Before you go on and oblige to what we suggested in our title, make sure they tick off this rigorous list of ingredients that maketh ‘A Sustainable Chef’. Each chef would have to be judged on resource conservation, waste management, sustainable sourcing and storing, and much more! After all, it’s not easy to choose a suitable boy – sorry, be A Sustainable Chef.
Here’s a list of questions designed to judge whether your kitchen habits are sustainable living compatible –
How do you shop for supplies and groceries?
If your organically grown and sourced produce comes in single-use plastic bags, you’re doing sustainability wrong, my friend. It is not enough to just buy eco-friendly and sustainable products but to also eliminate any practices or steps that may prove to be unsustainable. For example, make sure you use eco-friendly carry bags while carrying supplies from the market to your home. The Rusabl Foldable Tote Bag is #TotesASaviour! From shopping tote bags to sustainable produce bags, make sure you store and shop sustainably, without using single-use plastic. Compostable garbage bags, natural cleaning products and most importantly recycling will definitely take you a long way!
Are you draining your energy and the planet’s resources?
Cooking is quite a tiring task. While some replenish their own energies while they make a meal, the affair of cooking is bound to tire you and use the earth’s energy resources. It may be okay to feel drained, but draining resources is not cool! So, switching off the microwave after heating, not wasting burner gas, making sure the lights are switched off when not in use and minimising water wastage and usage are simple ways to curb resource wastage and do your part.
How do you eat when you’re not at home?
A Sustainable Chef also cares about what leaves their kitchen and never allows anything that is disposable. From coffee filters to containers to cutlery, make sure everything is reusable. Even better if it’s Rusabl! ;)
PS: We award brownie points to anyone who uses Rusabl Steelery.
Do you even compost bro?
A lot of kitchen waste is biodegradable. With every step that A Sustainable Chef takes towards running a zero-waste kitchen, composting takes them the furthest. Especially when some of the kitchen waste can even be used to grow your own produce!
Nothing feels like “doing enough” when it comes to saving the planet. But the way small tweaks make a big difference in recipes, small acts of eco-friendly living make a big difference to Mother Earth.
A sustainable lifestyle goes beyond just buying sustainable products. It also means tweaking habits and going out of the way to make sustainable choices. For the classic shopaholic, the world of choices is not new. What we will try to do in this blog is help you inculcate sustainable habits in all your shopping trips – whether it is the local market haul or the highstreet haul (which anyway isn’t very sustainable for your bank account :P).
Oftentimes, we choose products that are sustainable but order them from aggregators with different shipment policies compared to a brand that cares about the environment. The irony of sustainable products arriving in multiple layers of plastic isn’t lost on us.
For the same reason, making sure you buy straight from the brand is always more sustainable. Sustainable brands usually opt for shipment methods and packaging alternatives that are eco-friendly. This definitely assures that your guilty pleasure doesn’t turn into plain guilty. Better yet, there is a better chance of an entrepreneur’s good wishes being cashed out at the gates of heaven. Trust us, supporting small businesses pays off! You could even start small and give us a follow on our social media handles. We’ll wait.
If you’re back to read this after you’ve followed us, WE LOVE YOU! And we promise you there’s more love where that came from every sustainable choice that you make. And a good place to start is your next shopping trip!
]]>With the festive season around the corner, the most difficult task at hand has returned. We hate to ask you this question, but – what are you giving your loved ones this festive season?
Undoubtedly, a gift for your loved ones has to be thoughtful. While a personal gift is timeless, a gift that is actually useful is always remembered. When it comes to choosing between the two, going with either option just seems unfair. To overcome this dilemma, we have put together a list of thoughtful (read: sustainable) gifts that you can give each type of friend.
We all have a friend who has been freaking out with us all through the pandemic. It would only make sense to give this friend a ‘new normal gift’. A mask, of course!
The Rusabl Face Mask has three layers of protection which includes a removable layer made of tissue paper to filter out the bad stuff and the paranoia. Because it is made of cotton, it is washable, reusable, and sustainable!
PS: You could even get them the Rusabl New Normal Must-Haves Combo and save money!
Have a friend who cooks with early signs of OCD? Give them a set of Rusabl Produce Bags to keep their veggies, fruits, and leafies in order. These 100% cotton bags are 100% breathable and secure what goes in and keep out everything else.
We’re sure your friend is bound to order them for more than just their veggies.
If you’re still reading this, here’s a bonus gift filled with sustainable products and a lot of love. The bonus is gifts that are customisable!
Click here and write to us to customise your extra special festive gifts.
Give us a gift and follow us on our social media channels. Just scroll right till the end of this page.
]]>Sustainable living is like pulling the holy grail against the demons of global warming. It’s the smallest yet the most monumental step that we can take to save our planet.
But what is sustainable living?
