What I Learned From Saving My Trash for a Month
I live as plastic-free as I can, but I’m not perfect. And like everything else in life, there’s always room for improvement! The best way to improve is to measure the current status.
So, a few weeks ago, I started a project to collect my trash in a sort of “plastic audit”. Now, I don’t generate a whole lot of trash to start with, but for all the items that could not be composted or recycled (i.e. plastic) I kept in a small container on my kitchen counter.
Some caveats: this is just the trash I generate myself because I’m not around my kids or husband 24 hours a day. I am however, responsible for the food I feed my children at home. So, while I don’t drink milk, my kids drink milk and I purchase it for them. So, any trash generated from their consumption of milk, and other similar items, are included.
So, here it is, all my trash for the month of October:
Everything fit into an Amazon bubble mailer bag! I break down the items week by week and share what I learned.
Week 1 Lesson – Seasonal Produce at The Farmer’s Market
Week 1 went relatively well. Amazon packaging can be a crap shoot. Sometimes I get a box with some paper filling, other times I get bubble mailers. I try to find the items I need in local stores first but it’s nearly impossible to keep the kind of inventory Amazon has in a physical store, so I end up purchasing items on Amazon.
If you want plastic-free Amazon packages, sign my petition!
Starting from the top the items are:
- Amazon Bubble Bag
- Candy Cane Wrapper
- Plastic Window on Pasta Box
- Plastic Twist Tie on Kale
- Milk and Cream Caps
I had some left-over candy canes and I like to stir them into my hot chocolate. This served as a great reminder to start looking for plastic-free candy cane options for the holiday season.
I have no idea why they still have plastic windows on pasta boxes, people know what pasta looks like. Even though it is a relatively small piece of plastic, it has motivated me to start making my own pasta regularly. I’ve done this occasionally and it is delicious…but it takes a little time.
We go through a lot of milk in my house. Luckily, I can find milk in a glass bottle. I return the bottles to the store to get my deposit back and the dairy washes and refills the bottles.
After realizing the twist tie on my store-bought kale was plastic, I switched to buying kale at the farmer’s market instead. The biggest takeaway from week 1 was that I can avoid this plastic twist tie by changing where I buy my vegetables. I also switched to baby kale, which the farmer normally puts in plastic bags, but I dump it in my own cloth produce bag and they reuse the plastic bag.
I give more tips about shopping at the Farmer’s Market in “Simple Guide to Plastic-Free Grocery Shopping“.
While the twist tie might seems small in comparison to the Amazon mailer bag and the milk caps, there is an easy alternative for how I can purchase Kale. For now, there’s no completely plastic-free way for me to purchase milk and no way to dictate to Amazon that I would like a plastic-free package. So, I do what I can and that’s what this exercise (and blog) is about–finding plastic-free alternatives to one item at a time and making the switch.
Week 2 Lesson – Shop Local Businesses
- Plastic Bags from Clothes Order Online
- Three Egg Souffle Dishes
- Bulk Loose-Leaf Tea
- Travel Contact Lens Cleaner
- Wine Bottle Cork
- Twist Ties
- Yeast Packet
- Produce stickers
- Milk Caps
Week 2 was after my daughter’s birthday party. (Read more in “Plastic-Free Birthday Parties for Kids“.) With a little bit better planning I could have avoided the eggs souffle dishes and went with a savory breakfast option that didn’t require a dish. Note for next time!
As the seasons change, I find there’s always one or two items of clothing I need for myself and always for my growing children. Oftentimes, stores are limited on sizes or selection of organic cotton clothing, so while I always try the stores first, I end up having to finish my orders online. When clothes are shipped to the store, they are not individually wrapped but for some reason when they are shipped to a customer they are. This is an infuriating amount of waste to individually wrap each item of clothing but I’ve yet to find another solution.
There are also some organic clothing brands I love and cannot find in a store such as Pact.
I order loose leaf tea online and it comes in a large foil lined bag. It feels like paper on the outside and it has multiple layers, so I’m assuming one of them is plastic. This is a better option than tea bags which can release a billion microplastics particles in your tea, but it reminded me that I need to start searching for tea in bulk bins. I only drink organic decaf tea so it’s important to me that a plastic-free option is also organic decaf.
