Plastic Art Project #3: “Belly Full of Trash”

Photo of large fish made from a green and black wake board with plastic trash pieces attached to it to make it appear as a fish with a a view of its belly, which is full of plastic trash. — “Belly Full of Trash,” copyright Marie Cullis, 2025.

About

This is my third plastic trash art project, and this one differs from my previous creations. First, it’s the largest, measuring almost 59 inches wide and 39 inches between the tips of each “fin.” It’s also the heaviest. Finally, rather than depicting a scene, this piece depicts a large fish, showing a cross-section of its stomach and revealing that it is filled with plastic waste. Given the high number of marine animals that perish due to plastic ingestion, I felt it was crucial to illustrate this issue.

When marine animals accidentally ingest plastic, they are often unable to regurgitate it or pass it through their digestive systems. As plastic accumulates, it can block digestion, causing the animal to feel full and reducing its urge to eat, which eventually leads to starvation. Sharp fragments can also injure internal organs, causing infections and internal bleeding. In 2021, Earth.org estimated that the number of marine animals affected each year exceeds 100,000. “We find about 100,000 marine animals killed by ocean plastic ingestion or entanglement each year, and this is only the tip of the iceberg. There are likely far more lying at the bottom of the ocean, who, once decomposed, will release the plastic for other animals to encounter. Approximately 1 million sea birds also die from plastic annually.”¹ The actual number is likely much higher as plastic production increases every year.

Slight inset of a Photo of large fish made from a green and black wake board with plastic trash pieces attached to it to make it appear as a fish with a view of its belly, which is full of plastic trash. — Copyright Marie Cullis.

Location

I collected trash and plastic debris from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, during the week of Memorial Day in 2024. When I collect beach trash, the type I find can vary because of the time of year or location. For instance, in the more remote parts of the Outer Banks, I found lots of microplastics, rather than whole items like cups and bottles. But on this trip, I found very few microplastics and mostly large items, including cups, water bottles, toys, and food packaging. This was likely because I was in a populated area of Hilton Head, and it was a holiday weekend.

Collected Beach Trash

Memorial Day weekend at any beach is extremely busy, and Hilton Head was no exception. Beachgoers left behind all manner of items, mostly plastic, and much of it seemed careless.

Example 1: Food Packaging and Juice pouches:

Five juice pouches, Capri Sun and KoolAid brands, some still with the straws in them, lying on a white tray. — These CapriSun and Kool-Aid juice pouches became the fins of my giant fish.

Various food packages - chip bags, candy wrappers, and other snack packaging - lying on a white tray.

Of course, everyone gets hungry on the beach, and that’s okay! But we can all be responsible and properly dispose of our food waste and packaging. Bring a small trash bag, or simply place the trash inside your cooler or food bag, and put it in the trash later. It’s not an inconvenience; it’s easy, and it’s the right thing to do.

Example 2: Beverage Containers

Water bottles, plastic or Styrofoam cups, and plastic straws were everywhere! These are items we are all capable of managing and disposing of properly.

The source of several of these items was an outdoor hotel bar at Coligny Beach Park in Hilton Head, which served drinks in clear plastic cups with brown plastic straws. Even with ample trash receptacles, everyone is ultimately responsible for their own waste. But the hotel bar could also stop serving in plastic.

Various brands of water bottles on a white tray.

Clear plastic cups of different varieties, including one from Dunkin'.

Styrofoam cups and pieces on a gray table.

Crushed Coca-Cola can, red with fist image. — Crushed Coca-Cola can. Note that when these rust, they become very sharp and cause injuries, since many people walk barefoot on the beach and swim in the surf without shoes.

Various colors and sizes of straws on a gray table. — The brown straws on the left came from the outdoor hotel bar – I accidentally verified this when I bought a drink there.

Example 3: Beach Toys

While I’m not perfect, I always account for all of our beach toys at the end of the day. We keep our beach toy bag intentionally minimal, with only about 8 items, so we can enjoy the beach and easily keep track of them. Please do the same!

I found more lost or abandoned beach toys than I could use in this art project:

Various colors and sizes of toy shovels.

Various sizes and colors of sand molds, and a red toy boat.

Beach star sand molds in green and red, a broken water gun, and a blue plastic scoop.

Purple fish shaped sifter, a blue frisbee disc, and Velcro Ball game paddle.

Various beach shovels with pink or green heads; two broken.

A group of snap-on handles from toy beach buckets. — A group of snap-on handles from toy beach buckets, which have obviously become detached. This is a very common problem, and I find these on every beach.

Various sand tools and broken parts of beach toys, in many shapes and colors.

The plastic netting that beach toys are often sold in. — The plastic netting that companies often package beach toys in. You can avoid these if you buy certain brands or buy beach toys secondhand.

I was unable to find a place to donate beach toys while on the island. There are “borrow” beach toy bins in some areas of Florida and Galveston, Texas, and beach libraries exist in the UK!

But I’ve since discovered there’s at least one on Hilton Head Island, though I’m not sure if it was there in 2024:

View this post on Instagram

I didn’t use most of the whole, intact beach toys in this art project, and many are too large for my other projects. So, I may donate them or use them in another project. I definitely won’t put them in a landfill!

All Other Items:

Metal bottle caps, mostly from beer. — Metal bottlecaps

Plastic caps for drink (top) and applesauce packets in orange and yellow (bottom). — Plastic bottlecaps

Bottlecaps in a variety of colors, clear ones on right from water bottles. — So many bottlecaps

Colorful small plastic pieces in a variety of shapes. — Variety of small plastic items…

Plastic fingernails, 3 blue and one large french tip — …including fake plastic fingernails! Yuck!

Variety of plastic trash items found on the beach, some brightly colored, including a green cotton swab, a yellow stake, orange lighter, and white plastic spoons. — Plastic utensils, a Circle K lighter, SunBum lip balm, cotton swabs, cigarette buts, aluminum can tabs, a cork, stakes, travel-sized Neutrogena sunscreen, etc.

