Monday- Trash

Today I'm going to do things with the trash that I collected yesterday! The following steps correspond to the steps found on the guide.

1. After collecting my trash all day on Sunday I spread it out into two piles. One pile had things that I used for only ten minutes while the other had things that I used for more than ten minutes. You can guess which one had more.....

As you can see, the pile of things that were used for less than ten minutes was way bigger than the other pile. This was probably because the items that I used were very disposable and not reusable. Due to their disposable nature, I did not feel guilt when I previously threw them away soon a

fter using them. I'm certainly feeling the guilt now though...

This pile was not as big because the majority of the items that I threw away were food items that were not made to last a long time. Since this pile was not nonexistent means that I'm not completely hopeless when it comes to making no impact, but I have a long way to go.

2. Throughout the day I kept a non-trash travel kit in my book bag that went with me to school. I had a reusable water bottle in this bag, along with tupperware containers, washable utensils, and plastic bags that were reusable. Though the guide suggested it, I did not carry a rag with me to replace napkins. This was because the rag kept getting dirty and it was not effective. I will keep this kit with me throughout the week.

3. Throughout the day I also tried to reduce my garbage. Almost everything I used was either recyclable, compostable, or reusable. I only slipped up when it came to certain food items, which I kept in a bag before their disposal.

4. Certain food items made their way into my trash bag that I did not know how to deal with. I put items such as tin foil and hard plastics in my trash bag because I wasn't sure whether or not they were recyclable. Other than those select items, it was not as hard as I thought to not make trash. Whenever I had a piece of paper I needed to dispose of, I would search our a recycle bin and one was always nearby. When I began to look for ways to decrease my trash, it made me self conscious about the waste I was creating overall. This self consciousness decreased my trash production better than I could have if I was actively trying. I made almost no waste after I began to be self conscious about trash. However, I was not able to erase it completely which makes me think it may be extremely difficult to eliminate waste altogether.