For some reason I bought a travel sized bottle of specialized contact lens cleaner instead of a regular sized bottle. I was thinking I wouldn’t use it that often, so a smaller bottle should work. This is so out of character for me that I’m calling this one a brain fart.
As real cork is becoming rarer, most wine bottle corks are made of plastic. This was a great reminder for me to see if some of my local wineries will allow growlers refills for wine.
I’ve seen yeast at Costco but I’m not 100% sure it’s the right kind, but again, a great reminder of something to put on my list.
Biggest takeaways from week 2 are that I need to start bringing refillable containers to local businesses to get tea and wine.
Week 3 Lesson – Don’t Let Nostalgia Sell You on Things You’ve Given Up
- Deli Liner
- Chip Bag
- Milk Caps
- Candy Wrapper
- Pasta Window
- Sticker and Hang Tag from a New Sweater
Even though I get blocks of cheese at the deli and wrap it in beeswax wrap, I sometimes still get the plastic deli liner the employee uses to separate the cheese from the scale. This is inevitable since they use this to keep the scale clean.
The toughest part about plastic-free living is that I’ve essentially given up sour cream and cheddar chips. I LOVE cheese flavored chips. Just typing this now is making my mouth water. So, when there was an event at work with a mountain of chip bags, I caved. And while I thought it would be wonderful and glorious after all this time, it was sadly disappointing.
I remember reading that food companies develop formulas for their cheese powders, so that you experience an instantaneous and then fleeting burst of flavor. In other words, it’s a rush of flavor that leaves just as quickly as it came. So, you keep eating more. I feel like when I was growing up the flavor lingered longer and even tasted better or maybe that’s just nostalgia clouding my memory. Having eaten this bag of chips and now saving it for this project, was a good deterrent for future lapses. The disappointment was so great, I think that’s the last bag I’ll have for a long time.
The mango flavored high-chew on the other hand was worth every flavorful bite. After Halloween, I saw a post about TerraCycle accepting chip bags and candy wrappers. So, I might sneak a few more pieces of my kids’ Halloween candy before this project is over.
I realize that the stickers that show the sizes on clothes are convenient but there must be a better way to show the sizes of folded clothes without a plastic sticker. Just like the tiny plastic stickers on fruit at the grocery store. There must be a better way.
Biggest takeaway from Week 3 was that sometimes when nostalgia brings you back to something you’ve given up, it reminds you that the memories might be good, but you left it for a reason. (Definitely applicable to exes too…just saying)
Week 4 Lesson – Simplify
- Frozen Green Peas
- Tub of Ricotta
- Milk Caps
- Candy Wrappers
- Yeast Packet
- Plastic Label on Mozzarella Chunk
- Top of a Bag of Coffee Beans
- Cheese Packet for Boxed Mac and Cheese
I’m sure it’s no surprise that being a parent is a tough job. My kids love mac and cheese (and so do I) but I always make sure there’s at least one vegetable with every lunch or dinner. My kids love frozen peas and peas have a short window at my farmer’s market. And while I normally make mac and cheese from scratch for my kids, there are some days I need to make some that can be reheated later, and fresh mac and cheese never reheats well.
I use ricotta when I make a homemade white-style pizza (garlic olive oil sauce base, ricotta, and mozzarella). But in doing this project I realized that my pizza would be just as good without it. If I change my mind, I know how to make ricotta from scratch.
The biggest takeaway for Week 4 is that I can reduce waste by simplifying my meal and getting rid of extra ingredients.
Biggest Takeaways
This plastic audit was a great reminder of areas where I can improve. It also taught me a few lessons:
- Buy all seasonal fruits and vegetables at the farmer’s market. No plastic and it supports local farmers.
- Search local business for bulk items like loose leaf tea and wine. They are more likely to say yes to your own container and again, you’re supporting local businesses.
- Don’t let nostalgia pull you back into a bad product (or person).
- Keep it simple. Some things can be omitted.
My list of items to try to find completely plastic-free or in a larger size:
- loose leaf organic decaf tea
- wine
- peas
- yeast
What do you think? Are you interested in keeping your trash for perhaps a week to see what you will learn? If you do, report back with your findings! I’d love to know what surprised you.
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