Buzznut The Bee

30/12/2022

A neighbourhood clean up before we say goodbye to 2022. Way too many pieces of litter on Butchulla Country (Fraser Coast Regional Council) but we did our best in 45 mins. McDonald's branded litter yet again the most common items - at least 51 cups and 42 whole lids were collected 😔 A few syringes too - remember to be safe when collecting litter, use gloves where possible and only pick up syringes if it's safe to do so and dispose in a sharps container (we got ours from Clean Up Australia).

And even though we've been quiet on socials recently we really appreciate everyone who has supported us this year, especially Ali from Ten Little Pieces and our awesome family and friends. During the year the Buzznut ecofund has proudly donated to -
Plastic Free July
School Strike 4 Climate
Australian Youth Climate Coalition
Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network
Australian Parents for Climate Action Fraser Coast group

Thanks to everyone who has made this possible.

Bee kind and do what you can to take care of our amazing environment. See you next year,
Iluka and Bianca 💚🌏

01/08/2022

Thanks to everyone who supported our Plastic Free July raffle. Together we raised $257 for the Plastic Free Foundation 🥰 Plus we've got some bottles abd cans to cash in and add to this total 💚

Winners were drawn today - congratulations to the following people who have won prizes
Gabrielle
Emma
Melinda
Jess
Jan
Glynis
Amber
Leigh
Zali
Liz
Jabari
Scout

We'll be in touch with details of your prizes during the week.

Thanks again,
Iluka & Bianca 💚🌏💙🌊

31/07/2022

Today is National Tree Day 💚🌳

Our day started at the community tree planting hosted by Fraser Coast Regional Council

It was great to be amongst lots of families and environment program volunteers getting our hands dirty and helping to restore our local environment.

We've been involved in plantings at this same site a few times now. We went for a walk through an area we helped plant a few years ago and it's so nice to see the difference this has made. Creating habitat for for animals, providing food for bees and giving cool shady spaces for us to rest in away from the heat of the sun.

Trees are important, they are a part of us - we need the oxygen they produce and the capacity they have to store carbon.

Bee kind and speak up, stand up for the trees,
Iluka & Bianca 💚🌏🌳

Planet Ark

28/07/2022

Want to learn more about reducing plastic and making a contribution to your community and our world? Here are some great ideas...

Day 29! 💡An important part of reducing plastic waste is gaining knowledge and sharing with others.

Movie nights, book clubs, podcasts, blogs, community meetups, craft nights, there are lots of different ways people are learning more about plastic pollution issues and solutions.

Another big way people are learning more is through social media. Here are 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐀 𝐅𝐄𝐖 of the changemakers that are helping end plastic waste and making a difference around the world.

𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐓!

Authors:
📚Waste Not—Erin Rhoads The Rogue Ginger
📚A Zero Waste Life: in thirty days—Anita Vandyke Rocket Science
📚The Zero-Waste Chef: Plant-Forward Recipes and Tips for a Sustainable Kitchen and Planet—Anne-Marie Bonneau -Waste Chef
📚Don’t Be Trashy—Tara McKenna tara_mindful

Organisations:
🌏 , global alliance working toward a world free of plastic pollution
🌏 Free From Plastic , global movement envisioning a future free from plastic pollution
🌏 Plastic Free SEA , stopping plastic pollution at the source
🌏 Plastic Soup Foundation , leading advocacy group tackling plastic pollution
🌏 The Story of Stuff Project , award-winning animated movies and encouraging civic engagement
🌏 Surfers Against Sewage , galvanising communities and inspiring people to protect coastlines
🌏 Habits of Waste , changemakers via Systemic Solutions
🌏 -Seas social enterprise tackling the plastic pollution crisis by driving new policy
🌏 Eco Femme , Social enterprise making organic washable cloth pads & nappies

Illustrators:
🎨 Brenna Quinlan
🎨 Eco with Em
🎨 Aware Animals

Discover more on our website: https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/plastic-free-network/

𝐓𝐚𝐠 𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫, 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫, 𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞!

28/07/2022

Hey, did you know there's only 3 days left to grab some tickets in our Plastic Free July raffle?

A big thanks to all our friends and family who have bought tickets and / or made donations so far. We'd love to sell at another 25 tickets before Sunday night.

Here are a couple of extra prizes we've added to the list -
✅ DIY Cup of Chai kit - contains a cute pottery mug that feels great to hold, 2 reusable muslin teabags, a 6 serve jar of organic black chai tea, a 4 serve jar of peppermint leaf and a small jar of local raw honey.
✅ 101 Small Ways to Change the World - a great book by Lonely Planet Kids.

Other prizes are in the comments below.

Tickets are available until 8pm Sunday 31st July. All proceeds will be donated to the Plastic Free Foundation. This fundraising is not affliated with Facebook.

Thanks for your support,
Iluka & Bianca 💚🌏🙏

27/07/2022

This is a really great post - please read and share!!

Every bit of plastic ever made is still out there somewhere. Even the stuff that's been recycled.

It's so hard to be completely plastic-free, but it's not about having a meltdown at the supermarket (we've all been there, right?). It's about doing the best that we can, and striving to do better than the day before.

It's such a complex thing. The discounted veggies at my store are always bagged in plastic, but as a dumpster diver I can tell you that that veg would otherwise go to landfill (the dumpster at this shop is always commendably empty). By keeping things in perspective, those 30 small plastic bags used each day to cut their food waste issue are nothing when compared to the packaged convenience items in the rest of the supermarket. Those other products (I'm talking deli meats, crackers, tiny serves of kids yogurt, bags within bags of cookies) are often more processed, less healthy and more expensive than their bulk or raw alternatives.