Bandaid, Qtips/cotton swabs, and cigarette butts — Band-Aid, cotton swabs, and cigarette butts

Orange plastic Circle K lighter, SunBum lip balm, and a white plastic spoon stem. — Orange plastic Circle K lighter, SunBum lip balm, and a white plastic spoon stem

Sunglasses, goggles, and goggles packaging. — Sunglasses, goggles, and goggles packaging

Plastic lids, all clear or white — Plastic lids

Various plastic and paper labels or tags

Zip ties, dental picks, hair ties, a bracelet, and various other string-type items, all made of plastics. — Zip ties, dental picks, hair ties, a bracelet, and various other string-type items, all made of plastics

Various strings but all made from nylon or polyester (plastic fabrics)

Ribbon type items, various colors — Ribbon-type items

Pieces of clear plastic wrappers and bags

Various textile items, including a washcloth, a sock, and a shoe insert

Various items including a clothing hanger, a flip flop, a child's water shoe, vape cartridges, a plastic test tube shot container, a piece of wood fence, and a random piece of plastic — Various items, including a clothing hanger, a flip flop, a child’s water shoe, vape cartridges, a plastic test tube shot container, a piece of wood fence, and a random piece of plastic

Vape cartridges, purple and white — Empty Purple Urkle THCA vape cartridges

The Board

I took a solo beach walk one evening that week and found this board. Damaged and very dirty, it had washed up on the beach, with no one nearby. I held it up and waved it around to see if anyone claimed it, but no one did. I left it by the outdoor shower area of our rental for a couple of days, but no one picked it up.

I initially believed it was a wakeboard, used with a boat, and washed ashore. However, after researching online, I discovered it’s a ZAP skimboard that originally had raised traction pieces.² (I removed the largest pieces before remembering to take photos, so I only have images of me removing the smaller ones.) While I could have possibly sold or donated it, the condition was questionable. The edges were chipped, the traction pieces were damaged, and the entire board had a thick layer of sticky sand that I had to scrape off with a razor blade.

Did I take someone’s skimboard? I don’t think so. I believe it was lost or abandoned, considering its condition. My alternative was to leave it for the sea to claim at high tide, or perhaps for a lifeguard to pick it up the next morning if it remained on the beach, and ultimately end up in the garbage. So I decided to use it as the background for my art project!

The Process

Washing the trash

I usually rinse everything before bringing it home. But this trip, I didn’t have time. I also had so much trash that my spouse insisted I limit it to one bag only (and in all fairness, we have a small car and it was already mostly full for the trip). So, once I got home, I decided to wash it all right away – rather than letting it sit – to avoid bad smells and keep yucky trash out of my home. I had to do it in batches over a couple of days.

First, I separated a portion of the garbage bag and put it in a metal bucket to rinse off the sand. I recommend doing this to keep as much sand as possible out of your plumbing. I dumped the water on my grass; no harm done.

Metal bucket of beach trash in soapy water, all sorts of colors and textures.

Next, I washed everything with dish soap in my kitchen sink. I recommend using a laundry room sink if you have one; otherwise, the kitchen sink works fine. After washing, I laid everything out on towels to dry completely.

Tray of beach trash, all sorts of colors and textures.

Tray of beach trash, all sorts of colors and textures and shapes.

Variety beach trash drying on a burgundy kitchen towel, all sorts of colors and textures.

After everything was completely dry, I stored it in a clear, homemade trash bag until I had time to work on the project.

Large clear bag of beach trash, all sorts of colors and textures.

And yes, I reused the original white trash bag for actual trash at home!

Sorting

In the Spring of 2025, I sorted the trash pieces on two folding tables in my garage.

Creating

The idea of a fish or a whale came to me because of the shape of the board. Using Aleene’s Tacky glue and Sugru, I attached plastic pieces to the board. I used round flat pieces (one is a paper seal from a Pringles canister) to make the eye; synthetic fabrics to make a mouth; broken toy shovels as tail fins; juice pouches as fins; and water bottles, bottle caps, and other clear plastics became scales. I created the stomach outline from toy bucket straps, and the colorful and identifiable pieces went into the cross-sectional view of the stomach, as if you were viewing the fish’s stomach contents.

Zoomed in view of the belly full of trash on the fish. — Close up of the stomach. Copyright Marie Cullis.

Close up view of water bottle caps used as scales on the bottom of the fish. — Copyright Marie Cullis.

Fin made from juice pouches. Copyright Marie Cullis.

Tail fins made from pink and green toy beach shovels. Copyright Marie Cullis.

Zoomed in view of the fish's face, made from nylon fabric pieces and a Pringles can seal. — Copyright Marie Cullis.

I could have created anything with these materials, but as I mentioned earlier, raising awareness about marine life ingesting plastic was too important an issue to ignore. Through this piece, I wanted to show not only the environmental damage caused by plastic pollution but also the impact it has on marine life that suffers because of human actions. In the end, I hope it inspires others both to help combat plastic pollution and to express themselves through art. And maybe even inspire change!

Thanks for reading, and please share and subscribe!

Footnotes:

Article, “How Many Marine Animals Die From Plastic Each Year?” Earth.org, November 19, 2021. ↩︎
Page, “The Hellcat V2,” zapskimboards.com, March 7, 2023. ↩︎

April 22, 2026April 22, 2026

Earth Day 2026

Earth at center with a green arm over and a skin arm under it, sort of embracing the planet. — Photo by Bhautik Patel on Unsplash.

I always write an article for Earth Day, and I didn’t want this year to be an exception, but…I’ve been super busy!

This month, I’ve been volunteering at the theater where my son is in a play. I’ve been helping paint the set, sorting fabric for costuming, and over the coming weekend, I’ll be ushering at all four shows. This week, I attended an out-of-town work conference. I’ve also taken my mother to the eye doctor, my dogs to the vet for their annual vaccines and exams, and attended 3 other plays (my son is a theater geek). I also work full-time!

Regardless, I couldn’t let Earth Day pass without writing something, even if it’s short and sweet. I would’ve made my Earth Day cookies, too, if I’d had time – but at least I wore my Earth earrings today and wished people a Happy Earth Day!

How You Can Celebrate Earth Day/Earth Month

Two people (faces not shown) loading trash into a white garbage bag, on a beach. — Photo by OCG Saving The Ocean on Unsplash.

The most important thing you can do is to make every day Earth Day. Your daily actions count! They may be small and seemingly insignificant, but please understand that they are neither.

Here is a quick list of things you can do right now! (Though not exhaustive…)

Find ways to reduce plastic waste in your life and around food. If you’ve been using plastic less, then increase your efforts.

Meal plan. This reduces food waste and saves you money!

