I made it through an entire month and didn’t even fill a single grocery bag with trash.
How cool is that?
Even though I don’t think the average household can reduce their packaging 100%, I still think it’s pretty amazing how many resources are out there if we just take a few extra minutes each day to look around. Even just being super conscious about my waste over this month, I’ve realized how I just totally take for granted that I can toss something right into the bin without a second thought.
On a larger scale, companies like WeFood in Denmark are opening their doors to anyone interested in reducing food waste. They contract with a large grocery store chain and other smaller suppliers to take food that would otherwise be tossed and sell it at deeply discounted rates {like 30%-50%}. Seriously, if someone told me I could save that much on my groceries, I would totally be all over it.
Then, there is Original Unverpackt {literally translated as “Original Unpackaged”} in Germany. It’s a grocery store with ZERO packaging. Everything comes in the form of bulk bins {you must have to bring your own bag} and loosely packaged items. There are no brand names–just real, whole food with zero waste. Rad.
Personally, I think cancelling my garbage service and having to actually think about how I was going to dispose of things made me more conscious about what I bought {food wise} and what I threw away. Simple things, like reusing plastic bags {the raisin bag} to hold trash would have never really occurred to to me before.
Since I won’t have garbage service this year at all, I plan to continue trying to keep our waste at a minimum. Did any of you challenge yourself to an almost zero-waste home? What did you learn? Did you pick up any valuable tips?
~Mavis
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UpstateNYer says
What will you do with the items you must actually dispose of, if you are ridding yourself of garbage pick up?
Mavis Butterfield says
So far I’ve been tossing my garbage down my mom’s garbage chute. It hasn’t been much though. So far I haven’t come across anything big.
Joanna says
This challenge of yours has made me think of my garbage differently too. We pay for garbage service, but it’s through the city so we can’t cancel it. But I’ve begun to throw all kinds things into recycling that I didn’t before since I didn’t bother to double check if it could actually go into recycling instead of the garbage, Yesterday’s discovery: plastic bread bags can!
Chris says
I get my garbage serviced through the city. On weeks that we don’t have a full bin (most of them) when the weather is right (cold), we don’t even run the bins down. It doesn’t save us any money, but might save the city some pennies.
Wren says
I have been gradually shrinking my trash output over time. As I get used to/create one trashless alternative (or accumulate enough reuseable things to replace disposables without running out), I find a new area to tackle. The biggest part of my trash is cat litter, which isn’t going to change. But I’ve been doing the packaging-as-trash-bag thing for years. In the eight+ years I’ve lived in my apartment, I’ve bought one small box of the smallest size trash bags as backup. I still have one in there. Usually I use the cat kibble bag, or the toilet paper bag, or things like that. For scooping the litter box, a potato chip bag, or other food packaging usually does the trick. I know this path is not for everyone, but often I see other peoples’ trash output and wince! There are just so many painless ways to use less.
One of my tips would be that I get my cat litter by bringing the empty bucket to Petco where you can refill from a big bulk bin (plus it’s cheaper except for a hella good rare sale on anything prepackaged). Another would be that I have gone “no poo” (read: diluted baking soda for shampoo and diluted vinegar for conditioner), which saves a ton of money, eliminates all those plastic bottles, and my hair is happier to boot. My third very generic tip would be to get crafty! Probably my favorite upcycle project is my shoulder bag – made out of my old brownie girl scout uniform. 🙂
Karen says
I am so impressed by your commitment to zero waste. And I’m so jealous of the recycling opportunities you have in your city. I live on a small island and in order for us to recycle we have to drive our recyclables to a recycling center in town. Our recycling program only accepts mixed papers and cardboard, glass and #1 plastics.
But your experiment has pushed me to further commit myself and my family to be better at recycling and especially to be more aware of the products that I buy that are not recyclable, like yogurt containers.
Deborah says
Yogurt containers are a number 5. There are places that take them. One place that I know of and use is Whole Foods. I don’t live close to one, but go by one about 40 miles away about once a month. We save up our yogurt containers and other #5s and take them on that trip. Whole Foods also takes wine bottle corks (the real cork ones).
Andrea says
I lived in a similar town. I hated throwing out all of that plastic so I switched how I shopped. Instead of buying detergent in large plastic jugs, I made my own from baking soda and baking powder which are sold in cardboard boxes which I could recycle. I bought large glass applesauce jars and divided them into smaller portions for the kids lunches since I couldn’t recycle the plastic individual portions sold by the grocery store. Buying from the bulk foods store helps save on packaging too.
Debbi Atkinson says
Very impressed. You have really made us aware of our waste and ways to improve. Thank you.
kc says
since you started doing this, i have found that i am thinking more about packaging, waste, and how i dispose of everyday items. I am finding that i am starting to do the “right” thing without even thinking about it. Thanks for the gentle nudge in the right direction!
Terri says
When I lived in the city of Seattle my garbage “can” was a small black box. Sometimes I didn’t even fill that.
Now we are south of the city and have a can that has an insert – so we can only fill half of the cart and rarely fill that. We recycle and compost most. Will could still do better.
Christine says
I started using bamboo kitty litter- it’s biodegradable and I have started composting it in a seperate bin from my regular composting. I could use it in my vegetable garden but I think I will just use it on the flower garden when it’s ready.
Melissa says
I saw 2 items that could be reused in the pic above of what was trash. That was the toothbrushes. They can be used as cleaning brushes to get into small areas to get into cracks and crevasses. “Google” uses for old toothbrushes and you can find loads of things to use them for. Other than that You are doing awesome I reuse or recycle everything I can and compost what can be composted and try to eliminate excess waste. Reusing jars for left over instead of plastic. We are trying to eliminate most plastic from our lives as well.
Emily says
This is very inspiring. I have not been actively trying to go zero waste, but a few years ago my family and I really made an effort to actively recycle. We recycle plastics, cans, paper, magazines, and cardboard. Much of the junk mail and other papers we burn. (We live just outside city limits so we are able to do this.) We immediately noticed a huge difference and cut our trash by 75%! We use a trash service and tried to get a once per month pick up, but a once per week pick up is not offered. We save our newspapers and give them to a local pet shop for bedding. Our township offers recycling and a monthly clean up for larger items. We only put in a little effort and it’s made a big difference!