With the growing awareness of the climate crisis, more and more people are looking for ways to reduce their environmental impact. One way to do this is through sustainable DIY projects. Sustainable DIYs are projects that can be made using recycled or repurposed materials, and that have a low impact on the environment. There are many different types of sustainable DIY projects that you can do. Some examples are making your own household products, upcycling furniture, creating compost, and growing your own food. In this post, I am sharing 10 sustainable DIYS to make this weekend if you have extra time on your hands and are looking to get crafty.
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10 Sustainable DIYs to Make This Weekend
1. Zero Waste Produce Bags via The Yellow Bird House
Produce bags are great to take with you to the store. You can go sans plastic bag for most things (you peel a banana anyway, it doesn’t really need a produce bag), but for some things, you might want to use one. These are perfect if you’re buying small things in bulk like green beans or brussels sprouts. Plus, aren’t these cute?
This sustainable DIY does require a sewing machine. You can find the DIY to make the below produce bags here.
2. 5 Minute Reusable Swiffer Cover DIY (no-sew) via A Beautiful Mess
For all of you who use a Swiffer sweeper, here is the perfect low-waste alternative if you’re looking to make a switch! This will lower your disposable product use and save you money. Plus, this DIY is so easy and doesn’t require any sewing.
This sustainable DIY can be found here. All you need is fleece fabric, a pair of scissors, and stick-on velcro strips for fabric.
3. DIY Homemade Natural Dishwasher Pods via Hello Nest
These are an alternative to those little dishwasher pods where every single one is wrapped in plastic. These will also help you save money and use more natural ingredients (as opposed to the harsher chemicals that some of those pods contain). All you need is baking soda, washing soda, table salt, dish soap, essential oils, vinegar, and an ice cube tray or silicone mold. So easy and you might already have these ingredients in your home!
You can find this sustainable DIY here! If you’re more of a dishwasher detergent kind of person, I’ve seen similar DIYs floating around on Pinterest, too.
4. Eco-Friendly Reusable Dish Scrubber via Paper and Stitch
Another DIY for your kitchen, this dish scrubber can replace sponges. It’s completely biodegradable so when you’re done with it you can compost it instead of tossing it in the trash. Sponges just go to landfills or out to the ocean where they remain for 52,000 years before breaking down.
All you need to make this DIY is jute, a kind of coarse string, and a crochet hook. One spool of jute can make a ton of these dish scrubbers, and the dish scrubbers will last around 3 months before needing to be replaced.
You can find this sustainable DIY here!
5. DIY Reusable Makeup Wipe DIY via A Beautiful Mess
If you’re trying to switch from cotton rounds or cotton balls, these are the perfect alternatives. Not only will you save money in the long run (since you don’t have to keep buying bag after bag), but these are so cute. There are lots on Etsy if you don’t want to make them, but it’s a lot cheaper if you make them yourself.
All you need for this DIY is a terrycloth towel fabric, cotton fabric, a ruler, a mat, a rotary cutter, and a sewing machine. Since these are fairly small, if you don’t have a sewing machine, I think they could just as easily be sewn by hand (they’d just take more time).
When you’re done using the wipe for your toner or to remove makeup, just wash it in a delicates bag. You can find this sustainable DIY here!
6. Lavender Sage All-Purpose Cleaner
Making your own all-purpose cleaner at home is easy! You can get glass spray bottles on Amazon or at the store, and just refill as needed. This sustainable DIY has 4 different ‘smells’ you can infuse the vinegar with (because vinegar really doesn’t smell good. You can choose Orange Cinnamon Clove, Lavender Sage, Lemon Orange Thyme, or Thyme. For 7-14 days you let the vinegar sit with all the ingredients and then strain and dilute in your bottles and add essential oils.
This cleaner is perfect for a light disinfectant, rather than a deep clean.
7. How to Make Disinfectant Wipes/ Reusable “Clorox Wipes” via Homemade Lovely
Even though Clorox wipes are some of the most convenient things in the world, they can be wasteful. These disinfectant wipes are actually washcloths in a DIY disinfectant mixture. When you’re done with the wipe, you just toss it in the laundry.
Plus, these look much better sitting on your countertop than that plastic container of wipes.
You can find this sustainable DIY here!
8. DIY Compost Bin Via Practically Functional
Composting is great because it keeps food scraps out of landfills (reducing incineration and gas emissions). Food scraps and biodegradable material also slow down in decomposition when it’s buried in the trash and do not have access to oxygen. It’s not going to break down and landfills are going to continue to get fuller and fuller when food and yard scraps could break down in compost much faster. It’s easy to do and great for providing nutrient-rich soil if you have a garden.
I personally like the design below, but there are tens of designs on Pinterest, as well. You can find this sustainable DIY (which would be a great weekend project) here!
9. Unpaper Towels via Paper and Stitch
I included these on my first DIY roundup, but since it’s a sustainable DIY I wanted to include them on here too! I love this unpaper towel DIY from fabric scraps that will save you tons of waste from paper towels. There are some DIYs out there for unpaper towels with snaps to form the traditional paper towel roll, but this one doesn’t have that. Still, it’s a great DIY that will also save you tons of money.
You can find the DIY here, but you will need a sewing machine!
10. Reusable Sandwich Bags via A Beautiful Mess
This sustainable DIY was also in my first DIY roundup, but I wanted to include it here, as well. These reusable sandwich bags are perfect for your dry snacks! Plastic snack and sandwich bags are usually used once (maybe twice) and then discarded. It can then take hundreds of years to break down.
These snack bags are easy to make, but you will need a sewing machine!
If you try one of these 10 sustainable DIYs be sure to tag the original sources!
I hope some of you have found this roundup helpful if you’re lowering your waste! Let me know in the comments below if you’ve found any other sustainable DIYs that you love!
Looking for more DIYs? Check out my posts below!
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