Welcome back to Sustainable Saturday! I hope the last installment gave you some more insight on the importance of recycling and how easy it can be.
This week I want to focus on reducing waste. Our society has become a very “disposable” culture: when we’re done with something, it goes in the bin and then it’s out of sight, out of mind. However, when something goes in the bin then hauled away by the garbage truck, it doesn’t disappear. Often, waste is hauled to a landfill, where it will sit for (literally) hundreds of years.
Landfills work like huge trash compactors: trash is dumped on top of more trash, and it’s crushed to make space for more. In this environment, nothing breaks down. Not even organic matter like food scraps and yard trimmings. The average American contributes just over 1,600 pounds of waste per year to their local landfill. That’s a lot of trash!
So let’s talk about some easy swaps we can make to reduce our landfill input. The place we trash the most is the kitchen and the bathroom, so let’s focus on what we can do to reduce waste in these areas.
- Paper towels
How many rolls of paper towels do you use in a week? A month? We buy them just to throw them away with a very short usable life. Additionally, after they’re been used to soak up your juice spill or clean your counter tops, they can no longer be recycled.
The solution: use cloth rags
I’m sure you have old stained t-shirts or towels lying around; simply cut them into desired sizes. Mine are about the size of a washcloth with a few cut larger for cleaning. I use them just like paper towels: to dry my hands, clean up spills, clean around my home (often with a vinegar + water mix to cut down on buying a bunch of different cleaners). You can even buy “un-paper towels” which are cloths connected by snaps that you roll up, to give you the feeling of using paper towels. It may make the switch easier on change-resistant families. Just wash after each use and they’ll last you for quite some time. You may have to go through periodically and trash a few rags when they’ve become especially worn, but for example I just had to toss a few for the first time, I’ve been using them for about 8 months.
*TIP: I also use my towels and rags on the end of my original Swiffer to clean my floors and use a damp rag for dusting.
2. Product packaging
Product packaging includes boxes, bags, and wrapping that your food comes in. Not only processed foods like cereal and canned food, but bagged fruit and vegetables as well. While this may be convenient, and some of the materials can be recycled, there are many parts that have to go to landfill because they’re mixed materials or food-soiled. It’s also been found that we eat 31% more packaged than fresh food(1) so cutting back on this packaging may help you even eat more healthfully.
The solution: buying loose / bulk
Find a farmers market for the best deals on loose produce. It’s always fresh and you can get just what you need. Farmers market items are often more locally sourced, reducing the carbon emissions of a cross-country transport. Remember to bring your own bag!
Additionally, locate a local bulk-foods store or find a grocery store with bulk bins. when you bring your own canisters or bags, this can reduce packaging on many of the staples in your home. We visit our bulk store for beans, rice, flour, coffee, and a lot of other goodies (we can never get out without a few ounces of bulk candy!).
And ditch meal-delivery services— opt for a cookbook and a trip to the grocery store.
3. Disposable plates and cutlery
These items have to be the bane of my existence. We have evolved from using these items at the occasional large gathering to some of us using them as standard dinnerware– this includes when we order takeout, with “..82 percent doing so at least once every two weeks.” While I totally understand that not everyone has the energy, patience, or skill to prepare a home-cooked meal every night, there are plenty of alternatives to ordering Styrofoam-packed dumplings every Friday night.
related: study finds schools save money when using reusable over disposable
Solution A: Eat in
Whether you pick up or get it delivered, a car still has to drive from point A to point B, so why not take a little longer and eat-in at the restaurant of your choosing? You can use their re-usable plates and cutlery, and bonus points if you bring your own food storage container for the leftovers. You can even ask for a ceramic mug at Starbucks if you have 20 minutes to sit and drink your coffee.
Solution B: Visit the thrift store
If you entertain a lot, using disposables every time can really fill up your trash can. Your local thrift store has stacks and stacks of plates, bowls, cups, and cutlery for rock bottom prices. We have a whole set of plates and cutlery for 16 people on top of the set of 4 we have for every day use. And I know what you’re thinking: yes, you have to do dishes. But water is continually cleaned and reused, unlike polystyrene plates.
Solution C: Cook large
If you don’t have time to cook often, make large batches of food to last for several days, or freeze it for another time. This way, you prep once then can eat multiple times. Since I usually only cook for my partner and me, I make enough for four or six.
These steps may seem quite big to someone just starting out, but may be baby steps for someone else. If you’d like to make a bigger impact in reducing your waste, try these:
- Cloth diapers
Babies go through so many diapers, and they take hundreds of years to naturally biodegrade. Cloth diapering isn’t only a great option for the environment, but also for your baby: many mothers I’ve talked to report less diaper rash. I understand though that some daycare facilities refuse to cloth diaper, and it may be difficult to do while out and about. Even if you just use cloth at home, it can still make a big impact in reducing your overall waste.
- Family cloth
There are more and more people reducing waste by opting out of toilet tissue. Instead, they have what’s socially called family cloth to wipe– from what I’ve read, the family doesn’t share the same cloth (each family member may have a different print or color to differentiate). However, this works best if you invest in a bidet for doing the dirty work, so to speak.
Even if you try one of these options, every little bit counts in reducing waste and our carbon footprint.
Let me know about your experience or other waste reducing lifestyle changes in the comments!
Melissa Pegley 