It always strikes us as amusing how many DIY projects you see online that seem to require more time and more money than it would take to simply buy the thing they’re trying to DIY in the first place. Are we missing the point?
We think that doing things ourselves and taking back the power to create instead of simply consuming is absolutely vital to the green movement. But if you don’t already have the materials and spend a lot of money purchasing craft supplies, does it really make sense to DIY?
These eight projects are true do-it-yourself masterpieces. One-of-a-kind outdoor projects you can make for almost nothing, with supplies you most likely already have or can easily pick up second hand for a song. Roll up your sleeves and let’s get started!
1. Teapot/Teacup Bird Feeder
Do you have one of Grandma’s old tea sets lying around that doesn’t quite fit into the sleek modern aesthetic you’ve been cultivating? Put it to great use by feeding the birds in your area — in style.
Thrift stores are always awash in old china, so if you don’t already have the old tea set, consider going wild and spending a few bucks for this DIY delight. You’ll find blogger Dinah Wulf’s instructions for the teacup bird feeder at DIY Inspired.
Safety note: Use sturdy twine or cord — not chain — to hang the feeder. Birds can catch their toes in chain links, which causes serious injury. The National Audubon Society also recommends cleaning seed feeders every two weeks (more often in hot, humid weather) by scrubbing with soap and water and soaking in a 50-50 vinegar-water solution to prevent the spread of avian disease.
2. Gardening Tool Storage
What on earth do you do with those rusty-as-heck, old-school garden rakes hanging around your garage? Well, if you’re any sort of DIY genius, you press them into service as a gardening tool holder.
The original inspiration for this project came from Beth Logan at Artstuff Ltd., whose blog has since gone offline. For a current walkthrough, see the Repurposed Rake Tool Rack tutorial at DIY n Crafts (project #14 in their roundup of 25 ways to reuse old garden tools). The concept is embarrassingly simple — remove the rake handle, mount the head tines-out on a fence or garage wall, and use the tines themselves as hooks for trowels, gloves, and pruners — but eye-catching enough to make you look like a DIY pro.
3. Bottle Tree
Do you like wine? No, I mean do you really like wine? Do you want a reason to drink more of it? And does your garden need a cute border? This sustainable, upcycled garden border may be just the project for you. You might have to expand your drinking list to include bottles of various shapes, sizes, and colors — but variety is the spice of life.
When friends ask how you managed to collect so many bottles, just laugh gaily and then distract them with your dainty teacup bird feeder. The bottle tree tradition itself runs deep — Mississippi garden writer Felder Rushing traces the practice back through African American Southern folk art and, by his own research, as far as ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. See his bottle tree gallery and history for inspiration, or jump straight to his how-to guide for building one out of a cedar snag, rebar, or just about anything else.
4. Colorful Outdoor “Tiles”
If your backyard isn’t perfectly landscaped and manicured, with an impeccably tiled “outdoor living space,” don’t despair. You can use up all those half-empty paint cans and create a Pinterest-worthy colorful backdrop for evenings spent clustered around a fire or barbecue.
Pop a few coats of paint on cement tiles and you have a one-of-a-kind flooring solution. If you rent, the same effect could be achieved on a more temporary basis by letting the kids go wild with sidewalk chalk and create a mosaic masterpiece. Check out Elsie’s Painted Patio Tiles at A Beautiful Mess for the back story on this DIY idea. (Heads up: the original author noted she had to touch up the paint each spring in Missouri winters — a porch and patio floor enamel will hold up better than wall paint.)
5. Home Sweet Gnome
Okay, this one might be the least practical idea of the bunch, but that may be why I love it oh so much. If you have a stump in your backyard and you’re not willing or able to pay the truly insane amount it costs to have it ground down and removed, how about making it into a little gnome home? This is the perfect outdoor project if you have small children in your life.
Construct the trappings of a little house — door, windows, winding garden path — from found objects or natural materials, and affix them to the stump. Bonus points if you don’t tell the kids about this particular DIY project and allow them to simply stumble upon it one day in the garden. My mind would have been blown if I had come across one of these as a seven-year-old. For a step-by-step build, see this Gnome Tree Stump Home tutorial on Instructables.
