I’ve been saving my trash in a “plastic audit” since October of 2019. I live a generally plastic-free lifestyle but I’m not 100% plastic-free…yet. So, to see where the last 1% of my trash was coming from, I started keeping track of all of it. At the end of each month, I look to see where I can improve.

A few reminders of the rules. This is just my trash not my whole family’s (although they don’t generate too much more than this). My husband is not as stringent on plastic as I am, so he buys a weekly tub of yogurt and occasionally some bacon. But again, my husband and kids don’t generate too much more trash than me.

Finally, the city I live in provides compost and recycling along with trash pick-up. Now, given the state of recycling, I only recycle metal, glass, and paper. This generally includes 4 cans of tuna a month, a few glass jars or olives or mustard with metal lids, and junk mail. But even so, I try to reduce the amount of metal, glass, and paper we use.

So, now that we’ve covered the ground rules, let’s dive in! Here’s all my trash for the month of March!

The only anomaly for this month was that I was sick for nearly the whole month with the flu. The first two weeks were terrible with cold chills and a pounding headache. And then the next two weeks I just had a lingering cough. But during those first two weeks, I had no appetite and when I did, the instant Ramen I have saved for emergencies sounded like the best thing!

Overall, I’m stoked! This is probably my smallest trash pile yet! And it’s such a huge difference compared to March 2020:

Looking back at last year’s trash, I have gotten rid of so many items or found plastic-free solutions for them! This is great news considering this is the entire purpose of my trash audits.

Compared to last year, these are the things I stopped buying:

• Milk
• Frozen Vegetables
• Yogurt in Glass Jars

These are the things I’m consciously trying to reduce:

• Online Orders

Finally, these are the items I’ve been able to find plastic-free replacements for:

• Dish Soap
• Leafy Greens

For the dish soap, I’ve found a few different solutions online. I first started by getting refills from the Good Fill which is a refill store in Nashville, Tennessee. They send you refills in a reusable pouch and a return mailer. When I got the pouch, I dumped the soap into a mason jar and then put the pouch into the return envelope. Then, I just dropped it in the mail. When the company gets the pouch back, they wash and then reuse it!

I’ve also ordered from the Refill Shoppe in Ventura, California. But recently, the Wally Shop has started carrying dish soap. And since I already buy a number of bulk items from them, it made sense to get dish soap there too!

The Wally Shop is an online zero waste bulk store. They send you goods in a reusable containers in a reusable tote. When you get your shipment, you dump the goods into your own containers and then drop off the tote at your local UPS store. I talk more about my experience in this post:

The other item I replaced was leafy greens. March 2020 was the beginning of the shutdown for the pandemic, so my farmer’s market was closed. Now that it’s back open, I try to get most of my produce at the farmer’s market, especially the ones that normally come with plastic tags.

What do you think? Are you interested in doing a plastic audit? If not for a whole month, how about a week or even a day? You never know what you’ll learn!

For related and random posts, check out:

• All My Trash for 2020
• Plastic-Free Food Containers for Kids