Even at the bulk store there's plastic hiding behind the scenes. But it's so empowering to cut out what you can. I haven't touched a takeaway coffee cup in about 6 years, I quit disposable period products 10 years ago, and I cannot remember the last time I bought a new item of clothing...I think it was in 2010. My pantry is full of big jars with staples from the bulk store, and my fridge is full of unpackaged veggies, home made condiments, and my own water kefir. Instead of packaged cereal I roll my own oats and make granola with whole nuts and seeds, I bottle my own pasta sauce once a year (made from tomatoes...that's it!), and i make a big batch of crackers once a month so I've always got snacks at hand.

When you do come home with plastic, see it as a piece of the puzzle that's yet to be solved, as an opportunity to be taken hold of. It's amazing the progress that this attitude can lead to.

What pieces of the plastic free puzzle are you still struggling with? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

27/07/2022

Today was just the day for a plastic free, healing tea 🥰

Did you know that choosing to make your own tea and warming drinks from fresh, locally grown ingredients or loose leaf, dried ingredients purchased from bulk stores is another great way to reduce plastic in your life?

Conventional tea bags often come in plastic packaging and the individual tea bags are often bleached and contain microplastics (especially those fancy pyramid tea bags).

Today's brew contained fresh lemon myrtle and rosemary leaves from the garden, fresh turmeric and lemon from a friends garden, raw local honey and fresh grated ginger. Zero waste, delicious and very soothing on a sore throat.

We also love to brew tea from the amazing selection of bulk loose leaf options Replenish Refill using resuable muslin teabags, an old teapot or a Thermos.

And because we love loose, plastic free tea we've added a "DIY cup of chai" kit as a prize in our Plastic Free July raffle (think cute pottery mug, 2 reusable muslin tea bags, and 3 small travel sized, refillable jars containing organic black chai tea, organic peppermint leaf and raw, local honey). Tickets are available until Sunday 31st July.

Do you like your tea local, loose and plastic free?
We'd love to know your favourite combos
💚🌏🙏

24/07/2022

DIY Plastic Free Body Products ✅

One of the ways we have been able to reduce plastic use and waste from our daily life is by making our own body products over the years. We mostly create them from food grade ingredients purchased in bulk.

If you have the following items in your pantry you can replace so many store bought skin care products:
- honey
- olive / macadamia / coconut oil
- sea salt
- rolled oats
- coffee beans
- sugar
- cacao butter
- beeswax
- diatomaceous earth / bentonite clay
- spirulina, turmeric powders
- castille soap

Here are some of our favourites ideas to reduce many plastic containers and packaging from the bathroom -
- two ingredient body butter using cacao butter and coconut / olive / macadamia oil
- body butter hearts for lip balm, hand and foot massage
- coconut / olive / macadamia oil for massage and skin nourishment
- coconut oil for oil pulling
- rolled oats as a gentle exfoliant (just mix with a little water)
- rolled oats placed in a stocking or thin sock also make a lovely body wash / soap alternative (this was the "soap" for the first few years of Iluka's life)
- DIY foaming face cleanser made with castille soap and water
- coffee, sugar and oil body scrub (using leftover coffee grinds from homemade coffee)
- DIY masks using powdered clays or diatomaceous earth
- sea salt foot soak with fresh rosemary
- sea salt mouthwash
- DIY deodorant paste (see our previous post on this).

Most of these take less than 10 minutes to make, they feel great on your skin, they create much less waste than store bought, pre-packaged products and will save you heaps of $$ too. We buy our bulk ingredients locally from Replenish Refill and Go Natural Foods

Stay tuned for some of our funky face mask options in the coming days!!

What's your favourite DIY skin care tip to share with us this Plastic Free July?

Bee kind to your skin and to our planet,
Bianca & Iluka 💚🌏💙🌊

20/07/2022

Plastic free snacks!!!

One of our intentions for Plastic Free July this year is to step up on our food preparation and organisation. Our family has always had a focus on homemade meals and snacks. Convenience and packaged foods creep in more at times when we're busy, disorganised and as "tastes" have changed - but that comes with extra single use plastic that we want to avoid 🤔

Here are some of our favourite "plastic free" snacks - great for school, work, picnics and camping.

All these recipes can be made from bulk refill and home grown ingredients available where we live.

Our favourite place for bulk baking and making supplies is Go Natural Foods, local oils from Replenish Refill, the local markets are a great place for fresh fruit and veg and we love all the homegrown fresh produce shared with us by friends (look how vibrant that coriander pesto is!!).

What are your favourite plastic free snack ideas?

Bee kind and choose plastic free when you can,
Iluka & Bianca 💚🌏💙🌊

18/07/2022

Our Plastic Free July raffle tickets will be available today, Thursday and next Tuesday

A great place to find plastic free options and have some inspiring conversations 💚🌏🙏

18/07/2022

Participating in Plastic Free July always inspires us to try new things. So on the weekend when my deodorant was just about I decided it was finally time to try DIY deodorant.

We love No Pong and have used this for years - it's a great plastic free option but we've ended up with a collection of empty tins waiting to be reused.

The best thing about this recipe was it only took 10 mins to fill 6 tins (and refill a couple of plastic sample pots we've saved from landfill along the way) - that would usually cost us $50-60.

The other thing that was so satisfying is that we had everything we needed in the pantry and bathroom. Coconut oil, shea butter, beeswax, bicarb soda, arrowroot flour and some essential oils are now transformed thanks to a great recipe from Krissy Ballinger (Naturally Inspired book) 😊

I also like to have days when I don't use deodorant, and days when a simple body powder suffices (another easy one to make). Keeping underarm hair trimmed (or removed if you prefer) seems to help too in the humid climate we live in.

What are your favourite plastic free deodorant options?

💚 Bianca

17/07/2022

67 signatures are still needed! Stop Varroa super Spreading at the Almonds