Safety note: Don’t use an angle grinder to gouge windows or doors into a stump. Use a chisel and mallet for shallow detail work, or attach decorative pieces (driftwood, bark, polymer clay) to the outside instead.
6. Mosaic Stepping Stones from Broken China
Every household eventually accumulates a small graveyard of chipped mugs, a single survivor from a four-piece dinner set, or a beloved teapot with a hairline crack. Rather than tossing them — broken ceramics generally aren’t accepted in curbside recycling — embed them in concrete stepping stones for a garden path that’s genuinely one of a kind.
This pairs beautifully with the teacup project above: any teacups that don’t make it past Project #1 (you will break a few) can come back as paving. The DIY mosaic stepping stones tutorial at Gardening.org walks through the full process — breaking ceramics safely inside a drop cloth, sizing pieces to half-inch to one-inch fragments, pressing them into wet concrete, and sealing the surface so sharp edges don’t cause injury underfoot. Basic mold options include an old cake pan, a plastic plant saucer, or a purpose-built stepping stone form from a craft store.
Safety note: Wear safety glasses and heavy gloves when breaking ceramics. Once cured, run a finger over the surface to check for protruding edges and file or sand any down before placing the stone where bare feet might land.
7. Vertical Pallet Herb Garden
Shipping pallets are one of the world’s most abundant near-free materials. Small businesses, garden centers, and feed stores often have stacks of them out back, and asking politely beats the alternative of seeing them landfilled. Mounted vertically against a sunny wall or fence, a pallet becomes a stacked planter that holds enough herbs to keep a kitchen in basil, thyme, parsley, and chives all season.
Grit Magazine published a clear how-to for a vertical pallet planter — line the back and sides with landscape fabric or heavy plastic to hold soil, fill through the slats, and plant each gap as its own row. The gaps act as natural divisions, so different herbs don’t fight for the same root space.
Safety note: Use only heat-treated pallets for anything edible. Look for the IPPC stamp with the letters HT (heat treated) and avoid any stamped MB (methyl bromide — a fumigant restricted under the Montreal Protocol). Unstamped pallets are unknowns; skip them for food crops. The same heat-treated pallets are fine for ornamental flowers either way.
8. Punched Tin Can Lanterns
Steel food cans — soup, tomato, coffee — are one of the most recyclable materials on Earth, but the recycling-then-buying-something-decorative loop has plenty of slack in it. With nothing more than a hammer, a few nails of varying sizes, and the freezer, an empty can becomes an outdoor lantern that throws constellation patterns across a patio at dusk.
HGTV’s tin can lantern tutorial covers the trick that makes this project work: fill the can with water and freeze it solid before punching, so the ice supports the can wall and prevents denting. Sketch your pattern on paper, tape it to the frozen can, punch through with a nail at each marked dot, and let the ice thaw. Drop in a battery tealight (much safer outdoors than a real flame) and group them along a walkway or down the center of an outdoor table.
The Point of All This
None of these projects requires you to buy more than a tube of waterproof adhesive, a bag of concrete, or maybe a stepping stone mold. The materials — chipped china, leftover wine bottles, empty cans, a forgotten pallet, an old rake — are already in your house or someone else’s. That’s the point. The greenest project is the one that uses what already exists, and the best part is that yours will look like nobody else’s.
Editor’s Note: This article, originally authored by Madeleine Somerville on June 17, 2015, was updated with corrected links and new ideas in May 2026.
The post Outdoor Projects You Can DIY for Almost Nothing appeared first on Earth911.
https://earth911.com/diy/outdoor-projects-you-can-diy-for-almost-nothing/
Microplastics are one of those topics that can make you want to throw your hands in the air.
Because once you start looking, they’re everywhere.
They’re in our air, our water and even new born babies. And, they seem to come from everywhere like food packaging, bottled water, synthetic clothing, household dust, cutting boards, takeout containers, and our clothes.
