After starting my zero-waste journey I decided to swap out a lot of my houseware items for better quality, reusable, and longer lasting options. Right from the outset, silicone seemed like a great replacement for a lot of single-use plastic items around my home — especially in the kitchen. It seemed to be the default heat safe, food grade alternative to a lot of cheap plastic tools but if I’m being totally honest I didn’t know much about the material beyond that. I wondered Is silicone really safe … or even environmentally friendly?

There is a misconception that the zero waste lifestyle is fancy and expensive, but the truth is it isn’t fancy and it doesn’t have to be expensive. It is not fancy because the main idea to reuse as much as you can — so the jars you reuse might not all look the same. It doesn’t need to be expensive because you do not have to buy everything at once and once bought, you will not need to buy them again…

When I first started my zero waste journey there were really no zero-waste stores around me. So, I turned to Amazon. Not the best but I get it! Depending on where you live, you may or may not have access to local sustainable retailers…