Compost food scraps and waste. This is approximately 20-40% of your garbage.

Keep recycling, and learn how to recycle better.

Avoid purchasing fast fashion clothing.

Plant a tree – Arbor Day is just two days away, April 24th!

Plant a garden; April is the perfect time to start one. Bonus: Mix your compost into your garden soil.

Borrow items you don’t need often or only use once – ask a friend, neighbor, or visit the library.

Buy secondhand whenever you can. Reuse is the best recycling!

Volunteer with a local organization to help with trash clean-ups, tree planting, helping the unhoused, or assisting local wildlife organizations or animal shelters. Any environmental or humanitarian effort is going to make a difference! Just pick a cause and don’t second-guess yourself.

Don’t waste water; conserve when you can. This means reducing shower time, washing clothes on full or large loads, and avoiding watering the grass. Long term, you can consider installing a rain barrel for watering the garden and/or purchasing water-conserving/ENERGY STAR appliances when the time comes to replace them.

Learn all you can from my resources and the work of many others!

One Planet

Photo of a protest sign, "One World," with a metallic blue and green Earth at center. — Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash.

Remember, even though some dream of colonizing Mars, this is our only planet, our home, our precious and beautiful Earth.

The best thing you can do is protect what we already have.

Happy Earth Day!

November 30, 2025December 3, 2025

10 Easy Steps to Go Plastic-Free Today

The word "plastic: spelled out in large plastic colorful letters, on white background. — Photo by Merakist on Unsplash.

Here are 10 ways to go plastic-free quickly!

Some of these overlap with my “14 Ways to Go Plastic-Free with Food,” but these are the easiest overall switches you can begin with, to give you momentum and make an immediate impact. Once these have become routine, you’ll start thinking about all of the plastic in your life. Especially those single-use disposable plastics!

1. Say no to plastic bags.

Reusable bags are sold everywhere these days, and given out for free at many places, too. However, many of those are made of plastic cloth and don’t last a long time. Look for canvas bags, which last longer and can be mended easily. The best place to buy plain canvas and cloth bags is usually craft stores. You can even decorate them with permanent markers, tie-dye, regular dye, or fabric paint. (Bonus if you use materials you already have in your home or obtained secondhand.)

Pro-tip: Store your bags in your car so that they’re always with you.

Close up of a canvas bag and its handle, off white, on a white background. — Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash.

Or, go for something easy to travel with, such as ChicoBags, which are packable bags that fold into a small pouch and have a carabiner clip to attach to a keychain, backpack, or purse. I personally own a set of these and really like them.

Blue colored ChicoBag with pouch, on white background. — Image from ChicoBags.

Worst-case scenario: If you find yourself without your reusable bags, ask the store for paper bags instead of plastic.

Super Pro tip: Avoid plastic produce bags, too, by investing in a set of reusable produce bags.

4 reusable off white mesh cloth produce bags with different types of produce in each one, on a white table. — Photo by Karola G from Pexels.

Reusable plastic mesh produce bags with various vegetables in them, on a light wood table. — Photo by Polina Tankilevitch on Pexels.

Or, skip a bag altogether. Bananas, for example, have their own packaging – so they don’t really need a bag! Anything you must peel – onions, oranges, lemons, limes, garlic, avocados – don’t really need a bag!

2. Skip the straw.

You don’t really need a straw for most drinks, especially at sit-down restaurants. Their drinkware is sanitized through a dishwasher with a much hotter temperature than most homes.

If you do need a straw while out and about, or for a child, buy a reusable stainless steel or glass straw. These are relatively inexpensive. You can also buy paper or bamboo straws, which are still disposable, but at least not plastic.

Pro tip: I’ve started saying, “No straw, please” when I first order a beverage now, because restaurants often serve one automatically, out of the wrapper and in the drink. Once that straw is opened, it’s going to the landfill whether you use it or not – so better to request no straw at the onset.

Plastic straw in glass beverage at a bar or restaurant, wooden counter or table. — Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash.

3. Stop buying bottled water.

Most bottled water is often just municipal tap water. The plastic bottles are technically recyclable, but only about 8% or 9% of plastics are ever actually recycled. Further, those bottles can leach toxins into the water you drink.

Invest in a reusable water bottle, preferably made from metal or glass, not plastic. These are available almost everywhere, and you can get them secondhand as long as you sanitize them.

Pro tip: Invest in a water filtration system to remove unhealthy toxins from your water.

5 water bottles in various colors, sittin gon a white counter with aqua background. — My family’s various water bottles. Photo by Marie Cullis.

4. Invest in a reusable travel coffee mug.

The disposable cups at Starbucks and other coffee shops are lined with plastic and always come with a plastic lid. These cups can leach microplastics into your drink and into your body. Worse, heat makes the problem even worse because it causes more microplastics to leach from the plastic.¹

Buy a reusable travel mug designed for hot beverages.. Again, these are available almost everywhere, and you can get them secondhand as long as you sanitize them.

4 travel mugs in various colors, on a white countertop with aqua wall background. — My family’s various insulated travel mugs. Photo by Marie Cullis.

5. Switch to bar soap.

Body wash, shampoo, and even conditioner that come in plastic bottles are more water than cleanser, so why not just pay for the soap only? This reduces shipping costs and reduces emissions too, since only the soap ships, not the water that normally comes in the product.

There are hundreds of soap options available online. I personally like Nourish Savannah soap, since I have sensitive skin. It has generally safe and gentle ingredients and smells lovely. Bonus: it doesn’t ship with plastic packaging.

Pro tip: Switch to shampoo bars (and conditioner bars!).

4 bars of soap with paper wraps and twine, on a wooden table with lavender sprigs in the background. — Photo by Aurélia Dubois on Unsplash.

6. Stop using fabric softener and dryer sheets.

Fabric softener and dryer sheets usually has toxic ingredients: they contain hormone-disrupting phthalates, chemicals that damage the reproductive system, and compounds that trigger asthma. Fabric softener liquid almost always comes in a plastic bottle. Most fabric dryer sheets are made of nonwoven polyester fabric, which does not biodegrade. It’s the same as plastic trash.

There are so many alternatives! Wool dryer balls have been one of my favorite replacements. And nowadays they come in adorable colors and designs!

6 wool dryer balls, penguin designs. Bag and white background.

Basket of wool dryer balls, some with colorful felted designs.

