đ How to be a zero hero đŚ¸
Why a zero-waste life (or even a low-waste one) isnât about perfection
Welcome to BRiMM, the collective, journal and planet-positive shop thatâs here to help you live a lower-impact life, without life feeling less
Before we get stuck into this weekâs newsletter, hereâs whatâs going on in the world of BRiMM:
Have you got your tickets for our Stitch & Bitch yet? Weâll be joined by the brilliant Orsola de Castro for an evening of chat and mending on Tuesday 23 September, 6.30pm at The Meeting House in Peckham, London. Get your tickets quick.
Thereâs still time to book on to our BRiMM + British Pasture Leather experiential Field Day programme, where we will explore regenerative agriculture and the positive impacts of local food, as well as tuck in to an excellent lunch. Itâs on Friday 10 October at Weston Park Farms in Hertfordshire. Buy your tickets now.
Plus, subscribe to this newsletter for free if you havenât already, to receive new posts, support our work and hear about all the exciting stuff.
This weekâs theme is⌠how to be a zero hero đŚ¸
Making planet-positive changes in our lives is a bit like opening a can of worms. Once you delve into the world of recycling, plastics, agriculture, fashion and everything else that humans do that impacts the environment, itâs easy to feel overwhelmed. Which is why this week, weâre asking you to give yourself a break.
Weâve just finished Zero Waste Week, and although we absolutely applaud the sentiment behind it, that word â zero â can feel unachievable. Even the amazing Japanese zero-waste town of Kamikatsu isnât 100% zero waste (more on that later), but itâs done enough to earn that impressive moniker nonetheless. So perhaps we should focus less on the word zero, and more on how we can lower our waste. For example:
How are your products packaged? According to Zero Waste Week, the average person in the UK throws away five times their own body weight in waste every year. And even if you think youâre doing a great job at recycling, do you really know what happens to all of that stuff youâve carefully cleaned and separated? A recent investigation found that 70% of soft plastics collected by supermarket recycling schemes ended up being incinerated rather than recycled. This is why we advocate for compostable packaging (meaning you could literally throw it on your own compost heap to decompose) as well as innovative materials made from seaweed, mushrooms and shells â read more about packaging on our Journal.
Reduce your food waste. Itâs estimated that one third of all the food produced in the world goes to waste and in turn, 6%-8% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are produced when it rots in landfill. It only takes the simplest of tweaks to your routine to save food, and a lot of it is just about being organised (hello, meal planning! We promise not to mention this every week). WWF has some great ideas and we love these zero-waste food tips from chefs, like making bowls from plantain peels.
Support brands making cool stuff from waste. We applaud the people taking what others would view as rubbish and turning it into something not only usable, but beautiful, too. Bag brands seem to be especially good at doing this â Elvis and Kresse has to date rescued 300 tonnes of disused fire hoses from the London Fire Brigade, while, Offkuttt uses upcycled rubber from the Isle of Wight Hovercraftâs skirt to make bags and accessories.
Weâve all heard the phrase reduce, reuse, recycle, but did you know that itâs written in that order for a reason? Recycling is great, but it is less energy intensive to reuse things, and even better to reduce the amount we consume in the first place. Being a zero hero isnât about reaching perfection, but if we all make small changes it can make a big difference.
Team up, tune in and letâs turn the tide,
BRiMM x
This week weâre thrilled to have an extract from the new book The Nature of Fashion by Carry Somers. Carry is a true trailblazer when it comes to planet-positive fashion, having co-founded Fashion Revolution, the worldâs largest fashion activism movement. This book explores whether plants hold the secret to the future of fashion because âfor thousands of years, our clothes have been made by working with nature, not against it. Fashion is at a turning point â to look forward, we need to look backâ.
Read our exclusive extract over on the Journal.
â DISCOVER MORE
Our Pantry Essentials Reset Boxes
We believe that small, everyday choices can have a big impact â especially when it comes to food. Our Pantry Essentials Reset Boxes are here to help you make delightful and easy swaps that are both better for your health and that of the planet.
Curated by Christabel Biella, former buyer at House of Fraser and a long-time foodie with experience at Farmdrop and Oddbox, this box is a handpicked edit of founder-led, flavour-first products that offer more than just great taste. Each item champions regenerative agriculture, circular packaging or waste-fighting brilliance.
