Waste Not, Want Not. Moving Toward Zero.

Some one from the Waste Authority called me recently to inquire how it was possible that our household of eight produces just 20 gallons of trash every other week.  They were perplexed that such a big household could produce so little waste. They thought perhaps we were working really hard at reducing our waste. I think that it’s maybe just plain laziness. Nobody here wants to bring the trash can down the 300 foot, 25% grade driveway. No one wants to jump up and down on the garbage to pack it in. Not making garbage in the first place just seems easier to all of us.

But how to do that?

We start with a lot of avoiding.  We don’t buy individually wrapped packages, things packaged in non-recyclable materials, nor things we don’t need.  Before things are purchased they have to pass a list of criteria that includes need, possibilities of reuse or compost, or recyclability.  It’s even better if we can buy the item used and bring it home in our own bag.

Recently a friend and I had lunch together. She and I both had salad and a drink. She’d bought hers at Trader Joe’s which came in a plastic box, with a plastic container of dressing, a plastic fork, a paper napkin, and a plastic bag of croutons. I picked my salad from my winter garden, put it in my Pyrex dish and brought a lemon from a neighbor’s tree to squeeze on it. I had a cloth napkin in my Ecolunch bag.  She had a can of Coke, I had my cup that I keep at work and made myself some tea with the mint from the garden.  At the end of lunch she had a pile of things that she needed to recycle or throw in the trash, while I had nothing at all to throw away.  She was appalled at the pile of trash in front of her.

Paper products were a tough thing to give up at first, because it seemed so easy to just toss the dishes instead of washing them.  After a big party however, it was clear to me that if my guests’ plates and forks weren’t going to fit in my trash can then they probably weren’t going to fit in the landfill either.  There really isn’t an “away” that we’re throwing things to. Our stuff is  going to be there. Some of it forever.  I had the amazing realization after a trip to IKEA that I could by porcelain plates for just .75 cents each (which is actually less per plate than Chinette disposable plates!)  and a sixteen piece set of steel cutlery for $2.00.  Now when we have big parties we just haul out our IKEA ware and have a washing wrap up afterward.  It doesn’t really take all that much time, no more time actually than stomping down the can did.

Other paper products, we realized could be avoided in much the same way. For instance,we use cloth napkins, handkerchiefs, cloth kitchen wipes, and microfiber dust rags.  Toilet paper is still paper, of course, but it’s 100% post consumer recycled. The TP tubes get donated to preschools for craft projects. Reusable water bottles and coffee cups seemed like an obvious choice.

Our food waste at home feeds our flock of chickens and our yard waste gets composted or chipped to decompose in place.

It's really about reducing and reusing before we have to recycle, let alone toss. Everyone in the house is aware of what goes into the trash can and will haul things out if someone makes a mistake.*gasp* We’re not at zero waste like the family of four in Sunset Magazine recently. For now however, every item that goes in the trash gets a second look.

When I explained all of this to the caller from Waste Authority she gasped, “Gosh, if everyone did this we’d be out of business!”  Sad, really, that their business is dependent on our needless waste.

Find out more about waste reduction during the Lafayette Reservoir Run at Sustainable Lafayette’s Booth.