7. Switch to toilet paper that isn’t wrapped in plastic.

Most toilet paper is shipped and sold in non-recyclable plastic wrap. Worse, toilet paper is made from trees, the very thing we humans need to breathe! About 1 million trees are cut down daily to make traditional toilet paper.²

You can hit two targets with one arrow by buying recycled or bamboo toilet paper from companies like Who Gives A Crap (Bonus: they donate 50% of their profits to ensuring everyone worldwide has access to clean water and toilets).

Pro tip: Buy plastic-free paper towels or switch to something reusable.

Super Pro tip: Switch to reusable cloth wipes, also called family cloths.

Photo by Marie Cullis.

8. Limit the number of plastic items you buy.

This might seem like a no-brainer, but it’s actually harder than we initially think. I once needed a new dustpan, but the only ones I could find locally were made of plastic. And those always break and have to be replaced! I found a metal one on Amazon, but of course, it shipped in plastic.

A black metal dustpan wrapped in clear plastic. — The black metal dustpan I bought came wrapped in plastic. Why? Photo by Marie Cullis.

But a dustpan being plastic is something I never thought about until I needed to replace it. And there are dozens of items like this in people’s homes. Plastic pens, storage bins, hairbrushes, toothbrushes, trash cans, soap dispensers, craft paint, clothing hangers, school supplies, purses, shoes, food packaging, dishes, sunglasses, toys, games, ice cube trays…the list is endless.

So, next time you need to replace something, look for a plastic-free alternative!

Pro tip: There are several stores online that sell items that are plastic-free and ship without plastic packaging.

Super Pro-tip: Is there a zero-waste store to shop in your area?

9. Invest in a set of reusable metal or glass food containers.

Use these containers for leftovers, packing lunches, and transporting food for parties. Ball jars or mason jars are perfect for these tasks, too. Don’t buy plastic ones, and especially do not reheat your food in plastic containers because the chemicals in plastics leach into food.

Pro tip: If you already own plastic containers, you can repurpose them to store other items, such as cosmetics, small game pieces, small electronics, or craft supplies.

Super Pro tip: Consider keeping a couple in your car for restaurant leftovers, instead of using the Styrofoam containers restaurants provide.

Tri-bento box or tiffin, all metal, white background. — Tri-bento box from ecolunchboxes.com.

Clear glass container with bamboo lid, Ikea, white background. — Clear glass container with bamboo lid from Ikea.

Collection of foods containers, including metal and glass rectangular ones, a small green soup thermos, a silver tiffin, and 2 Ball jars; on white countertop with aqua wall background. — Some of my family’s food storage containers, including a small soup thermos, a tiffin, Ball jars, and rectangular containers in glass and metal.

10. Buy secondhand.

Buy secondhand, anything appropriate for you. Think clothing, purses, household items, books, video games, board games, smartphones, art supplies, and even school supplies. Whenever you buy secondhand, you reduce your overall carbon footprint through reduced production, packaging, and shipping emissions. This includes lowering the amount of plastic used in both the product and its packaging.

Bonus: Secondhand items cost less, saving you money to spend on other things (like a fun trip!).

Clothing racks with shoes on top, with shoppers and other various vintage items in background. — Photo by Hugo Clément on Unsplash.

“Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day. The same is true for your plastic-free home. It’s going to take some time to transition but with patience and persistence you can easily weed plastic out of your home and create a new lifestyle that’s dramatically leaner when it comes to plastic usage.” -Sandra Ann Harris, founder of ECOlunchbox³

Footnotes:

Article, “Release of microplastics from disposable cups in daily use,” by Huier Chen et. al., Science of the Total Environment, Volume 854, January 1, 2023. ↩︎
Page, “Are 1 million trees really cut down each day to make toilet paper?” Impact & Sustainability Info, whogviesacrap.com, updated February 10, 2025. ↩︎
Book, Say Goodbye to Plastic: A Survival Guide for Plastic-Free Living, by Sandra Ann Harris, Hatherleigh Press, 2020. ↩︎

November 20, 2025November 20, 2025

This Holiday Season, Let’s Shop Differently and Do Something Unexpected

Black Friday in hot pink letters with black background and sparkles, with white lettering at bottom, Buy Nothing! Save 100%

Many people now understand that Black Friday is mostly a hoax. It used to be a shopping day when people could get decent deals on gifts, but not anymore. Most Black Friday sales are not good deals, have limitations, or are outright scams.

Still, every year, we break records for Black Friday sales. In 2024, consumers spent a record $10.8 billion, which was 10% more than in 2023. That’s also just over double what consumers spent in 2017.¹

Worse, inflation over the last few years has not kept pace with wage and salary increases. And things have only worsened with the introduction of new tariffs. Our buying power has decreased. Most people feel the pinch and don’t want to live in debt.

At the same time, extreme wealth is on the rise for those extremely privileged few at the financial top. According to Forbes, there are now more than 3,000 billionaires worldwide, worth $16.1 trillion combined. “But the distribution of this extreme affluence is far from equal. Just three nations account for more than 50% of all billionaires.”²

I think it’s time we reject the billionaires. Or at least stop supporting them.

Further, many of the cheap items we buy don’t last very long, contribute to pollution, have toxic ingredients, or all of those.

Maybe we need longer-lasting, less polluting, and less toxic gift items in our lives.

Scrabble letters, "Holiday Shopping," on wood table with evergreen, Christmas ornament, lights, and holly berries surrounding them. — Photo by sarah b on Unsplash.

What if we could reject the billionaires, protect the environment, save money, and still have a wonderful holiday season?

We can do all of those at once!

Here’s how.

Buy Nothing

If it’s possible for you and your loved ones, opt out of gifting this year. That’s like getting 100% off!

However, it’s unrealistic for many people, myself included. I’m not going to not give gifts this year. I just plan to be smarter and more conscientious about it. You can too, read on!

Close up of American dollar bills and change. — Photo by Mathieu Turle on Unsplash.

Limit Spending on Gifts

First, you don’t need to break the bank. Create a small or moderate gift budget and stick to it. In general, we can give one gift to someone that they will enjoy. We don’t need to shower people with multiple gifts.

People are generally happy just to see their loved ones. Time together is a gift.

Other options: Your family can draw names, Secret Santa style, and buy only for that one person. Or, your family can choose only to give gifts to the children. Or, some families go on a fabulous vacation together, and that is the gift from the parents or grandparents.

