What is “zero waste?” As people become increasingly globally aware, more attention is being paid to the impacts our daily habits can have on the environment. According to the Grassroots Recycling Network, “Zero Waste maximizes recycling, minimizes waste, reduces consumption and ensures that products are made to be reused, repaired or recycled back into nature or the marketplace.” Some “zero wasters” can even fit all the trash they’ve created over several years in a container no larger than a liter glass jar — others simply limit their waste as much as possible.
For a bit of background on my lifestyle: I am not a “zero waster.” I wanted to try it out for a week, because I am already interested in the environment and I thought that since Earth Day is coming up, now would be the perfect time. I have been vegetarian for three years and went vegan around two years ago, originally for the environment, and I am an environmental science major. I consider myself to be pretty environmentally friendly, but I have a long ways to go compared to bloggers who are dedicated to the lifestyle.
Monday
Monday went surprisingly well. I headed out the door with my lunch in a reusable container and my glass starbucks cup to refill later. I felt like I was on top of the world, until I got back from work that night. I started to realize there was trash all around me, like labels on produce, deodorant containers, sticky notes, mesh bags for potatoes. I did, accidentally, grab a few paper towels twice that day, but I folded them up (I had just used them to wipe the counter) to reuse them another few times. Besides that, I didn’t have to throw anything out, but I still had a lot to learn.
Tuesday
The next day was a little rougher. Before going to work, I reached for a single package of acetaminophen, realizing it was going to create garbage. Since I already had it, I just decided to take a loss and use it anyways. Later in the evening, I went grocery shopping. I know I shouldn’t have felt as weird with a bunch of loose vegetables and fruits rolling around in my cart as I did, but it pained me to the core — and most of them still had rubber bands or labels attached. I also travelled to the bulk section, before I realized the only containers that were offered were plastic. I left feeling somewhat discouraged after being unable to find weekly staples like bread, rice, and pasta without packaging.
Wednesday
I didn’t have many problems on Wednesday. Later in the evening, I was practicing my makeup (my sorority’s formal was coming up) and I was really having difficulties getting it off without makeup wipes. Besides that, all I had to focus on was eating zero waste. For a little bit of insight, this is what I ate in one day to produce zero waste with packaging:
Breakfast: oatmeal with a banana, blueberries (in a recyclable container) and peanut butter made of just dry roasted peanuts.
Lunch: collard green wraps — I couldn’t find tortillas without packaging — filled with rice, beans, quinoa, corn, beans and onion, with plenty of hot sauce.
Snacks: clementines, an apple and rice crackers with peanut butter
Dinner: vegetable sandwich on a ciabatta roll, packaged in a recyclable container
Late night snack: rice with grapefruit jam and blueberries
Thursday
When I was making my lunch this morning, I spilled rice all over my countertop. I was in a rush, just getting back from an appointment that morning and heading out to meet up with my friends, and I didn’t want to waste time picking up pieces of rice, so I cracked. I used a paper towel.
Friday
Friday marked the last day of my “zero waste” challenge. Everything was going very well — I got used to reaching for a cloth towel instead of a paper one, and using my reusable bags instead of single-use plastics. Looking back on my week, I am pretty proud of myself for sticking to it. Yes, a few times I did cave, but for the most part, I produced as little waste as possible. But going zero waste, by definition, is pretty much impossible to do overnight. I already had items in my pantry that were going to produce waste once I used them up, but since I didn’t purchase them this week, I didn’t beat myself up too much over it. Overall, I’m planning on using some aspects of this lifestyle in the future, like bag-free grocery shopping — one of my great co-workers actually got me a few reusable produce bags, which I will definitely be using from now on —, bulk shopping and recycling. For the time being, “zero” waste may be too difficult in college, but I want to do whatever I can to help the environment right now.
