The Big Weigh In

The key objective of this challenge is to determine the reduction in waste that our family of four can achieve after 52 weeks.  We will compare the amount of garbage that we create over a 2 week period at the start of the year versus the end of the year.

Our starting point is January 2nd, the day of our bi-weekly garbage pickup.  On the evening of January 1st, we weighed the garbage that we had generated during the previous two weeks.  The grand total:  14.1 lbs.

14.1 lbs. (6.4 kg) did not look like much, however, over 12 months this would represent 367 lbs (166 kg) or 92 lbs (42 kg) per person.  Over a lifetime, this represents approximately 6874 lbs (3121 kg) of waste.   Over 3000 kg that would end up in a landfill.  While I did not feel like opening the kitchen garbage bag, I know that it contained mostly non-recyclable packaging from food (extremely packaged Christmas chocolates) and other Christmas related materials.  There was also the cat litter for the last two weeks and various bathroom related waste.  Our daughters also cleaned up their rooms and there were old school supplies, jewelry and used makeup in their garbage. It is clear to me that I am going to have to become the garbage watchdog if I hope to reduce our waste significantly.   I can already hear the family collectively groan.

The plan is to implement a range of strategies to “Reduce Our Waste”:

• Reduce the amount of pre-packaged food that we purchase.  As we already compost, most of the garbage that we create is related to packaging for food.   40% of household waste is food scraps and we have already seen a significant reduction in waste just by composting.    With my heightened awareness, I see disposable packaging everywhere: mustard container, ketchup container, dish detergent, granola bar wrappers, cookie wrappers.  Thank goodness for unpackaged fruits and vegetables!   For week 1, I am concentrating on reducing the packaging in the kitchen.
• Experiment with producing our own products to avoid excess packaging.  I plan to make lip balm, deodorant, cream and soap as well learning about canning i.e. producing tomato sauce and jam so we don’t have to buy products in cans.
• Reduce the amount that we consume.  For me, this means buying less.  My main challenge is going to be not to purchase any clothing or shoes during the 52 week experiment.  I will admit it.  I am a diehard fashionista and I love to shop.  Since I know that I am subjecting my family to a hardship that they did not ask for, I thought that I should also give myself a stretch goal.  One of my stretch goals for this project is not to buy any clothes during the next 52 weeks.  When I announced this objective to my family, my husband just looked down and shook his head.  My daughters were equally skeptical.  My friend Marianne told me “Why don’t you try not shopping for 1 month?”  As a woman of extremes, 1 month of no shopping was not dramatic enough.  They call them stretch goals for a reason.   It can’t be too easy and it has to cause a change in the person.  They say it takes 21 days to change a habit.  Given my shopping addiction, I know that 21 days is definitely not enough.  Also, I need to walk the talk.  If reducing consumerism is one of my goals (and it is), shopping for clothes had to be out.  The fashion industry is one of the worst polluting industries.  There are over 10 million tons of fashion associated garbage produced each year.  Fast fashion is the worst offender.

Motivated (and credit card hidden away), I am ready to start the challenge!  My family, well, not so much but they will get on board, right?

Recommendation for the Week:  Weigh your garbage and see how you compare to the average American with 4.4 lbs per day.  Are you better or worse?  Each journey begins with a single step so no matter where you are, see what you can to be better.