I’ve spent more than a decade talking about ways to reduce plastic exposure, but it’s not something that can be wholly avoided. Winnow reached out to me to learn more about their science and give their product a try.
Winnow is a daily probiotic designed for gut support, but with an added purpose: it uses probiotic strains selected for their ability to bind microplastics in preclinical testing.
(And I want to be very clear: I do not think any supplement is a magic solution to plastic pollution. I don’t think a capsule replaces reducing plastic exposure, better regulation, safer materials, or holding companies accountable for the amount of plastic they produce.)
But the science is so cool, and a useful tool for the world we’re actually living in.
So in this post, we’re going to talk about what winnow is, how microplastic-binding probiotics are supposed to work, what the science says, and the everyday swaps I’d still prioritize if you’re trying to reduce your microplastic exposure.
This post is sponsored by winnow. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
what is winnow?
Winnow is a daily probiotic designed to support gut health, with an added focus on helping bind ingested microplastics in the gut.
The formula uses probiotic strains selected for digestive support, along with strains studied for their ability to attach to certain microplastic particles in preclinical testing.
Winnow is also completely plastic-free with all of their packaging!
how does it work?
Winnow is a daily probiotic for gut health with microplastic-binding science built in.
The team set out to make a high-quality probiotic, something many people already take every day for digestive support, but through their research they found that certain probiotic strains also showed the ability to bind microplastic particles in preclinical testing.
Winnow chose the best strains for both gut health support and microplastic-binding potential. Which resulted in an encompassing probiotic with daily gut support and targeted strains designed to help bind ingested microplastics and move them through the digestive tract.
what does the science say?
Winnow’s formula is built on two different layers of research: clinically studied probiotic strains for gut health, and preclinical testing on microplastic binding.
On the probiotic side, winnow uses strains with existing human research behind them. According to winnow, its clinical backbone includes L. rhamnosus ATCC 53103, L. reuteri DSM 17938, and L. acidophilus ATCC SD5212. These strains have been studied for digestive comfort, regularity, immune support, gut barrier support, and related health endpoints.
The microplastic-binding side is newer.
Winnow describes the mechanism as surface adsorption, meaning plastic particles physically adhere to the surface of the probiotic bacteria as they move through the intestinal tract. The company points to bacterial surface structures like exopolysaccharides, also called EPS, and S-layer proteins as possible binding sites.
In winnow’s internal testing, binding varied widely by strain and by plastic type. That matters because “probiotic” is not one thing. Different strains can behave very differently.
Winnow states that its full multi-strain formula bound 1.8x more of a blended plastic mix than any single strain alone.
Winnow tested binding across common plastic polymers, including PE, PP, PS, PET, PVC, and a blended plastic mix. According to the data published on winnow’s science page, the full winnow formula outperformed the average single strain in every category tested:
There is also peer-reviewed research looking at this broader concept. A 2025 study screened 784 bacterial strains and identified specific probiotic strains with strong microplastic adsorption potential. In animal testing, those strains increased microplastic excretion and reduced plastic accumulation in intestinal tissue.
So the current science is split into two categories: the gut-health side of probiotics has human clinical research behind several of Winnow’s strains, while the microplastic-binding side is still preclinical.
my experience trying winnow:
Before trying winnow, I was taking Seed, so I was already used to taking a daily probiotic. Winnow feels very comparable to me. It’s a premium probiotic with similar price point and easy to take daily. The main difference is that winnow is completely plastic-free and has the added microplastic-binding science built in.
I like the idea of choosing a probiotic that supports gut health and also addresses something I care a lot about: plastic exposure.
I’ve been traveling more for work this year, and travel always messes up my routines – different food, different schedule, different sleep, different everything. And taking daily probiotic helps keep that part of my routine consistent.
I eat a pretty high-fiber diet, which is already important for gut health, but I still like having a probiotic as another layer of support and even better to help with microplastic exposure.
who is winnow right for?
