This week I tracked my trash and recorded it in this blog post! My goal was to get visibility on how much trash I currently generate in a week, so I know where I need to improve . . . an assessment of the damage. I did not have enough foresight (oops) to actually store it all and get a picture of it in a box or anything. I only recorded the things that I actually put into the landfill garbage, not recycling or compost.

An Average Week

Friday

• Paper Bag
• Disposable Coffee Cup
• Banana Peel

Saturday

• Paper Bag
• Bus Tickets
• Soft Plastic Wrapping for a Pack of Markers
• Soft Plastic Box for a Set of Pencils
• Soft Plastic Wrapper for a Pencil Sharpener
• 3 Receipts

Sunday

• Clif Bar Wrapper
• Bagel Wrapper from Tim Hortons

Monday

• Clif Bar Wrapper
• Disposable Coffee Cup

Tuesday

• Nothing

Wednesday

• Clif Bar Wrapper
• Pretzel Bag
• Chocolate Bar Wrapper
• A Variety of First Aid Equipment at Work from Teaching First Aid (5 Pairs of Gloves, 2 Small Cardboard Boxes, 3 Band-Aids, 2 Roller Gauze, 2 Non-Sterile Gauze, 5 Butterfly Closures, Clorox Wipes)

Thursday

• 4 Plastic Bags from Bulk Food (Quinoa, Chickpeas, Broccoli, Rice)
• Elastic Band from Broccoli
• Plastic Fork
• Receipt

Looking back at the garbage I created this week; I was pretty happy with how much I made. Thinking about how full garbage cans are around town and reflecting on how much garbage I used to make, I know that I am doing better than I have in the past. To limit my landfill waste even further, I decided to categorize my garbage and address each category.

Analyzing the Waste

1: Recyclable/Compostable Landfill

Examples: Coffee Cup and Banana Peel

Over the course of the week there were few times where I threw things out that could have been recycled or composted. This always happened when I wasn’t home and instead of holding onto the waste, I threw it out in a nearby garbage. To fix this, I think I could keep a Stasher bag in backpack to hold things until I get home.

2: Convivence Landfill

Examples: Clif Bar Wrapper, Plastic Fork, and Bagel Wrapper

These are the times when with more preparation, I could have avoided the garbage. Most of this revolved around spontaneous purchased snacks or forgetting cutlery. I can limit this in the future by meal prepping snacks and always carries a set of bamboo cutlery.

3: Societally Induced Landfill

Examples: Receipts, Plastic Bags from Bulk Food and Waste from Work

This was waste that attributed to me as individual, even though it would have been hard for me to avoid. All of these will represent the areas where I will have to go against societal norms in order to limit in the future. The work waste will be hard to avoid, but I could try telling people not to print me a receipt ahead of time and go to the bring your own container bulk store to avoid more soft plastics.

What’s Next?

During the next couple weeks, I’ll be researching different tools and tech to help me limit my waste. My goal is that by March, I’ll be able to fit a months worth of landfill in a mason jar!