Family of 4. 31 Days. 8,441 miles. 17 National Parks and Monuments. The first 10 days we collect all of our trash! The last 21 we learned to travel zero-waste! Subscribe and help us learn to preserve our Earth.
When I was a kid, I used to make fun of my Aunt Jane for not wasting things. She never wasted an opportunity to give a huge bear hug to her loved ones. She never wasted a zip-lock bag. She never wasted a McDonald's cup. More specifically, she never even wasted the ice in a McDonald's cup. I vividly remember returning to her house after grabbing fast food. She had finished all of the liquid in her drink, and as the rest of us tossed our cups, ice, lids, and straws into the trash can, she placed her cup with ice in the freezer. She was going to use it again. My aunt didn't waste anything.
Toothpaste tubes were cut and squeezed a bit more to ensure all of the toothpaste was used. Small bars of soap were pressed together because, well, they still cleaned. No need to throw them away.
She didn't waste food either.
After my teenage years of poking fun at her frugality, I now admire her resourcefulness. I appreciate the money she saved by doing all of these conservative things, and our world needs to be more like her and her generation.
My Aunt Jane hasn't contributed to this! I can state that proudly. (Love you Aunt Jane!)
Each week in our house I used to carry three or four heavy white trash bags to the curb for pick up. Some of them would stretch because of the weight. Most of this weight was due to our food waste because we didn't compost. Since we have started composting - OH MY! It has been amazing what we have diverted from the landfill.
First of all, we see all of the food that we waste because it goes into a large bowl in our kitchen. This visual alone influences our family to use less, eat what you take, and find other ways to consume the food we have purchased. Secondly, we eat less meat. Since you can't compost meat, we simply don't buy as much. Thirdly, our kitchen smells so much better. There are no longer chunks of celery, watermelon rinds, banana peels, green pepper tops, onion layers, carrot tops, or any other food waste rotting in the bottom of our trash can like there used to be. Finally, our family takes pride in knowing that we, like my Aunt Jane, are diverting four pounds of waste per day into compost.
4 X 365 = 1,460 lbs. per year.
Don't just take my word for it. Read all of the links below!
Subaru's factory in Indiana composts all of its food scraps from two cafeterias and 5,500 workers.
"The Zero-Waste Factory" Scientific AmericaThe New York Times"How Much Food Do We Waste? More Than You Think!""Most American Food Waste Comes From Consumers, Research Reveals" foodtank
"WASTED: HOW AMERICA IS LOSING UP TO 40 PERCENT OF ITS FOOD FROM FARM TO FORK TO LANDFILL""Americans Waste About A Pound Of Food A Day, USDA Study Finds" Forbs
As we prepare to head out west, I am so blessed to have my wife as my partner in this journey. She has been a tremendous trooper and teammate. It has been a joy to dream, plan, anticipate, and lock in places we are going to be. Thank you, honey!
Statistics
Nine Alarming Facts about Single Use Cups
1. Disposable paper cups contain 5% polyurethane plastic, making composting and recycling of disposable cups extremely rare
2. Half a trillion disposable cups are manufactured annually around the world; that’s over 70 disposable cups for every person on the planet.
3. Most plastic used in the world today is for single-use items.
4. 4 billion trees, or 35% of the total trees chopped down, are used in paper industries
5. 1 tonne of paper consumes 98 tonnes of resources in manufacture.
6. Globally, we consume nearly 300 million tonnes of paper each year; most made from virgin pulp.
7. Very little recycled paper is used to make disposable cups due to health risk concerns.
8. 70% of the world’s paper comes from diminishing forests, not from plantations or recycling
9. Consumer waste has increased more than tenfold over the 20th century, from 40kg to 560kg of waste per person, per year.
Environment
Disposable coffee cups: How big a problem are they for the environment?
New report from Environmental Audit Committee highlights environmental problems associated with consumption of takeaway hot drinks
