Thoughts on One Year of Reduce our Waste Living

Happy New Year!  My family and I have survived  our 52 week challenge of reduce our waste living, and no one was (really) hurt in the process.  The following outlines some of my key observations and learnings this past year:

I was actually able to resist shopping for a year.

Despite the skeptics (including myself), I did not shop for clothes or shoes for the entire year.  And if a shopaholic like me can do it, anyone can.  While it was difficult in the beginning, now it has become a habit and I no longer think about shopping.  In fact, I wonder how I used to have time to shop.  My daughter asked me what I was going to buy now that the challenge was “over”.  At this point, there is still nothing that I “need”, with the exception of socks and stockings.  Earlier in the year, I made a list of what I was going to buy when the year was over.  Now, I no longer care about it.  I am more interested in saving my money so that I can live life the way I want to and not be obliged to work just for money.

Less Stuff has made me happier

Adopting a simplified, more minimalist lifestyle has made a lot happier.   I never realized how much stuff was weighing me down and ultimately adding stress to my life.  Having space, in my cupboards and house, is a true luxury and brings me a sense of calm.

Our way of life has been irrevocably changed.

Going into this, I did not expect that I would make long lasting changes in my life.  However, adopting a reduce our waste lifestyle led to a lot of changes.  We buy most of our food in bulk or unpackaged.  We eat vegetarian 3 or 4 times per week.  We buy less stuff. Life is simpler.

We make a lot less waste. 

Being aware of the amount of waste that you produce makes you think twice before buying or taking something that will go to the garbage. I am lot more thoughtful about what I buy and choose non-plastic alternatives whenever I can.  We started the year with 11 lbs of waste for 4 people over two weeks.  At our last weigh-in, we had a mere 1.4 lbs of waste.  Even I am surprised that we were able to achieve this low level of waste generation. It is proof that awareness is half the battle. While I will no longer weigh our garbage (can you hear my daughters cheering in the background?), having a small bag for garbage will help keep us mindful about what we put in it.

 

We recycle less.

Because we are buying fewer packaged goods, the amount of material going into our recycling collection bin has also dramatically decreased. Remember that recycling is the fourth R and therefore less desirable. Plus, don’t forget that we pay for packaging twice: when we buy it and when we recycle it.

I avoid plastic.

Single use plastics are no longer part of my world.  I use reusable fabric bags for my food shopping.  I carry reusable metal utensils, fabric napkin and a metal water bottle in my purse.  Seeing the damage that plastics have brought to our world, and especially our oceans, has motivated me to avoid buying anything plastic.  Like I always say, fish and birds are not likely to eat glass, cardboard or metal but they will and sadly do attempt to eat plastic bags.   Plastics take over 400 years to decompose and they breakdown into smaller and smaller pieces of plastics.  Eventually, they become microplastics that fish and animals can eat.  Microplastics are now a part of our food chain.

You don’t have to be perfect.  You just have to try.

I don’t like the term Zero Waste because it is too daunting and makes the average person discouraged.  I was one of those people.  This is why I called my blog “Reduce our Waste”.  It put the goals of this project at a level that I felt we could attain.   If everyone could take baby steps to reduce the amount of waste they produce, consume less and avoid single use plastics, our world would be a better place.

What did you do in 2018 to reduce your waste? What do you plan to do in 2019? Please share! Like everyone, there is always something new that we can do to improve. I have lots of ideas for things to try in 2019 and I look forward to sharing them with you in the coming weeks.