Group of people or family sitting on a mountain rock, overlooking a valley with a lake below, at sunset. — Photo by Arthur Poulin on Unsplash.

Buy local

Buying local simply means buying from a local store (not a chain store) or vendor. These are often referred to as small businesses or Mom & Pop stores. But they can be anything from local craftspeople at farmers’ markets to food trucks to storefronts. Think about the locally owned bookstore, the local comic book or game shop, or the locally owned coffee shop in your area. Is there a local cheese shop, bakery, winery, soap shop, chocolatier, or ethnic food store near you? Maybe you can buy a beautiful houseplant at the local garden store. You might have to search a little, but I bet you can find several choices in your area.

Chalkboard sitting a shop window, "Thank you for shopping local." — Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash.

Buy second-hand

Of course, if you’ve read any of my other articles, you’ll know that I’m a huge advocate of buying most items second-hand. Second-hand items cost less, have already off-gassed most toxins, and reduce the need for new production of goods (hence less pollution). You can find great gifts at quality thrift stores, consignment shops, flea markets, antique stores, and second-hand book or record stores. In our area, we even have a couple of second-hand outdoor gear stores. You never know what you’ll find, but you’ll likely find something nice for your loved one.

A white woman with glasses and a backpack shopping in a bookstore, with shelves of books all around, some comic books on the right side, and an open door to the street at back left corner. — Photo by John Michael Thomson on Unsplash.

Buy gifts from non-profits

You can buy an array of gifts from non-profit organizations, which is awesome, because you can support your favorite orgs while gift-giving! Always check Charity Watch or Charity Navigator to verify nonprofits you aren’t sure about.

Orca plush, black and white, on white background. — Orca plush from Whale and Dolphin Conservation.

Make something

If you’re crafty or can sew, then there are so many options!

But you don’t have to be super crafty for this category. You can make simple but lovely items using online tutorials.

Or, you can cook or bake something and give it as a gift. Do you have a breadmaker (maybe that was gifted to you, and you never use) that you can make a loaf of rosemary sourdough in for someone? Maybe you have great cake decorating skills (unlike me). Cookies, doughnuts, muffins, scones – the possibilities are endless!

If you are not crafty and don’t cook or bake, perhaps you can put together a coffee basket using locally roasted coffee beans, a mug (from the thrift store!), and a chocolate-covered spoon. Or you could put together a basket of just locally made items! Think outside of the box (um, basket?) on this one and I bet you’ll come up with something fantastic.

A white woman's hands with red nail polish knitting with beige yarn. — Photo by Marina Ermakova on Unsplash.

Experiences

You can gift experiences in the form of a digital gift card or certificate, or by purchasing tickets to an event or place for someone. Maybe Grandma has been wanting to go to the art museum? Buy her tickets and a digital gift card to the adjacent restaurant. Or, maybe you have a friend who wants to go to a concert to see their favorite performer. How about a digital gift card for the movie theater? Think of something the person you are gifting has been wanting to do or go see.

Concert performance in a large theater, lots of seat and lights and people. — Photo by Sean Lee on Unsplash.

Give and Donate

This is the exception to rejecting billionaires and large chain stores. Our family always participates in food drives, Toys for Tots, Salvation Army’s Angel Tree, and Forgotten Child Fund’s Coats for Kids drive. All of those require new items only, and most items they need are only available at large chain stores. But when we give to those who are less fortunate, it’s ok to make those exceptions.

You can also donate money to those types of organizations.

What About Buy Nothing Day?

This movement falls on Black Friday. I’m all for this movement; however, critics have pointed out that buying nothing for one day a year does not help curb rampant consumerism. We need to buy less permanently.

Reduce

Remember, there are no rules when it comes to gifting. But we all need to save money. We all need to limit waste and reduce our impact on the environment. Every time you don’t buy something new or from across the world, you’re reducing your impact. And we need to stop supporting mega corporations and billionaires because their greed is the opposite of what we’re trying to do during the holidays!

Besides packaging and plastic, don’t forget to use alternatives to Disposable Gift Wrap!

Also, don’t worry about doing everything perfectly. I certainly will still buy a few new things for my son and others, simply because I can’t find them second-hand. You want to limit and reduce your impact, but don’t stress if a few items are brand new from Amazon. It happens.

Happy Holidays! Let me know in the comments if you have ideas about holiday shopping. Thank you for reading. Please share and subscribe!

Footnotes:

Article, “Most Black Friday shoppers bagged their deals online this year, with record spending,” by Emma Bowman, NPR, December 1, 2024. ↩︎
Arti c le, “The Countries With The Most Billionaires 2025,’ Forbes.com, updated July 15, 2015. ↩︎

October 23, 2025October 23, 2025

Have a Spooky Halloween and Fall with Limited Waste

Fall leaves, orange and red, on a tree branch with sunset light background. — Image by Hans from Pixabay.

Fall is my favorite season. The weather cools, the air is less humid, the colors change, and it is more enjoyable to be outdoors. I love the family memories we’ve made. We’ve played in fall leaves, hunted pumpkin patches for the best pumpkins, picked apples, and enjoyed the smells and flavors of autumn. And of course, Halloween is one of our favorite holidays!

But the waste from Fall can be great. For Halloween alone, Americans will spend $13.1 billion in 2025, according to the National Retail Federation.¹ With that comes a great deal of waste: Halloween costumes, candy, food, and beverages come with a lot of disposable plastic packaging. In the current economy, I think most of us need to save money, and we need to limit waste.

Zero waste is such a great concept, but not always practical. If we aspire toward limited waste, that will still make a huge difference to the environment, our homes, and our psyches.

Here are some ways you can save money, be healthier, and limit waste this Fall!

Pumpkin Spice Everything

Cup of cocoa or coffee with marshmallows and cinnamon sticks on top, sitting on a wooden board, surrounded by pumpkins, orange berries, pine cones, and green leaves. — Image by Ylanite Koppens from Pixabay.

Besides the traditional pumpkin spice coffee, there’s now pumpkin spice-flavored everything…from cereal and cookies to candles and hand soap, and even baked goods and dairy products. My son insisted I buy pumpkin spice-flavored whipped cream at the grocery store this week! I say indulge in a treat or two, but resist the urge to buy pumpkin spice everything, especially those products that come in disposable packaging (such as whipped cream in a metal can, which is not recyclable where we live). Though that and one pumpkin spice latte is all we’ve bought this season, so we’ve limited waste in this category.