Winnow makes the most sense for people who already take a daily probiotic, or are thinking about adding one, and want the added microplastic-binding science.
They also have an exposure quiz on their site, which I thought was helpful. It looks at everyday habits like bottled water, takeout, food storage, synthetic clothing, and other common plastic exposure points.
I scored pretty low, which makes sense after more than a decade of living zero waste, but that’s where winnow fits: a premium daily probiotic first, with an added layer that lines up with the same reason I started reducing plastic in the first place – less exposure, better health, and saving money where I can.
faqs: winnow and microplastics
can probiotics remove microplastics from the body?
Some preclinical research suggests certain probiotic strains can bind microplastic particles in the gut and increase excretion.
does winnow remove microplastics?
Winnow is designed to bind to microplastics in the gut so they can pass through normal digestion. The gut-health side of the formula uses clinically studied probiotic strains, while the microplastic-binding side is based on preclinical and internal lab testing.
what is the best probiotic for microplastics?
The research suggests strain selection matters. Not all probiotics bind plastic the same way. Winnow was specifically formulated as a daily probiotic with strains selected for gut health and microplastic-binding potential.
how can I reduce microplastics in my body?
Start by reducing repeated exposure: don’t heat food in plastic, avoid bottled water when possible, use glass or stainless steel for food storage, switch from heavily scratched plastic cutting boards, filter your water, dust and vacuum regularly, and eat more minimally packaged foods when realistic.
is winnow worth it?
Winnow makes the most sense if you already take a daily probiotic or want to add one. It’s a premium probiotic at a similar price point to other high-end probiotics, with plastic-free packaging and added microplastic-binding science.
So, would you give Winnow a try? Let me know in the comments!
And, a huge thank you to Winnow for sponsoring this post. Be sure to visit Winnowlabs.com to learn more about their microplastic binding probiotic.
The post Winnow Review: A Probiotic That Binds Microplastics appeared first on Going Zero Waste.
Green Living
Best of Sustainability In Your Ear: Terraformation CEO Yishan Wong On Reforesting 3 Billion Acres
Read a transcript of this episode. Subscribe to receive transcripts by email.
Most Silicon Valley CEOs who cash out their stock options start another tech company. Yishan Wong planted trees instead. After helping build PayPal, Facebook, and serving as Reddit’s CEO, Wong concluded that humanity’s biggest challenge wouldn’t be solved with algorithms or network effects—it would be solved by restoring the planet’s forests at an unprecedented scale. Mitch Ratcliffe sits down with Wong to discuss Terraformation, the company he founded in 2020 with an audacious mission: restore 3 billion acres of native forest worldwide—an area larger than the entire United States. Planting a trillion trees isn’t just about seeds in the ground. It’s about solving bottlenecks like funding gaps that leave 95% of qualified forestry teams without resources, seed shortages, lack of infrastructure and technology, gaps in tracking and verification. Terraformation built a support system that includes modular seed banks, solar-powered nurseries, open source forest management software, which is called Terraware and a seed to carbon forest accelerator that’s modeled on tech startup accelerators. Since founding Terraformation, Yishan has enabled the planting of over 4.7 million trees across 394 species, established 19 seed banks and 21 nurseries and created more than 798 jobs.
“We made Terraware not because this is the most genius piece of technology that will change the world,” Yishan explains. “We said, hey, let’s just help forestry teams achieve certain basic necessary activities.” Unlike commercial timber plantations that prioritize fast-growing monocultures, Terraformation focuses on biodiverse native forests. Native tree species can support an order of magnitude more life than non-native species because they’ve co-evolved over millions of years. “Trees are the anchor species for a forest ecosystem,” he added. “What you’re doing is you’re growing trees as the anchor species so that all of the other life in that forest ecosystem comes back.”
Terraformation recently won the Keeling Curve Prize and the G20’s RestorLife Award. The company also received recognition at the Global Sustainability Awards, winning SME Company of the Year. Yishan explains why a former Reddit CEO believes in low tech solutions that are the right approach to climate change, how Silicon Valley’s lessons about scaling systems could apply to reforestation and what it takes to build an organization designed to be replicated rather than defended. You can learn more about the company at Terraformation.com.
