Day 264: zero waste day

Woohoo! We did it.

One whole day. No trash. I really was not sure that it would be possible but not one thing made it to our trashcan today. I did compost a few things that probably would have gone in trash on a regular day; a piece of string and my dryer lint, although I may start composting that all the time.

The hardest part for me was when Sam asked to do projects and snack time.

Sam always wants to do stickers, paints, or other creative projects when Avery goes down for her nap. Most days I jump all over this and we spend a ton of the afternoon being creative. But today I knew that these activities usually create some kind of waste (back of stickers that can't be reycled, plastic wrap around specialty stickers, empty paint containers, etc.) so I told her that we couldn't. Instead we had to do puzzles, read, play blocks and other simple activities. Just changed our routine a little bit.

And snack time was another issue. My girls LOVE the Quaker rice cake snacks. These come in a non-recyclable plastic bag. Since we were trying to stay away from non-recyclable of reusable containers today I opted not to let the girls have these. Sam was a little disappointed but then I told her that they could each have their OWN apple and she perked right up. Normally I don't give them each their own because they inevitably can't finish it and food waste results but today I made the exception; one form of waste for the other really.

The one thing that I noticed is that even though TODAY we did not throw anything away tomorrow there will still be waste. I know we will play Chutes and Ladders tomorrow (the new game from Pawpaw and Grandma) which has plastic wrap around it), eat rice cake snacks, craft and my toothpaste tube will probably run out tomorrow as well. Waste. Lots of waste.

So, I guess it isn't really fair that I can claim today to be waste free becuase even though I made choices to avoid the waste today I didn't make the changes to prevent it in the future. It is still in our house and will have to be used and thrown out at some point.

BUT tonight at Trader Joes I paid way more attention to what I was buying, what kind of container it came in and what I would/could do with that container. Which means that I am calling this experiment a success. I learned. I changed behaviors today and gained a greater understanding for my habits. I will make wiser choices in the future!

SO, how did you do? Would love to check in on the other's that were participating so join up in the linky below and let me know. OR if you don't have a blog PLEASE leave a comment with a waste reduction tip, habit or product that you have learned about. I would love to hear how other's reduce their waste.

 

Comments

[Nature Trails and Nature Tales]

will write post later and link up! we had waste just a plastic bag black beans came in, a tea bag wrapper and coffee filter with used grounds (I need to start composting really bad).

That is awesome on your zero waste day. :) I knew you could do it!

I've never been to trader joes wish we had one near by.

[gina]

I'll post later. I failed miserably but I did learn some new things that I can recycle that I hadn't thought about before. And posting about that might make one person recycle a little bit more, so it will be worth it.

[Angee]

I think this is wonderful. You've definitely made me look at our waste a different way. I hope you do it again (once I'm composting). I gave you a shout out on the blog today because I love the concept.

[Nikole]

I think bringing a conscious focus to each purchased item with the thought to how to reduce waste is so commendable. Some things might be worth the packaging (like favorite kid snacks. They won't be little forever) but to make the better decision consciously for each item can make a huge difference, and once it becomes a habit it doesn't seem so difficult. Thanks for sharing your zero waste day story, it's helping to renew my intentions on this matter. (I have gotten a bit lazy with this with baby no.3)although our recycling bin and compost still outweigh our garbage production, we could be doing better.

[mrs green @myzerowaste.com]

Fantastic achievement to accumulate zero waste for a day - well done!

I think it's totally fair that you claim the day a complete success. A zero waste lifestyle can't take place overnight and your day showed you areas in which you need to make changes.

Most importantly you wrote "tonight at Trader Joes I paid way more attention to what I was buying, what kind of container it came in and what I would/could do with that container." These are the seeds from which future success can grow and even if you have a day with rice cakes paper, some craft waste and a toothpaste tube, that's still awesome for a day!

Celebrate the successes :)