You can always make your own pumpkin spice bread, coffee, or cupcakes at home. This will save money and limit waste, and maybe even be healthier. (Then the house will smell good, too.)

Also, if you get a pumpkin-spice latte or coffee, drink it at the coffee shop in a ceramic mug – or bring your own insulated travel mug!

Pumpkins & Jack O’Lanterns

Three orange pumpkin Jack O'Lanterns sitting outside surrounded by fall leaves and colors. — Image by Mayur Gadge from Pixabay.

Who doesn’t love the sight of a beautiful pumpkin? Many use them as decorations, and though expensive, this is far better than buying cheap plastic decorations that are likely to break or degrade quickly. Especially if you compost or consume the pumpkin before it starts to rot.

It’s better to pick your pumpkins at a pumpkin patch because freshly cut pumpkins last much longer than pre-picked ones from the store. Plus, picking your own pumpkins from a patch is a lot more fun!

If you’re going to carve a Jack O’Lantern, save the seeds to make a great snack! My son looks forward to this part almost more than the Jack O’Lantern part, honestly. This limits waste, and it is a super healthy snack.

Simply scoop the seeds, wash them and separate them from the pumpkin pulp, and dry them on a towel. Next, season them with extra virgin olive oil, Kosher salt, and cumin powder. Place on a baking sheet in a single layer, and roast at 275° for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Then eat!

Seasoned pumpkin seeds on a white plate with yellow/gold pattern around edge. — Photo by Marie Cullis.

The most important thing with a Jack O’Lantern is that you compost it once you’re ready to discard it.

Apple Picking

Pink-red apples dangling from branches with green leaves, and a blue sky background. — Image by beccazsky from Pixabay.

If you can get to an apple orchard, this is a wonderful way to celebrate fall. There is nothing more delicious and healthy than a crisp, fresh-picked apple. At most self-pick orchards, you can purchase a basket that you return with every year, instead of using plastic bags. Picking apples is healthier because the fruit is local and fresher (though not necessarily less expensive than apples from the grocery store). You’re likely also supporting a small business.

You can bake any number of apple yumminess and with limited waste, especially if you compost the apple peels and cores. Or, make apple cider vinegar from them (which I’ve done with only mixed success). That would make it zero waste!

Bonus if you go to an orchard where you pick apples and a pumpkin!

Basket of apples with flowers in a vase in background, on a wooden table. — Photo by Marie Cullis.

Fall Leaves

This is an easy category to limit waste. If you read my article on Fall leaves disposal, then you already know that leaves should never be bagged in plastic or sent to the landfill. Fall leaves biodegrade on the ground, in the compost, or in the woods. I don’t recommend burning because they can spark and start fires, and also because the smoke is not healthy to breathe, even from a distance. Check with your local municipal entity to see how you can safely discard leaves. Please read my article for additional information.

Halloween Costumes

Phot from inside of a Spirit Halloween store, showing black shelving with costumes in plastic packaging, cement floor, orange signage. — Photo by Phillip Pessar on Flickr, Creative Commons license (CC BY 2.0).

New costumes can contain chemicals, come in plastic packaging, and are expensive. The easiest way to save money, limit plastic packaging waste, and be healthier is to buy costumes second-hand, from any store that sells used clothing. The materials will have already off-gassed, making them less toxic to you.

The next simplest method for costuming is using what you already have at home, which limits waste and saves money. Trading costumes with friends or getting them at clothing swaps/sales is also an option.

Or, you can do a combination of those.

While I have purchased a brand-new costume once, my son usually insists on piecing together his own costume (and not for environmental reasons). Last year, he wanted to be Roronoa Zoro from the One Piece anime series. He wanted a costume like this:

Person in costume of character with green hair, white shirt, green haramaki, and black pants and swords. Brown background.

Online, the costume was more than $50, packaged in plastic, and did not include the earring or swords!

At the thrift store, we bought a small women’s white shirt with an opening at the chest, and rolled up the sleeves. We then found a black and green striped shirt that I cut up and resewed into the haramaki and the tie on his arm. I also found a pair of children’s black pants in his size at the same thrift store. We used a black bandana that we already had at home for his head, since he couldn’t dye his hair green due to a theatrical performance he was in at the time. And he already owned the three play swords.

Child dressed up as Roronoa Zoro, white shirt, 3 swords, green mid piece, black pants and bandana. Parking lot background. — Photo by Marie Cullis.

The most challenging part was the three-piece earring. Since my son’s ears aren’t pierced, I decided to make something similar to what Zoro wears. I made this earring from a paper clip to form a “clip-on” earring, and attached three pieces of nose bridge strips for cloth masks (bought during Covid times) and painted them gold. I was pretty proud of this costume and thought he looked amazing!

Child's profiled face, showing black bandana and gold earring up close. — Photo by Marie Cullis.

For more Halloween costume ideas, Pinterest is a great resource. Also, Kathryn Kellogg has a great article and video on Halloween costumes you may already have in your closet, which I’ve linked in the footnotes below.²

Halloween Candy

This is a difficult waste stream to avoid, but it can be done.

If you’re giving out candy, there are lots of options! Read my article on Halloween candy wrapper waste to find ways to avoid plastic waste. The best option is to buy individually wrapped candy in bulk (like foil wrapped chocolates) or boxed candy (Junior Mints, Milk Duds, Nerds, etc).

If you’re trick-or-treating, navigating that waste stream is much more challenging. The best approach is to recycle any wrappers you can (paper, cardboard, etc.) and limit the amount of candy you bring home. You can’t control what others give out, and you’re grateful that they are spending their hard-earned money on giving free candy to hordes of children, including yours. It’s best to limit how much you collect, and if you get too much, share it with friends, family, or coworkers.

Happy Fall and Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween illustration, orange background with black silhouettes of jack o'lanterns, owls, cats, bats, and a spider. — Image by Alexa from Pixabay.

I hope this article gave you some ideas about how to save money and limit waste. Leave me a comment if you have a question or suggestion. Thanks for reading, and please subscribe. Have a lovely Fall and Halloween!

