Being Part of a Zero Waste Community
Do you believe in our mission to reduce single-use consumption and divert materials from the landfill?
My guess is you do or you wouldn’t be reading this.
I love when I tell someone where I work, and they respond “I Love Impact Earth!” I think what they are really saying is, “I love the earth and I want to be part of cleaning up our act.”
Many of us already know that Americans waste a lot of food and that approximately 21% of the waste in landfills is made up of food and organics– producing methane, instead of being composted into nutrient-rich soil, that could be used to grow new food.
When I reflect on all the lifestyle changes that our family has made to reduce our waste, diverting our food waste was one of the easiest for us. It simply involved putting our food scraps into a covered bucket rather than a trash bin and then ensuring these organics made it to a compost pile. This could be in our own backyard, returned to one of Impact Earth’s drop-off locations, or having it picked up. Any of these options allowed the food waste to become compost and had the added benefit of our garbage not smelling like rotten eggs (something you wouldn’t put into your backyard compost but Impact Earth will take it).
Reducing our family’s plastic consumption was harder to change because of our dependence on the manufacturers who produce our favorite products. Grocery shopping took longer as I stood in the aisle trying to decide if a package was destined for the landfill and feeling frustrated by the lack of non-plastic options. Even if the container could be reused or recycled, did I really want to accumulate that many?
Eliminating single-use products by buying larger amounts of items to package ourselves was low-hanging fruit for us. Easy to do unless the grandkids came for a visit and I was tempted to buy their favorite individually-packed applesauce. A snack they prefer over my homemade version. Low-hanging fruit for me to make my own applesauce–harder to pull off for overworked moms who have come to rely on the convenience of pre-packaged snacks.
What to do?
I ended up giving the grandkids an apple for lunch since it was convenient and had no packaging.
Still, all of us face dozens of choices a day that can feel overwhelming. If we believe in striving to reduce our consumption and divert materials from the landfill then it’s important to recognize that it’s a process. We may make better choices in one area and still have a long way to go in another. That’s okay, just remember to keep paying attention to what your household could improve and make a plan to do it.
It’s also helpful to be part of a community that supports and celebrates your success and not feel like a weirdo when you ask your family and friends to scrape their leftover pizza into a bucket.
No, you are not alone. Others are moving toward a low-waste lifestyle too.
Take a minute to reflect on some of the changes that you have already made.
What has been easy -your low-hanging fruit- and what has been more challenging that you wish you had more support to change? Your experience is connected to the larger zero-waste community and we would love to hear from you.
Share some of your thoughts by sending an email to: nancy@impactearthroc.com