Zero Waste Soft Drinks

When it comes to living a less-wasteful lifestyle I am a huge believer that if having less waste forces you to give up the things you love then it isn't a truly sustainable lifestyle for you. That said, there are often times ways that we can reduce waste and still have the things we love. Take seltzer for instance. Kyle loves seltzer. Before I started on my journey of reducing waste, he used to buy 5-6 plastic bottles of seltzer at the grocery store each week to drink throughout the week. For awhile I had him switch to aluminum cans of seltzer since aluminum is a much more recyclable material than plastic is. But I still really felt the waste adding up. 

For his birthday last November I got Kyle a SodaStream machine! This allows you to carbonate your own water and then you can flavor it at home too. The machine comes with a reusable bottle and the carbonation canisters can be sent back to SodaStream to be refilled and reused. I thought this would be the perfect solution to our seltzer-waste problem. 

A great thing about the SodaSteam too is that when you bring your empty canister to Bed Bath and Beyond you get half off your purchase of a new canister, that really helps with the overall cost benefits too. And you know your canisters are being refilled and reused. 

In addition, the bottles of flavoring you can buy come overwhelmingly in glass, which is again much more recyclable than plastic is. We've really enjoyed trying out different SodaStream flavors to make the perfect at home seltzers. I also love that we don't need to buy 5-6 huge bottles that take up a ton of room in our fridge, we can just have a few small bottles of flavors on the door to make seltzer with whenever we want. 

I always like to say that the most sustainable option is the one you already have. And while that's true, sometimes the investment of an at home appliance etc. can really make living with less waste possible, even if they aren't being touted as "zero waste". That's not to say that everyone needs to go out and buy a SodaStream at all. For us, the investment was well worth it and we're coming up on a year of using it and still love it. Let me know in the comments below if you have a SodaStream at home and how you like it!