She makes toothpaste herself, she buys cheese with a Tupperware jar, oatmeal comes out of the squeeze: Olga Kroll and her family lead a life without rubbish. In the reader's column "Voices", the 31-year-old tells what her "zero waste" everyday life looks like – and why she doesn't even use toilet paper anymore.
It's 6.45 a.m. and the alarm goes off. I pound into the bathroom and first go to the toilet. Then I rinse myself clean with our "bottom shower" and dry myself with one of the personal washcloths hung up next to it. Still half asleep, I trudge on to the sink. I fill my tooth cup with water, first dip the natural fiber bristles of my wooden toothbrush into the water, then into the tooth powder and finally into my mouth. The minty sweet taste of this new creation refreshes me and my teeth feel sparkling clean again.
In the meantime Gregor has thrown the three children out of their beds and we'll meet again in the kitchen. He is currently filling the coffee grinder with beans from the little cloth bag we always open with in the coffee roastery. I squeeze fresh breakfast cereals with the flake crusher. The oats from the large Ruhr glass slowly empties. In the storage room I reach for one of the 25-kilogram sacks of grain that are stored there, fill the glass again and keep squeezing. There are also sliced apples, a pinch of cinnamon and boiling water, which allows the oats to swell really nicely. If desired, everyone can add nuts, dried fruits and chocolate lentils to their mix. For the children it is also welcome to have some milk or yoghurt from the deposit bottle, sometimes in the cereal bowl, sometimes next to it.
It hurt to give up
After the cereal, the school sandwiches are made. I coat the slices with what the children would say delicious butter from a wire jar. This moment regularly delights me because we haven't had any butter for a long time. While all other dairy products are available in returnable glasses or bottles, the butter is still in aluminum paper in the refrigerated counter. It hurt not to buy throwaway aluminum but even more.
One afternoon at the cinema with the kids, our twins' best friend told me the secret of making butter and that there is actually no secret. Back at home I immediately got the bottle with the cream from the refrigerator and started beating. Seven minutes later I had homemade butter. Since then, there have been no more hanging faces when it comes to the choice of topping on bread. Homemade jam from the last harvest season tastes really good with butter.
When all the children are out of the house, we swing ourselves in the shower. The shelf with the body care products has recently been adorned with the labels "Hair Soap" and "Body Soap" so that the children do not confuse anything. In wet hair, I rub the hair soap over the scalp until a stable foam is formed and distribute it just like the shampoo from the plastic bottle once did. I use the body soap to lather the hairy areas. I pick up the heavy safety razor and make short work of it. The razor blade has been in it for a month now – maybe I should change it soon. After showering, I dry off the fittings because I don't really enjoy scrubbing away annoying lime stains. A little coconut oil is used for dry winter skin and everything is smooth again.
Suddenly I remember: Wasn't that freshly ground coffee in the coffee grinder ?! In the kitchen I see that the small espresso machine is already on the stove. Gregor is sitting in the study and is hardworking and I also start up my computer. It's time for a new blog post. How about the recipe for the homemade butter? The article is ready, but we urgently need new cream for the butter – and the photos on my blog.
I pack the rucksack with an empty egg carton, a handful of cloth bags and a large, resealable can and get on my bike. When I arrive at our favorite health food store, I put fruit and vegetables in the cloth bags or put them loosely in the basket. At the cheese counter, I get a piece of Gouda in the Tupperware box. In the refrigerated counter, I grab the milk and cream in the deposit bottle and fill the egg carton with loose eggs.
There is still toilet paper for guests
Back home, the children will soon be home from school and the apartment will be filled with life. Neighborhood children come and go, doors are thrown open and slammed shut, children here and there. I put the work of concentration aside and watch four teenagers disappear into the bathroom and only come out after a while giggling. It looks like a new experience with the butt shower. We haven't had it very long and it keeps causing a stir. There is still toilet paper for guests and the children, to whom we want to give free choice. But the attraction of the unfamiliar shower is too great for the little ones.
For dinner there is pan-fried vegetables made from loosely purchased vegetables, rice from the 25-kilogram discount paper sack and fried tofu from our own production. Then calm slowly returns, the children go to bed and at some point, as always, much too late, so do we.
Before going to bed, I brush my teeth again with the tooth powder and some dental floss. I go into the kitchen and open the cupboard door under the sink for the first time today, where our trash cans are. I throw the used dental floss into the toilet paper packaging that has been converted into a garbage bag and smile inwardly because I haven't taken the trash down for weeks.