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Editor’s Note: This episode originally aired on November 3, 2025.
The post Best of Sustainability In Your Ear: Terraformation CEO Yishan Wong On Reforesting 3 Billion Acres appeared first on Earth911.
https://earth911.com/podcast/sustainability-in-your-ear-terraformation-ceo-yishan-wong-on-reforesting-3-billion-acres/
Your bedroom is a sanctuary but there are toxic chemicals lurking in our furniture that can keep it from being a true safe haven. This guide to sustainable and non-toxic nightstands is here to help you check one to-do off of your list in creating a toxin-free bedroom.
Note that this guide contains affiliate links. As always we only feature companies that might rigorous standards for sustainability that we love, and that we think you’ll love too!
What is a Non-Toxic Nightstand?
There’s a lot to look out for with non-toxic furniture, which I’ve covered in detail in that article. For this guide we’re focusing on nightstands, which are primarily made with wood or engineered wood. So I will focus on what to watch out for with wood furniture.
Solid Wood Nightstands
When possible, prioritize solid wood for a non-toxic nightstand because many composite woods (though not all) are made with adhesives that contain formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.
With nightstands, even if the nightstand is solid wood, the drawers are frequently made with composite wood. If this is the case, ensure that it is free of formaldehyde and other toxic substances.
Zero VOC or Low VOC Finishes
Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, include a variety of chemicals (such as formaldehyde). Some of these VOCs can be extremely toxic and harmful to our health, including another known human carcinogen, benzene. The EPA reports that VOCs are up to 10x higher indoors than outdoors, due to products we bring into our homes such as paints, building and furniture materials, and wood preservatives.
When it comes to wood products like nightstands, pay special attention to the finishes used on these pieces. Although wood is a natural material, it can still be finished with toxic chemicals.
Pure linseed oil — an oil made from flaxseeds — is a commonly used non-toxic finish.
What is a Sustainable Nightstand?
Again we’ll focus on wood here since most nightstands are made with wood (or composite wood) and typically do not contain any cushioning or fabrics.
Responsibly Sourced Wood
While wood is a natural renewable material, deforestation is a driver of climate change and biodiversity loss. Plus forests can help stem the effects of the third element in our triple planetary crisis, pollution.
When looking for sustainable wood nightstands, look for:
- Upcycled and repurposed wood
- Wood from reforestation projects
- Traceable, local (or at least domestic) wood
- FSC-Certified wood (though I would be remiss not to note that the FSC is far from perfect as a certifier)
Locally Made
When it comes to bulky, heavy objects like furniture, domestic production is a higher priority on my list when determining sustainability. Transportation is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions so the less a piece of furniture has to travel to get to me, the better.
In my case, this means made in the US. (I only know of one furniture company made in my state.)
Many sustainable American-made furniture companies even have their own furniture workshops, for maximum traceability, high social standards, and quality assurance.
Secondhand Nightstands
When it comes to sustainability, it’s hard to beat secondhand. This is furniture that already exists and may even be otherwise headed to a landfill. I’ve written in depth about my top picks for buying and selling secondhand furniture.
I’ll summarize it though as:
- Apps like OfferUp and Facebook Marketplace (I’ve had the most luck with those two)
- In-person options like furniture resale stores and at estate sales (the former is more curated, the latter might have better deals)
- Online secondhand furniture marketplaces like AptDeco
Are secondhand nightstands non-toxic? Typically, no, given that the majority of furniture in general is not made with healthy materials. However if furniture is used it has likely off-gassed significantly already so there will be fewer fumes compared with buying that same piece new.
Be sure to check that the secondhand nightstand has come from a smoke-free home (and pet-free if you have allergies).
Where to Find Sustainable and Non-Toxic Nightstands
Feeling overwhelmed by everything there is to look for in a non-toxic or eco-friendly bedside table? I feel ya! That’s why I’ve done the hours of research and digging for you to curate the best of the best in non-toxic and sustainable nightstands.
