Alena Andrews
I consider myself a fairly sustainable person when it comes to my waste- I carry reusable cutlery with me, pack my snacks in reusable containers and beeswax, and compost my food waste. I really try to avoid plastic at all costs. Nonetheless, not throwing anything away for a week was an eye opening experience in highlighting the waste that I do create.
For starters, I create lots of food waste from veggie scraps, egg shells, fruit peels, and the like from my dietary choices. I eat a lot of fresh produce and also food prep most of my meals for the week on Sundays, so much of my waste from the week was food scraps that I kept in a jar in the kitchen. Even though a lot of my waste was compostable, a good chunk of my other waste during the week were wrappers from bars or single-serve snacks, tea bags, and also an empty egg carton (and cough drop wrappers due to my cold). The rest of my waste consisted of miscellaneous items like tissues and paper.
To be honest, I did fall off the bandwagon quite a bit during the week and did throw things away, typically if I was out of the house and in a rush. When I was home, I was really good about keeping all my waste because I had a separate place to put it in my room. All-in-all, the most waste I did have was primarily food-related, which highlights an important aspect of human relationships to food- we tend to process it, package it, and focus on convenience. I think this was a great experience, because even though before this I was doing a lot to minimize my waste, I still have a lot I can work on.
(picture of waste to come!)
