a day-to-day basis influences the path.
You can use reusable jars to buy bulk tea at Staff of Life. They have good prices on bulk tea.