When beginning my self intervention, I made a conscious note to myself that if I could reduce the amount of waste I produce in a week by reusing as much as possible, I would. Alas, I am ending my week with a decent amount as seen in the pictures above. This self-intervention taught me that I almost subconsciously throw things away without realizing that they could have potential reusable purposes in the future. Though that was the main takeaway, I did gain insights into other behaviors I have that are leading to these unsustainable practices.
Two words: La Croix. I am unashamedly addicted to this sparkling water beverage, but I am ashamed of the fact that the cans themselves make up a large amount of my waste. Why can’t I just drink normal flat water from the tap and reuse it in a HydroFlask? Well, after this week of self-intervention, I’ve decided that I will limit my amount of consumption of La Croix in the future because this is a needless amount of cans for something I can get for free from my house. Another thing I took note of is the amount of Solo cups I waste. Often I will fill one up with some type of beverage (most likely beer) and then throw it out and grab another one for next time. However, I could probably just use one for a week and wash it out instead of mindlessly throwing them away after I finish. This made me think about all of the parties I’ve been to where solo cups are being throw away needlessly.
Another behavior that is unsustainable is how I let my food go to waste. Sometimes I forget that I bought something at the grocery store and it goes bad before I can eat it. As you can see in the picture, I had to throw away some asparagus I forgot about. That asparagus should have been given to someone else if I was just going to let it spoil! I am also adding that to the list of better habits to adopt: setting reminders for myself of expiration dates so food doesn’t just sit sadly in the back of my fridge to go bad.