Footnotes:

Page, Halloween data center, National Retail Federation, accessed October 19, 2025. ↩︎
Blog post, “Ethical Halloween Costumes: Plus Six Costumes You Have in Your Closet,” by Kathryn Kellogg, goingzerowaste.com, updated January 23, 2024. ↩︎

September 7, 2025September 7, 2025

We tried ALDI for 3 months. Here’s what we found.

An ALDI store, looking up at the exterior entrance, blue sky background. — Photo by Mike Mozart on Flickr, Creative Commons license (CC BY 2.0).

My family gave grocery shopping at ALDI an honest chance for three months. Grocery inflation has skyrocketed over the last few years, and we’re always trying to get our grocery costs down.

The Shopping Experience

I don’t mind using a quarter for the shopping cart, since it keeps the carts stocked at the front. But my spouse hates that part. We don’t mind bagging our own groceries, since we often do that at other grocery stores. The checkout process is expedient, and everything rings up the correct price (not something I can say about most other stores).

ALDI stores are much smaller than regular grocery stores, so there’s less traversing when searching for the items on your list. There are fewer choices because they mainly carry their brand, except for a few name brands on the shelves. So no decision fatigue. And there’s no need to keep up with coupons there. It is less crowded than regular stores (at least early in the morning when I shop).

Quality

The quality is ok…but just ok. Here’s the rundown by section.

Produce

Occasionally, their produce spoils quickly, and citrus fruits can sometimes be a bit dried out inside. The flavor of some produce is disappointing, likely due to modern farming practices where crops are picked too early and chemically ripened later, which diminishes both taste and nutrition. ALDI certainly isn’t the only company guilty of that.

Produce shelf with Broccoli in plastic trays and plastic wrap.

A large portion of their produce comes exclusively in plastic packaging, such as the broccoli pictured above. It’s on a plastic tray, wrapped in plastic wrap. The broccoli is cheaper, but I can get broccoli crowns without packaging at Publix or Whole Foods for not much more.

Cherry tomatoes, which are almost always sold in plastic packaging, regardless of the store, were cheaper at ALDI. One brand sold at both ALDI and Whole Foods was $2 more at Whole Foods.

Meat

The meat is ok, but questionable at times. The chicken seems fine, though not as flavorful as organic chicken. The ground meat has a lot of “sludge” in it, which I think is just water content. The “sludge” cooks off, but makes the meat seem pasty and less meaty. We’ve also seen some pretty extreme discoloration.

Pink ground turkey in plastic. — This was the top side of the packaged ground turkey. Very pink.

The underside of the same pink ground turkey, only with a discoloration issue making it more beige. — The bottom side of the packaged ground turkey was very discolored. It smelled fine and was safe to cook, but obviously off-putting. I imagine ALDI, like other large chains, uses some type of dye or coloring to make the meat look pink and therefore “healthy.” I find the discoloration disgusting and have stopped buying it, even though it’s a good deal.

To maximize savings, we bought meat in bulk at ALDI, then portioned it out using plastic zipper bags before freezing it. Although I don’t like using plastic, it was a necessary part of our ALDI experiment.

But one time in those three months, we caught ALDI overcharging for chicken. They charged for the total weight of the package of chicken, including the plastic tray and absorbent meat pad. We purchased just over 3 pounds of chicken, and when we took it out of the package and weighed it with zipper bags, it weighed just 2 pounds 12 ounces.

ALDI family pack of chicken breasts, green and red label with family pack in yellow banner. — ALDI family pack of chicken breasts.

ALDI label showing weight and cost. — ALDI label shows that I purchased just over 3 pounds of chicken breasts.

Chicken breasts in zipper bags on a food scale, showing 2 pounds 12 ounces.

What a rip-off! This means we should have paid just under $11, not over $12. This probably happens far more than I know, and at other stores too. I wish we’d checked every time. We’re trying to make a practice of checking now, regardless of where we shop.

Frozen fish

ALDI frozen wild caught salmon package, showing a cooked salmon and vegetable dish on package front.

The frozen fish is ok…but not always. We bought a pack of frozen salmon like the one above. To my dismay, each fillet comes sealed in its own individual plastic pouch. Worse still, on one occasion, we purchased a pack and found an unidentifiable “mystery” fillet in it. It might have been tilapia or another type of white fish…but it was not salmon. It was a different color and texture. That’s why we called it the mystery fillet. Unfortunately, we forgot to photo-document this experience.

Cheese

Overall, they do offer a large variety of cheeses. However, we found most lacked flavor.

Eggs

We never tried the eggs since they weren’t cheaper than what we buy at our regular stores.

Pantry

Some items are not cheaper at ALDI. Organic pasta, for example, is about 30 cents cheaper at Whole Foods. But olive oil, avocado oil, and spices are cheaper at ALDI…at least sometimes. I think the quality is lower on these items, though. If you shop the sales at regular supermarkets, you can often buy name-brand equivalents for the same price.

Processed Foods

Crackers, chips, granola bars, cereal, and breads at most supermarkets are suspiciously full of too many ingredients, unless they are organic/non-GMO. ALDI’s brand is no exception. Here is the ingredient list from a pack of bagels:

Photo of the back side of packaging for ALDI plain bagels. There are many ingredients and nutrition facts listed.

Cost

Did we save money? A little bit.

But not much. We don’t buy many processed foods, which might be where the biggest savings at ALDI lie. Instead, we mainly focus on fruits, vegetables, nuts, cheese, and a bit of meat. Our greatest savings came from pantry staples like oils and spices.

That said, the prices are hit or miss. Some items are cheaper, while others cost more. I think it really depends on what other supermarket options are nearby and the sales they have running.

Shopping at ALDI also did not eliminate the need for us to go to other stores, simply because they just don’t carry that much variety.

Packaging

Everything comes in plastic packaging, often excessive packaging. This is not a place for zero waste and plastic reduction. This is a big deal for me, obviously. ALDI also has a section of household items, toys, etc., that are full of plastic packaging and likely chemicals. Those are not things we buy and therefore cannot save money on.

Will we return to ALDI?

There were parts we didn’t mind – like bagging our own groceries with our own cloth bags. We’d do that anyway.

Did we save enough money to warrant the sacrifice in quality? I don’t think so.

Last, the excessive plastic packaging is somewhat of a deal-breaker for me. We have to save money where we can, but at other stores, I can buy things like produce without packaging.