Sustainable living is a lifestyle that focuses on reducing an individual’s or society’s consumption of natural resources. With conscious transportation, production, and consumption, it aims to control the carbon or ecological footprint.
Sustainable living aims to achieve an environmental equilibrium which is sometimes called ‘net-zero living’. In other words, give back to planet earth, everything you take from it. Unfortunately, substances like plastic make it harder to achieve this equilibrium. And of course, achieving zero environmental impact is a difficult feat, but companies like us are working towards taking small steps every day.
Wondering how you can help? That’s why we’re here!
In a previous blog, we covered how fantastic and fabulous life can be without plastic. Which is why quitting plastic is the first step. But our tryst with sustainability doesn’t end there. Here are a few more steps that will help you graduate Sustainability: Level 1:
Watch what you’re buying and throwing away
Choosing sustainability is easy. All it takes is to be conscious. Choosing plastic-free, biodegradable, and sustainable products as alternatives to daily essentials is a way to start. But given that plastic is so deeply rooted in our economy, doing so may seem hard at first.
While plastic is unavoidable in some forms like packaging, containers, etc, seeking sustainable alternatives and recycling or repurposing anything that cannot be reused is very important. We have to make a conscious decision to buy eco-friendly products instead of the plastic ones.
Grow your own greens, veggies, fruits… whatever you can!
Food that comes out of your own garden travels less compared to store-bought produce, hence has a much lower carbon footprint. Because it doesn’t require packaging, it also is completely void of plastic!
Apart from being great for the environment, growing your own can be great for health too! It helps you avoid any harmful chemicals that get used in pesticides and insecticides. Complement growing and carrying your own food with Rusabl's eco-friendly cutlery set to lead a more sustainable life.
See? What is good for you, can be good for the planet too!
Save resources, it saves money!
It is no news that the earth’s resources cannot be replenished easily. This also means conserving water when you’re brushing away with bamboo toothbrushes. Turn resource conservation on by turning the tap off! It’s as easy as that! Switching off the lights when you’re not using them, switching to solar-powered heaters, using as much as natural light as is possible – are some more ways to do sustainability right.
Commuting with friends is eco-friendly!
Or you could make new friends while using public transport! Honestly, a share-cab meet-cute is our favourite beginning to a love story. Only because it’s a little more sustainable than hiring an individual cab. So the next time you’re out and about to shop with your eco-friendly carry bags, or eating out with the company of your Rusabl Steelery, make sure you’re travelling sustainably too!
Be more vocal for local!
The beauty of an international market is the access and availability that it brings. But, when things travel across the world to land at your doorstep, imagine the number of resources that are being spent on them! It’s ridiculous. Shopping locally doesn’t just minimise the energy consumption behind every A to Z delivery but also helps you save some green and catch more Zs because of all the carbon footprint you’re not leaving behind! While you're supporting your local vendors, don’t forget to carry one of Rusabl’s organic shopping tote bags to prevent the using non-biodegradable plastic bags.
While these three steps may seem easy-peasy, making the switch has to be a conscious effort. At Rusabl, our range of products ensures that you can make the switch easily and affordably with long use items that make your life sloooooooow. Or at least your consumption patterns.
Sustainability has to be achieved as a social, economical and political effort, but it all starts with you (following us on social media and subscribing to our emailers!)
For years, we’ve fought the battle against plastic and finally, we are raising a generation that will defeat and eradicate plastic completely.
After all, we don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions doing it imperfectly. So before we can tell you about how to make the switch, let us tell you why you need to make the switch –
It’s a simple calculation – humankind has spent 140 thousand years on the earth. But the earth is 4.5 million years old. If we compress the earth’s life to 24 hours, we have spent just 3 seconds on the earth! And in just 3 seconds, we have littered it with tonnes, and tonnes of plastic. BILLIONS! So, to even think about entering the fourth second on earth, we need to make a switch away from plastic, towards sustainable products. Give back what we take and carefully so. Which makes quitting plastic consumption anywhere possible, the first logical step. Because if we don’t quit, or don’t use it slower (at least), by 2050, 12 billion metric tonnes of plastic will be dumped in landfills. That’s going to do a lot of damage.
A LOT OF DAMAGE. (Does saying it in all caps make you take us more seriously?)
The situation is dire and the switch is our only option. It is time we take the pledge to buy eco-friendly products and make a real impact on our environment.
So how does one quit plastic when it is rooted so deeply into everything we consume and buy? It’s simple – find alternatives. Here are some ways to make the switch to sustainable products:
Make it a motto, carry your bag wherever you go
In India, our households are infamous for a bag with a bag that holds multiple bags. And most of them are plastic. While reusing them is necessary, denying them takes priority. And that’s Step 1! Carrying your own cloth bag.