Find out more about whatâs in our Pantry Essentials Reset Boxes (and why!) over on our Journal.
â SEE MORE
The BRiMM Life Questionnaire: Micaela Sharp
Micaela Sharp is an interior designer, upholsterer and broadcaster, whose creations celebrate colour, pattern and craftsmanship. With an online course and best-selling book sharing her knowledge and expertise about upholstery, she has a love of low-impact practices. She frequently hosts retreats at her home in the Malaga countryside; next year is her first luxury five-day creative retreat in Menorca. Micaela is a firm believer in living differently and going your own way in life.
Latest low-impact life reset
âI'm currently trying to collect as many seeds as possible, both from the garden and the organic food I buy, to plant next year.â
All-time top secondhand find
âI inherited most of my favourite vintage pieces from my nan. Her silk scarf from Liberty is one I treasure.â
Your planet-positive hero
âSydney Pierceyâs book Sustainable Play is the tip of the iceberg of genius ways she protects and respects our planet.â
Indie record store tip
âSadly I don't know anything about vinyl shopping but as I've now deleted Spotify it's on my list to start a small collection.â
Issue you care most about changing
âEnding the occupation of Palestine.â
A message youâd like to share with the collective
âWe all have the power to make change.â
The full interview with Micaela will be live on our Journal soon - in the meantime, check out our latest full Q&A with journalist Hannah Rochell.
FROM THE COLLECTIVE
A recent study found that nine out of 10 cosmetic products from 10 big brands contained microplastics. Sam found this read on the subject really insightful. Learn more about microplastics in beauty products over on our Journal.
Hannah spied Amy Powney wearing this Katharine Hamnett T-shirt to raise funds for child orphans in Gaza. Amy is passing the same T-shirt on to more people to raise awareness far and wide.
This book on happiness has been giving Matt joy â it explores how to find lasting happiness without relying on objects, situations and relationships
We love to hear what our collective is finding. Share your links with us in our Substack chat or send us an email
THIS WEEKâS LINK RECCOS
HOLD MY BEER!
Itâs been found that 44% of bread in the UK never gets eaten, so weâre here for the brewers taking stale loaves and transforming them into great drinks. Crumbs has so far saved a whopping 56,600 of artisan loaves from going to waste.
â GRAB A BREW
WASTE WONDERLAND
The small Japanese mountain town of Kamikatsu is the countryâs first zero-waste municipality. All residents drive their waste to the townâs recycling centre to be sorted, even sending anything thatâs still usable to the free onsite thrift store. Kamikatsu used to burn all of its waste (you could smell the smoke and burning plastics four miles away), but an effort to turn the tide in the â90s resulted in it achieving an 81% recycling rate by 2016. Impressive.
â FIND OUT MORE
LIDDLE BIT OF GENIUS
These brilliant bamboo lids from Pudding Pots fit perfectly onto the little glass GĂź jars weâve all been saving in the Tupperware drawer âin case they come in usefulâ. They transform them into air-tight pots, perfect for keeping anything from half a tub of hummus to a travel-sized amount of moisturiser. Simple, but very effective.
â BUY LIDS
SPAGHETTI ALLA NERANO
If youâve got the holiday blues, we recommend getting a late-summer fix with a big bowl of pasta. This recipe from Notorious Foodie is a taste of the Amalfi Coast. You will need:
400g baby zucchini (thinly sliced)
300g spaghetti
2 garlic cloves, gently smashed (skin on)
1x bunch fresh basil
2 dried peperoncino (or ½ fresh red chilli / ½ tsp chilli flakes)
Extra virgin olive oil
50g Provolone del Monaco
25g Parmigiano Reggiano
Sea salt & black pepper
Extra basil leaves to finish
For the full recipe, head to Notorious Foodie on Substack.
â MAKE ME
MUSIC FOR THE NEW SEASON
It might be too early for a 2025 round up⌠but, well, here one is. Jump in to hear some of the tracks our founder James has been enjoying so far.
The carbon footprint of an email depends what device you use to open it, but sending you this one used about 3.5g of carbon.
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