Core Values of TwoGirls:
One thing that drew us together early on was our desire to live in a more sustainable world and reduce our imprint on it. We were a few of the mums at our Parents' Group who were using cloth nappies and discovered as well as the cost factor a major part of our decision was not wanting to add more plastic waste into landfill, especially when we thought about the net amount of nappies used for all our children.
It all comes down to - REDUCING - not just the waste we produce everyday but waste packaging on what we buy, what we bring into our lives in the first place, the amounts of chemicals we use in our environment. Then can we REUSE what we do have in our lives - does it have more than one purpose or with a bit of imagination can it be re-made into something with a different purpose. Finally - is it local? Are we supporting local farmers, producers, manufacturers and local workers who depend on these businesses for their livelihood, are we being an active part of our community by supporting local groups.
REDUCING: Some of the ways we have been doing this lately are: growing our own fruit, vegies and herbs so we get the double bonus of knowing we're eating great tasting organic produce and teaching our kids where our food comes from, shopping at food co-ops and taking our own containers, buying in bulk to reduce packaging, replacing cleaning products with bi-carb soda and vinegar - there are plenty of recipies out there for environmentally friendly washing powder, jif type cleaners, shampoos if you're interested and of course using the Fregie Sack® from everything from shopping to covering seedlings and plants to hanging the bath toys to dry. Now that Rebecca has a large property she is experimenting with meat chickens as well as egg chickens which are a great way to get rid of all your food waste.
REUSING: Milk containers with the bottoms cut off make great little greenhouses for seedlings in the colder months and keep the pests away too while they're getting established, cut into strips they are also great name tags to remember what you planted where. Keep your vegie peelings in a bag in the freezer (a Fregie Sack of course) when it's full boil them down for a yummy vegie stock and then toss the scraps in the worm farm or compost. Small yoghurt containers make great paint pots for kids. It's just a matter of looking at things before you toss them in the bin. Savers and op shops are great places to find barely used kids' toys instead of spending your dollars on cheap plastic stuff from the $2 shop.
KEEP IT LOCAL: Buying Australian made alternatives despite the small increase in cost. The Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping is invaluable for a quick check of where products come from and how they're produced. Utilising local libraries and toy libraries.
We try to bring these principles into our business as well as the rest of our lives. We managed to source an Australian made cotton string for the drawstring which will also biodegrade eventually. We use up all our fabric which explains the slightly varied widths of our bags and should we end up with leftovers have found they make great plant ties when cut into strips. We use recycled paper and paper products for our bands, business cards and other printing requirements and have left these plain instead of waxed so they also break down or can be recycled. We re-use boxes to send out our orders and so give them another lifespan instead of going straight in the bin. Any reject bags are either quickly appropriated for their own use by our kids or used by Rebecca's spinning group to dye their wool. Display posters from our fundraisers are returned so they can be used again.
