Self Intervention Reflection

My experience with the self-intervention showed me that the majority of my waste is generated by eating out, which is something I do frequently as I work at two different restaurants, both of which supply me with some form of take-home meals. There were numerous take-out containers from Petra, which I could limit by bringing my own food to work, however this does not really save me money as my purchased meals are very inexpensive. One positive of looking through my trash was most items were either compostable or recyclable, and overall are not excessively wasteful given I thoughtfully separate the trash before disposing of it. The most wasteful item in my trash was a full bottle of specialty Sriracha I bought at Whole Foods that tasted horrendous. I thought it better to waste $5 and dump the entire sauce and container rather than suffer through eating it for months on end, but this may not be the most economical or mindful way to treat food. This experience has made me reflect on how much trash I generate mostly by eating at work, and if there are ways to reuse some of the items I use most frequently, like plates and forks. Even bringing my own silverware would significantly cut down on the disposal of plastic over time. I also had 2 egg cartons in my trash, which I repurposed by replanting some tomato seeds inside the egg pockets. I am fortunate to have a garbage disposal in my apartment so the accumulation of food waste was not significant.

Emily Sroczynski

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