I’ve been saving my trash in a “plastic audit” since October of last year. Although I live a generally plastic-free lifestyle, 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. And at the end of each month, I take a look to see where I could 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). Normally, I do not include my family’s trash because I am not with them 24 hours a day. With COVID-19, I’m obviously around them all the time, but instead of change my audit for a month or two and have to revert back, I kept it as just my trash. Also, my husband is not as stringent on plastic as I am, so he buys whatever he wants and I don’t include it in my trash.

I do however save any trash generated from feeding my family meals at home. So, while I don’t drink milk (being basically lactose intolerant) my kids drink a lot of milk. So, the milk caps are technically trash that my kids generate but I add them to my trash since I decide what they eat at home.

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

While COVID-19 has caused my trash to increase compared to January and February, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. There were a lot of adjustments during the first weeks of the shelter-in-place order. Luckily, after a while, I figured a few ways I could continue to reduce my trash even given the new restrictions on groceries.

Week 1

Week 1 was a little disappointing. By then, it had been three weeks into a shelter-in-place order and you could really see the effects of COVID-19 on my trash.

I mentioned in Grocery Shopping During COVID-19, that in order to reduce exposure, I only went to a single grocery store and bought two weeks worth of food instead of one. Before going into the store, I put on a face mask, which was wrapped in plastic. Since I couldn’t get meat in my own container, I had to get meat wrapped in butcher paper, which is still lined with plastic. To make up for it, I made sure to get a few week’s worth and froze what I wasn’t planning to use that week.

Since the farmer’s market is closed, I had to get leafy greens at the store which come with plastic tags.

Also, since my kids are home all the time, I’m feeding them extra meals in which I wouldn’t normally. So, there has been more boxed mac and cheese (to conserve our fresh cheese) and frozen peas which my kids love.

WEEK 2

Week 2 was an improvement since I didn’t go to the grocery store. Instead, I used what I had bought the previous week. I finished some of the cheese I bought at the beginning of the shutdown and as a part of my “Spring Update” I bought two shirts online.

As I mentioned in The 5 Outfits I Wear to Work, I have a capsule wardrobe and I do an update in the Spring and Fall. Usually, it’s just a piece or two to replace items that are worn out, but more recently, I’ve been trying to replace the polyester in my closet with cotton. Polyester and other synthetic fibers are essentially plastic and when you wash them, little microfibers shed from your clothes and end up in the ocean. Super bummer.

WEEK 3

Week 3 was the best this month and it was also the week I saw a post by Bea Johnson, the mother of the zero waste movement, that got me inspired. She was being asked by reporters if she thought COVID-19 meant the end of the zero waste and if she’s changed any of her habits. She said that the virus had not changed her values and if anything it made her more determined.

Her determination made me more motivated to get to 0% plastic. As you see in Week 3, after I get my farmer’s market back, the remaining stuff is liquid-related. Bea takes her refillable containers to restaurants and stores to get olive oil and other sauces. I have a grocery store near me that sells bulk olive oil but since it was another store and my olive oil comes in glass bottle, which I can recycle, with a metal cap and plastic seal, it was never a high priority. When things get closer to normal, I’m going to make this a priority!

WEEK 4

During Week 4, I got a little smarter with my deli purchases. I had finished a bag of turkey I got at the deli, but when I went to the grocery store, I asked the deli clerk to wrap all my items in one sheet of butcher paper. So, I ordered 3 pounds of Cheddar cheese, 1 pound of Havarti cheese, 1/2 pound of Coppa and 1/2 pound of Prosciutto and they wrapped it in one package. This saved me from having four separate plastic bags or four separate pieces of butcher paper! When I get home, I transfer all the items to different Stasher bags or containers.

Biggest Takeaways

Overall, this month I learned that I could buy more meat during a single trip and freeze portions for other weeks. Also, I learned that I could order multiple things from the deli and just wrap it in one sheet of butcher paper.

But the biggest takeaway was that while I am disappointed in sudden loss of zero waste option, this month has made me even more determined to get to 0% plastic.

What do you think? Are you interested in doing a trash audit? Tell me in the comments!

For related and random posts, check out:

• Plastic-Free Tortillas
• Why “Green” Plastics Aren’t Any Better