Mid Week Thoughts
Colin Townsend
So far, my intervention is going quite smoothly. I have only forgotten about it once that I can remember, and so have a decent bag set aside at this time on Thursday. Most of the waste that I have collected is from food packaging, as basically everything besides fresh produce comes packaged some way. I also happened to get some packages in the mail this week, and as I have to hang on to the Amazon box and filling until Sunday, I am realizing how inefficient they are. My main takeaway from the week so far is just a better understanding of how much waste I create, and I feel I shop rather responsibly in that department.
End of the Week Results:
My Recycling:
- Tjs frozen waffle boxes x3
- shipping packaging
- Bottles
My trash:
- Pasta wrap x3
- Granola bar wrappers x10
- Frozen fruit bags
- Emergency packets x7
- Yogurt packaging
- Take out food wrap
Obviously, I do not usually hang on to all of my waste for this long, just like most of you. The intervention gave me a look into my life that I had not really considered before. As an Environmental Management & Protection major, I consider myself to be fairly conscious about what I leave behind. However, I am realizing how many items come through my life that are single use. For example, hanging onto all of the wrappers from my daily snacks was eye opening for me. Having everything individually packaged is much easier and more convenient for the consumer, but it leads to an absurd amount of waste. Just as I had thought, most all of my waste was from food packaging. For some reason this feels reassuring. While there is plenty of room for improvement in this category, these things are necessities, and I rarely caught myself making waste other than here. After seeing the results of this intervention, I am going to be more conscious about the food that I am buying. I can try to buy things in bulk and step up my meal prep game to cut some of the packaging that has bothered me so much.