So, the answer is, we may shop at ALDI occasionally. But it will never replace our regular grocery shopping.

Have you tried ALDI? What was your experience? Feel free to leave me a comment about it. Thanks for reading, please share and subscribe!

Close-up of quarter pay shopping carts, chained together, such as they use at ALDI. — Photo by Alexandru Tugui on Unsplash.

All photos by Marie Cullis unless otherwise noted.

July 26, 2025July 26, 2025

Does the Cora Ball Really Work? My Mixed Results

Cora Ball, blue and dark blue plastic nubbed ball, sitting on towels on a washing machine. — Image from coraball.com.

What is the Cora Ball?

Cora Ball is simply a laundry ball that collects microfibers and prevents them from getting into the ocean. As I explained in Part 5 of my series The Real Global Price of What You Wear, synthetic fabrics shed microfibers during washing, which then enter our waterways, pollute the oceans, and ultimately harm fish, marine mammals, and even humans.

When you use a Cora Ball in your washing machine, it collects these microfibers. The company cites a 2020 study that indicated that using a Cora Ball “prevents 31% of the microfibers per load from washing downstream” and “helps prevent microfibers from breaking off your clothes” in the first place.¹ I’m not clear on how it prevents fibers from breaking off clothes, so I’m not sure about this claim. A 2019 study claimed Cora Ball captured 26% of microfibers,² and a 2021 study put the number at just 10%. The latter study described that the “difference between the two studies can be explained by the different length of studied fibre…since the trapping efficiency of Cora Ball increases with the size (length and lint) of fibres.”³ (The studies also indicated that the Guppy Bag has a higher rate of microfiber collection.)

People researching how to keep plastic out of the ocean invented the Cora Ball. The co-founders of Cora Ball “first founded the nonprofit Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean to launch their mission of preserving a thriving marine ecosystem by tackling marine debris through cleanup, education, research, and solutions development.”⁴ The company now addresses other plastic problems through non-plastic product creation.

The company makes the laundry balls from recycled plastic, manufactures them in the United States, and the company even has a take-back program!

Angled photo of a stainless steel washer and dryer with towels coming out of the open machine door. — Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay.

So I Tried It

I ordered one about 6 months ago and threw it in my washer and left it in for every wash. For the first couple of months, I didn’t see much collecting in it – just a few pet and human hairs, and a single loose thread or two. I finally started seeing a tiny bit of accumulated lint, but not enough to even pick out of the ball. From Cora Ball’s welcome email, this seemed fairly normal: “Sometimes, after everyday clothing loads, you may not see much. It may be there accumulating and tangling up with hair and larger fibers, it’s just too small to see and you will be able to remove it when the tangles do get big enough to grab.”⁵ So I just left it in the machine for months.

Then I made a mistake. I had purchased some fabric for a sewing project and washed it before doing the project (as is often recommended). The fabric frayed and got badly tangled in the Cora Ball. I’d also washed a blanket with fringe, and that also got tangled in the ball. All are made of cotton and should not be as harmful to the environment as synthetic fabrics. But the company recommends not washing those types of things with their laundry ball. On their FAQ page: “We recommend that you DO NOT wash anything with lace, tassels, chunky or wide-knit, crocheted sections, or fraying threads with Cora Ball.”⁶ Those mistakes left me with this mess:

Close up of a blue and dark blue Cora Ball with many tangled threads in various colors.

Cleaning the Cora Ball

I spent about 30 minutes using scissors and my fingers to try to remove the strings and threads, but I couldn’t get all of it out. I certainly can’t replace it at $46.00 per ball, but it’s still usable and I’m not going to give up on it.

Piles of threads in green and other colors on a white background.

Up close, some of the microfibers or “lint” are visible in the threads (it looks gray and fuzzy):

close up of threads in green and other colors on a white background. — Photos by Marie Cullis.

The Real Solutions

Of course, the real solutions lie in avoiding synthetic textiles in the first place. While I buy as little fast fashion as possible, some inevitably enters my home since I buy some of my family’s clothing second-hand. You don’t always have a choice in the fabric content of second-hand clothing.

Is it better to buy second-hand clothing or newly produced natural fiber clothing?

Both are good practices. Though in general, the answer is always TO BUY LESS. For my family, we buy second-hand because it is far more affordable than new clothing of any type. It’s better for the environment since those clothing items have already been produced. And it is always better to reuse rather than put them in a landfill or ship them to developing countries, where the discarded items may worsen that country’s waste problems.

We can wash our clothes less and do laundry better to increase the lifespan of the clothes we already own. Avoid the toxic, poisonous, and harsh ingredients that are in most laundry detergents and fabric softeners.

Final Thoughts on Cora Ball

While I ask that people focus on shifting away from synthetic clothing and fabrics, buy less, and buy second-hand when able, I do think that Cora Ball can help with already-owned synthetics. And I recognize that some outdoor gear and swimwear must be made from synthetics. While Cora Ball will help, it is not the only solution to our global pollution problems.

So I’m asking that if you buy one, please don’t think you’re done helping solve the crisis. Continue to think about these problems and make improvements. I’m certainly going to continue using mine.

If you’ve tried this product, I’d love for you to leave me a comment about your experience. Thank you for reading, and please share and subscribe!

This is an honest review, and I did not get paid or receive goods in exchange for this review.

Footnotes:

Article, “The efficiency of devices intended to reduce microfibre release during clothes washing,” by Imogen E. Napper, Aaron C. Barrett, Richard C. Thompson, Science of The Total Environment, Volume 738, October 10, 2020. ↩︎
Article, “Capturing microfibers – marketed technologies reduce microfiber emissions from washing machines,” by Hayley K. McIlwraith, Jack Lin, Lisa M. Erdle, Nicholas Mallos, Miriam L. Diamond, Chelsea M. Rochman, Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume 139, February 2019. ↩︎
Article, “Quantification of different microplastic fibres discharged from textiles in machine wash and tumble drying,” by Kärkkäinen, N. and Sillanpää, M., Environmental Science and Pollution Research, Volume 28, April 2021. ↩︎
Page, “Meet the Cora Ball Team,” coraball.com, August 16, 2022. ↩︎
Page, “Frequently Asked Questions,” coraball.com, accessed July 26, 2025. ↩︎
Page, “Frequently Asked Questions,” coraball.com, accessed July 26, 2025. ↩︎