Sustainability
The Sustainable Duo Returns: Zero Waste Living, Permaculture, and Vegan Pet Care
Brendan and Carly of The Sustainable Duo return for a deep dive into zero waste living, growing your own food through permaculture and food forests, and how they apply zero-waste principles to caring for their vegan rescue dog Pashi.
Topics Covered
- Redefining 'zero waste' as a personal, evolving practice rather than a rigid rulebook, including finding balance after early perfectionist burnout
- Sourcing secondhand and thrifted goods, food-waste liquidation stores, and the ethics of thrifted leather versus new vegan materials
- Growing food in small apartments: windowsill herbs, propagating cuttings for free through plant swap communities, and regrowing produce like garlic, celery, and green onions from scraps
- Permaculture and food forests explained, including companion planting for natural pest resistance (e.g., beautyberry planted next to kale)
- The debate over ethically-sourced fish waste (aquaponics) and rescued/found animals within a vegan framework
- Zero-waste vegan pet care for their dog Pashi: thrifted gear, reusable 'fresh patch' turf, composting food scraps into homemade dog food, and disposing of pet waste via flushable bamboo toilet paper
- Why growing food, not just avoiding plastic, is described as the number one way to live zero waste
About the Guest
Brendan and Carly are The Sustainable Duo, zero-waste and permaculture educators who run sustainableduo.com, offering ebooks, zero-waste kits, and resources on horticulture, hemp, and sustainable living. They previously appeared on the SoFlo Vegans Podcast discussing their origin story and zero-waste basics.
On this episode
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