Zero Waste Imperfectly
Welcome to Zero Waste Imperfectly, the podcast where we embrace the journey towards a greener lifestyle, one small step at a time. Hosted by Sheila, each short and unedited episode is designed to fit seamlessly into the busy lives of families looking to make a positive impact on the environment without the pressure of perfection.
In just a few minutes, we provide practical tips, simple swaps, and inspiring stories that make sustainable living accessible and achievable for everyone. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your eco-friendly habits, Zero Waste Imperfectly offers easy-to-implement advice for reducing waste and living more sustainably.
Join us as we explore topics like reducing household waste, sustainable shopping, eco-friendly pet care, and much more. Perfect for families on the go, our episodes are packed with actionable insights that make it easy to incorporate zero waste practices into your daily routine.
Tune in, get inspired, and remember: every little bit helps, and it's okay to be perfectly imperfect on your zero waste journey.
Zero Waste Imperfectly
The Green Evolution Transforming Leftovers into Energy and Fertilizer
Gather 'round, eco-enthusiasts! Sheila here, your guide through the journey of imperfect sustainability. On this Earth Day special, we're not just preaching the green gospel; we're living it with hands-on action and innovation. From the sands of AJ Polonis Park where we, alongside 20 amazing volunteers, collected 42 bags of trash, to the cutting-edge realm of Home Biogas, we're taking you behind the scenes of real change. Tune in to hear how a community banded together for a cleaner future and learn about the system that could convert your leftovers into a home-cooked meal without burning fossil fuels.
Ever wondered if those banana peels could do more for the world than just decompose? Listen closely as I break down the nuts and bolts of the Home Biogas system - Tampa's latest green initiative. We're talking about the potential to use organic waste to cook up a storm, and the bonus of liquid fertilizer that your garden will thank you for. Whether you're a seasoned eco-warrior or a newbie to the sustainable lifestyle, this episode is your chance to explore how small-scale renewable energy could revolutionize our daily lives. Join me as I share first-hand experiences, concerns, and the excitement of embarking on this new eco-adventure.
Hello, lovely listeners, and welcome to Zero Waste Imperfectly. I'm your host, sheila, and I am the owner of Life Essentials Refillery. Today is Earth Day, so happy Earth Day, everybody. This morning we started off our day by going and doing a beach cleanup through Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful. It was AJ Polonis Park and we spent about two hours out there and we picked up about 42 bags of garbage, some shopping carts, a lot of clothing. It was a big cleanup, it was nice. Some a lot of clothing it was a big cleanup, it was nice. Some 20 volunteers came out. It was a beautiful day.
Speaker 1:But today, since Earth Day, I want to talk to you about something that we just got approved for through the city of Tampa and it's called Home Biogas and I had never heard about it. Someone had posted about it down next door and it is this contraption. It looks like a giant black triangle inflatable thing. I don't even know what you'd call it. It's not the prettiest thing, but what it does is really cool. So my dad used to work for a company that made generators that were at the landfill and they would use the methane. They would landfills, create methane gas and then they would convert this methane gas into electricity and sell it back to the grid. So this is kind of a mini version of that. So, with this giant contraption, the bottom is going to be filled with water and then, when you jumpstart, all the activity that's going to create the methane gas is, you put a natural fertilizer in there, like cow poop or something like that. There's all kinds of descriptions online but you put that in there and it starts this chain of activities that make your container, your home biogas, become active, and then the top of the triangle starts slowly filling with gas. And so, throughout the course of using this contraption, you would put all your food and your yard waste into it, and you can put animal waste into it. Home biogas even has a toilet that you can add to it if you want to. We are not quite there yet, but, yes, you can put human waste in there too.
Speaker 1:And so what it does while it breaks everything down, it creates this gas, and the home biogas is going to ship with a stove, a gas stove. So what you're going to do is you're going to put your waste in, it's going to produce gas, and then you're going to hook a gas line to this little stove. So we're supposed to put in the same amount as whatever waste you're putting in there that day. You add the same amount of water to it, so obviously it's going to overflow at some point, and so that overflow is a liquid fertilizer and you can use it. You have to dilute and then you can put it in your garden or you can hook up a drip irrigation line to it so it automatically goes into your garden.
Speaker 1:But it's super cool, and something I highly encourage you to check out is homebiogascom. So just to run a quick run through you put your food in. It creates methane, which is a natural gas, and then you cook with it. It methane, which is a natural gas, and then you cook with it. It's super easy. So if you have used a system like this, I would love to hear from you, because I am I've got to say I'm a little bit nervous about setting the whole thing up, because it is rather large and you have to put it in your backyard and we're in the city of Tampa, so it's not like we have acreage to put it somewhere. It's going to be close to the house. They say it doesn't stink. So I'm excited to try it out, excited to hear what other people have learned from it and what they loved and didn't love about it. I would love to hear it all so you can find us at all platforms at Life Essentials Refillery. Thanks for tuning in and have a great day and happy Earth Day.