This week revealed two things to me–first: that I produce a lot of trash, even if I’m not the one throwing it away, and second: consciously recording how much trash I produce reduced the amount of trash I produced.
It felt like there was a certain “limit” on what I was throwing away, and I chose not to eat certain foods or go to certain restaurants knowing that if I did that, I would have more trash to set aside. Opting for restaurants that serve food on reusable dishes rather than take-out containers, I consciously ordered less food each time so that there wouldn’t be food waste left over either. One thing I did learn was that so much of the waste that fills my trash bags each week is recyclable/compostable/edible and if I focus on doing those things and reducing food waste and reusable packaging waste, my impact on the environment and role in filling landfills decreases exponentially, which was a fun thing to learn because that seems much more doable than not throwing anything away.