Portable, aesthetic, and easy-to-carry foldable jute bags are the ones to try. Our Rusabl Cloth Bag is one of our adorable eco-friendly carry bags. It makes every shopping trip sustainable, responsible, and enjoyable! After all, nobody likes carrying a band of bags.
Bottle-up the plastic bottles
Plastic bottles generally quench your thirst a whole of one time and then end up in a landfill. Similarly, plastic bottles that we buy for daily use also break, get lost, basically – end up in a landfill somewhere. These aren’t the kind of gifts we want to leave for our children, their children, and the many grandchildren that will come after, do we?
Switching to glass bottles is an aesthetic but too conscious a decision to make since you always have to be conscious of not dropping it! A great sustainable, stylish and sip-worthy alternative is our Bamboo Steel Flask. It’s meticulously designed to be zero-waste and BPA-free, making your drinks absolutely chemical-free. You don’t even need to step out of your house, because you can buy your new bamboo bottle online!
Serene, sustainable mornings
With sustainability on our mind, why be tooth-brush blind? Starting your mornings with a plastic toothbrush is just as bad as that rhyme! Just imagine the number of toothbrushes you’ve used in your lifetime and then multiply that number by the number of people that have ever existed on the planet. Crazy, right? And we’re not even all the same age!
Which is why we strongly recommend starting your mornings sustainably with the Rusabl Bamboo Toothbrush, an eco-friendly toothbrush. This is a wooden toothbrush you can put in your mouth and the ground completely guilt-free! It’s organic and will reduce the accumulation of plastic in our oceans. The BPA-free nature of the bristles with activated charcoal in bamboo toothbrushes make them completely safe for your mouth too. There is really no reason why you shouldn’t ditch the plastic toothbrush!
No disposables, yes to reusables
Eating out is our biggest guilty pleasure. After all, who can resist the gobble-worthy scents of freshly cooked unhealthy food? We don’t mean to shame you about eating out, but we do mean to shame you about the disposable plastic that you use every time you eat out. Trust us, eating out becomes a little more guilt-free when you carry your own cutlery. Steel straws, spoons and forks got nothing on their plastic alternatives! Check out the Rusabl Steelery Set. It comes sheathed in a fabulous pouch that has more uses than you could ever imagine. With this eco-friendly cutlery set, you’ll be saving the environment every time you decide to eat! Isn’t that something to boast about?
It is not an easy switch to sustainable products, we agree. But we are dedicated to bringing it a click closer with every product that we engineer. To stay updated on product launches, sales, and other news, subscribe to our emails! They’re super useful, hence zero-waste.
]]>We’re halfway through 2020 and while we’re still battling the coronavirus pandemic, hygiene just made to #1 on our priority list. Let’s be honest. We’re all a little paranoid now. We’re afraid of shaking our own friends’ hands, we think twice before we go out, and it’s petrifying (apart from being illegal) to walk out of our house without a mask on! This isn’t a fictional universe, this is happening right here, right now.
Amongst all the mayhem caused by COVID-19, we are facing another monster problem. The steady rise of plastic and unsustainable consumption – just think about all the plastic waste that was produced during this pandemic. Manufacturing masks, sanitizer containers, personal protective equipment.
This then raises the question of what should we be doing today that can ensure a cleaner and safer future, while maintaining that our hygiene is not compromised?
The answer is sustainable hygiene.
Before we tell you how you can make the switch to sustainable hygiene, let us talk about why it’s important in the first place.
Ever since the plastic production took off in the 1950s, we have used almost 9,200,000,000 tonnes of plastic. That’s 9.2 billion with a ‘B’. And do you know how much of it was recycled? A mere 9%. The rest of it makes it to our oceans and landfills. A lot of this plastic waste is generated as a direct result of our personal care products. Disposable razors, sanitary pads, tubes and containers, even wet towels contribute to the plastic waste. Of course, these items are essential to our lifestyle, but what most people don’t know is that you can actually improve your lifestyle if you buy eco-friendly products in the personal care domain than non-biodegradable ones. These products are free from carcinogens and toxins found in plastic and are affordable too!
We, as individuals, can create a meaningful impact on this world we inhabit, simply by making a different choice. A choice to ditch the plastic and use sustainable products instead. But let’s see where the plastic is coming from.
Apart from the very packaging that some of our hygiene products come in, some of them have tiny non-biodegradable materials in the composition of the product itself. As sneaky as that is, our hygiene products are full of them!
Personal care, a plastic problem
From facewash gels to innocent-sounding ‘organic’ scrubs and even toothpaste – all have nasty chemicals like triclosan and sneaky plastic micro-beads that give our marine friends the blues. The micro-beads aren’t biodegradable and travel directly to our seas while being a threat to marine life, and attracting and absorbing harmful chemicals on its way. Products like wet wipes also contain plastic and when flushed, end up straight in the sea. It’s true! Our personal hygiene is a public plastic problem!