You’ll find highlights of each company as well as other important information alongside each brand or retailer.
1. Medley
Crafted in the US by a production team with over 170 years of combined experience, Medley’s sustainable nightstands are built to last — the furniture frames even come with a lifetime warranty.
Medley’s expert team of furniture craftspeople make each of their bedside tables with FSC-certified solid walnut or maple for the tops, sides, and drawer(s). For the rest, Medley uses low-VOC CARB 2 compliant maple or walnut hardwood plywood to keep the nightstands light but sturdy.
Conscious Qualities: Zero and Low VOC Finishes, FSC-Certified Wood, USA-Made
Price: $745 – $1295
2. Copeland @ Urban Natural
Copeland crafts transitional furniture made with exceptional attention to quality in Vermont from hardwood sourced from the American Northern Forest. The company also uses renewable electricity from their own on-site solar array.
And Copeland’s standard finish for their products is a GREENGUARD Certified for low chemical emissions.
Conscious Qualities: Locally Sourced Solid Wood, GREENGUARD Certified Finish, Heirloom Quality, USA-Made
Price: $240 – $2205
3. Thuma
Modern, simple, and available in four different finishes, Thuma’s upcycled rubberwood nightstands are versatile storage furnishings that complement a range of interior design styles.
These sophisticated nightstands can be available to ship in just 1-3 days and arrive fully constructed, no assembly required.
Conscious Qualities: Upcycled Solid Wood, GREENGUARD Gold Certified
Price: $445
4. Avocado
Made with solid maple or walnut in their own FSC-certified woodshop in Los Angeles, Avocado’s nightstands are sustainably made to last. The nightstands even come with a 10-year warranty.
Avocado seals the nightstands with a zero-VOC stain and while plywood is used for the drawers, the maple wood option is formaldehyde-free verified by UL Environment.
Conscious Qualities: Zero VOC Stain, GREENGUARD Gold Certified, FSC-Certified, In-House Production
Price: from $249
5. Healthier Homes
Founded by “healthy home builders” Rusty and Jen, Healthier Homes curates furnishings without the toxins rampant in modern-day mass produced furniture.
Choose from the solid mango wood Playa End Table (pictured here) finished with a low VOC finish or the solid wood Mindi Wood Bedside Table finished with a water-based low VOC finish.
Conscious Qualities: Solid Wood, Low VOC Finishes, Sustainable Furnishings Council Member
Price: $695 – $869
6. GRAYN @ Urban Natural
GRAYN brings timeless design and expert craftsmanship to sustainable furniture. Handcrafted in Bradford, Vermont, GRAYN’s nightstands embody the brand’s mission to create purposeful, long-lasting pieces.
Crafted from ethically-sourced solid oak, GRAYN’s furniture showcases natural variations in wood color and pattern, celebrating its unique character. Each piece is finished with a GREENGUARD certified clear coating for non-toxic durability.
Conscious Qualities: Ethically-Sourced Solid Oak, GREENGUARD Certified Finishes, USA Made
Price: $1589 – $2179
7. Maple Corner Woodworks @ Urban Natural
Building quality furniture with classic designs, Maple Corner Woodworks furniture is built to the highest standards.
MCW’s solid wood nightstands are made in Vermont by skilled woodworkers using responsibly-harvested cherry, maple, or walnut hardwood.
Conscious Qualities: Solid Wood, USA-Made, Exceptional Craftsmanship
Price: $1629+
More Furniture Guides:
11 Best Eco-Friendly and Non-Toxic Beds for a Sound Sleep
15 Non-Toxic Furniture Companies for a Healthier Home
Top 10 American-Made Furniture Brands Prioritizing Quality Over Quantity
The post 7 Best Places for Sustainable and Non-Toxic Nightstands (2026) appeared first on Conscious Life & Style.
7 Best Places for Sustainable and Non-Toxic Nightstands (2026)
Winnow Review: A Probiotic That Binds Microplastics
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