Small Actions, Big Impact: Every Little Bit Matters

Living a low-waste lifestyle can sometimes feel daunting and overwhelming. I’ll admit, there are moments when I feel a pang of anxiety seeing compostable items like coffee grounds or banana peels carelessly tossed into a black plastic trash bag, destined for a landfill where they’ll never break down properly. I’ve felt frustration pulling cardboard toilet rolls out of the bathroom trash can, only to deepen that emotion with the clank of our stainless steel compost bin as I mutter, “Ugh—these are compostable!”

But then I remind myself of the truth: we’re all just doing our best, navigating the challenges of daily life. Sometimes, we forget that small actions can make a difference. In moments of overwhelm, I try to focus on doing the next right thing—whatever I can, however small. I let myself off the hook when I forget my reusable container and have to bring home leftovers in a disposable one. I cut myself some slack when I reach for a paper towel instead of a rag for a particularly messy cleanup. I hope you, too, give yourself moments of grace—and then recommit, knowing that while it’s hard, we can create new habits. Together, we’re navigating this new world, learning, growing, and changing. As the saying goes, “When you know better, you do better.”

The Circular Economy: What It Means and How Kindred Fits In

At Kindred, we’re all about creating a circular economy. But what does that mean? The EPA defines it as an economy that keeps materials and products in circulation for as long as possible. It’s a shift away from the traditional “take, make, waste” model, where resources are mined, turned into products, and then discarded. Instead, a circular economy focuses on:

* Designing materials and products to be less resource-intensive.
* Capturing “waste” as a resource to create new materials and products.
* Keeping resources at their highest value for as long as possible.

This plays out at Kindred in a very tangible way. We collect items like jars, paper bags with handles, and plastic 6-pack holders from our community. These items are cleaned, sanitized, and reused—keeping them out of landfills and giving them a second life. It’s a small but powerful way to slow down the waste stream and create a more sustainable system.

Thanks to your efforts, we’ve saved hundreds of pounds of waste from ending up in landfills. Here’s what we’ve accomplished together:

• Bottles for our refillery: On average we take in 100 bottles per month, saving around 50 lbs from the waste stream every single month. That’s 600 lbs saved annually!
• Egg cartons: We accept around 30 egg cartons per month for the Clark County Food Bank. This adds up to about 3 lbs of paper/cardboard each month—36 lbs a year.
• Paper bags with handles: By bringing in around 50 paper bags per month, you’ve saved 10 lbs of paper monthly, adding up to 120 lbs annually.
• Plastic 6-pack holders: We collect about 20 holders per month which saves about 1 lb of plastic from polluting our planet every month—12 lbs a year. Not to mention that there is no demand for new holders to replace these. 

Altogether, that’s 64 lbs of waste saved every month and 768 lbs annually! To put that into perspective, that’s the weight of 3 adult pandas or 10 car tires kept out of landfills.

End-of-Life Thinking: Why It Matters (and Why You Don’t Have to Worry at Kindred)

One of the most important questions we can ask ourselves is: What happens to this product when I’m done using it? For most everyday items, the answer isn’t pretty. That shirt with a hole in it? It might end up in a landfill or worse, matted on a beach in another part of the world. The toy your child outgrew? It could sit in a closet for years before being tossed and then again, in the landfill. The broken appliance? It might become e-waste. In all of these scenarios, we can hope our items at least end up in the landfill instead of polluting someone else’s home but more often than not, that isn’t how this plays out.

The truth is, everything you’ve ever owned still exists somewhere. It’s a sobering thought, but it’s also a call to action. At Kindred, we’ve curated our products and systems to take this issue off the table. When you shop with us, you don’t have to worry about what happens to your items when you’re done with them. Almost everything we sell is compostable, recyclable, or reusable, so there’s little to no waste left behind.

Bottles and Packaging Saved Through Product Swaps
Here’s a breakdown of the bottles, tubs, and tubes we’ve saved from landfills together:

That’s 7,609 bottles, tubs, and tubes kept out of landfills—just by choosing low-waste alternatives!

Small Swaps, Big Savings: The Paper Towel Problem

One of the easiest ways to participate in a circular economy is by making small swaps in our daily lives. Take paper towels, for example. Did you know that producing just one roll of paper towels requires 17 gallons of water? And the average American uses 45 rolls of paper towels per year—that’s 765 gallons of water wasted annually, per person!
At Kindred, we’ve helped our community make a dent in this waste:

• 523 Swedish dishcloths sold: Each dishcloth replaces 17 rolls of paper towels, saving 8,891 rolls of paper towels from being used.
• 247 rolls of paperless towels sold: Each roll replaces 36 rolls of paper towels per year for 10 years, saving 88,920 rolls of paper towels over their lifetime.

That’s a total of 97,811 rolls of paper towels saved—and countless gallons of water preserved.

Why It All Matters

Some days, I find myself asking, “Does any of this even matter?” Especially when billionaires and politicians seem capable of unraveling our hard work with the stroke of a pen. But then I remind myself that it’s important to take care of my little corner of the world. Small actions do add up—not just in bottles saved or waste diverted, but in the energy we put out into the world. It’s about setting an example for future generations, our neighbors, and our community. It’s about inspiring others to pick up trash in their own little corner—and so the ripple effect continues.

I love getting to visit with you all each day at Kindred. You restore my faith that I’m not just one obsessive person nagging at the people in my circle, saying, “This is compostable!” or “No, compostable trash bags are a scam. Greenwashing at it’s finest!” or sharing the latest fact about how many microplastics the average person has in their brain (it’s about a spoonful). You remind me to keep going, to keep persevering. You inspire me with fresh ideas and give me the confidence to try something new—like my fifth sourdough starter (if only to use the discard, even if I never actually bake a loaf… maybe someday).

I’m so grateful for every one of you. I imagine you painstakingly cleaning labels off jars, with a special box next to your recycling bin labeled “For Kindred.” I picture your pile of paper bags or six-pack holders sitting in the back of your car, rattling every time you hit the brakes a little too hard. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for being a helper. Thank you for proving that small actions, when multiplied by a community, can create real change.

Let’s keep doing the next right thing, together. 🌎💚

How We Calculated These Numbers

Here’s a quick breakdown of how we arrived at these stats:

• Refillables: We estimate that the average refill is 12–16 ounces, which equals about 1 bottle saved per refill.
  
• Solid Products (soaps, shampoos, etc.): We use industry standards to calculate equivalents. For example, 1 shampoo bar = 16 ounces = 1 bottle of liquid shampoo.
• Paper Towel Swaps: Based on manufacturer & consumer data, 1 Swedish dishcloth = 17 rolls of paper towels, and 1 roll of paperless towels = 36 rolls of paper towels per year which lasts for at least 10 years.
• Donations (bottles, egg cartons, etc.): We track the number of items donated monthly and use average weights (e.g., 1 plastic bottle = 0.5 lbs, 1 egg carton = 0.1 lbs) to calculate total waste diverted.

These numbers are estimates, but they give us a clear picture of the impact we’re making together.