One can easily avoid the damage that these products do by switching to sustainable products or using homemade alternatives. For example, a store-bought exfoliator can be replaced with ubtan, coffee and other ingredients easily available in the kitchen. Replacing toothpaste with powder also helps reduce the microbead count.
Aunt Flow needs a biodegradable glow
Periods are painful for mother earth with the amount of plastic waste that is generated by menstrual products like pads and tampons. In the life of a woman, she consumes about 11000 menstrual hygiene products that aren’t biodegradable and end up in a landfill somewhere. The bloody problem is real.
These products don’t just harm the environment but also contain carcinogens that harm our body. Buying eco-friendly products like the menstrual cup or washable period panties keep your carbon footprint in check while making your period bloody green!
Break up with toxic products, friends, exes
Most of our daily use products are made in a plastic body for the convenience of manufacturers and the business advantage of repeat purchases. Daily objects like razors, toothbrushes, plastic bottles, etc contribute greatly to the plastic consumption of the planet. Converting these disposable products with long-use, biodegradable material alternatives is the way to go! Steel razors, wooden or bamboo toothbrushes, reusable flasks are sustainable products that last longer and consume lesser plastic per purchase.
In a world where we can’t imagine not wearing a mask anymore, on the flip side, there is an unimaginable amount of plastic that is not being disposed of with proper precaution. This plastic is present in our masks! Switching out disposable masks with reusable masks (we want to say Rusabl face masks) can save tonnes of plastic from being used. Rusabl Face Masks are triple-layered, washable, and durable. They ensure that you’re protected from infections while making sure that our environment is protected from pollution. It’s a win-win for everyone!
As individuals, it is our responsibility to care for our planet and leave it a better place for future generations. All you have to do is take one step at a time as you transition to plastic-free living and Rusabl makes it easier for you! Our products range all the way from the eco-friendly cutlery set to shopping tote bags and with us, you can even buy a cool Rusabl bamboo bottle online.
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
When we look back, it is astonishing to see how our journey began with an idea that revolved around the concept of ‘minimalism’ grew into something so much more than what we had imagined it to be. The concept of minimalism grew into a philosophy to give birth to our brand Minimo in November 2018. We were thrilled and eager to design products that minimalists across the country would resonate with. And within a short span of time, we were able to gain thousands of loyal customers who not only bought our products but also gave feedback that helped us grow. It was their genuine response that gave us a sense of surety of being on the right track. But as they say, the only definite thing in the world is change and it only happens with time, it was ‘time’ that unwrapped certain things for us. It showed us that how we were merely getting started for a thousand miles journey and the foundation years were only one step towards the end goal.
Opportunity amidst challenges
A few months after our inception, challenges came knocking at our door and we were surrounded with obstacles. Going through a tough time made us revisit our history and dive deep to introspect. It was there that we found a silver lining! A gateway to opportunity opened for us to make us realize how our belief within is greater than just the idea of minimalism. The greater purpose of our products and the resolve to reach our full potential pushed us to broaden our horizons.
A path to sustainability
The planet that we breathe on every day is what allows ideas and beliefs to sustain. From its resources to its contribution to our lives, mother earth truly does nurture our lives more than we acknowledge. All things withstanding, at the core of our beliefs, we found that because this planet is the only one we have, we wanted to protect it for generations to come. We believe it is everyone’s moral duty. Having said that, the road to introspection drove us closer to building a world where everybody gives back and grows consciously. And so, we evolved to Rusabl.
Building a sustainable world
We resonate deeply with the market’s need and the consumer’s want for sustainable products and alternatives. We see the struggles involved in making the switch and we believe that it is our job to overcome those for you one step at a time.
Rusabl aims to make your hustling lifestyle a sustainable one by introducing a path which is affordable and doable for all. We want to build a world where every person can live a conscious life. We want to help you buy eco-friendly products that supplement and complement your lifestyle to make the switch to green living easier. In doing so, we want to make sure everything we do is sustainable, affordable and reusable.
It’s Rusabl
Our journey so far has only inspired us to embrace the process of eco-innovation and further persist in our quest to provide you with clean and greener solutions. The hiccups on the path and the opportunities we’ve been grateful to have, only built our vision more profoundly with a hankering to make sustainability a way of life and not a luxury. From bamboo toothbrushes to eco-friendly straws, we are trying to make daily essentials that can easily replace everyday plastic items. And one day, the little kid in us hopes that we will have replaced all the plastic there is! It’s going to be a fun journey. Tag along!
Sharing is caring and it is also resource saving.
So share our story with anyone you’d like to introduce us to and tag along on our journey. Let’s tell the world – if it’s sustainable and affordable, it’s Rusabl!