The goal of the No Impact Experiment was to reduce trash. We kept two bags of our trash collected from Sunday and Monday, including from home and from everywhere else we went during the day. Tony kept one bag and Claire and I kept another bag.
Tony kept his recyclables in his trash (he was going to separate them out later) and Claire and I put our recyclables in the bin as we went. We all kept our compostables out of the trash bags and in the compost bin.
Ways we cut down on trash:
1. We went to Starbucks and had them make our coffees in ceramic mugs (downside: the barista mixed them first in paper cups and then poured it into the ceramic! Argh.)
2. We recycled all our paper, not just things that were convenient to recycle. (I am really bad about throwing away mail instead of recycling it.)
3. We composted everything we could, including tissues. (We usually do this, I’m just pointing it out here.)
4. I got stuck with 6 of Tony’s holey socks in my trash bag because I am the one who drew the line at their holyness and insisted that they be thrown out. Since they have spandex in them, they can’t be composted. Since they’re holey, they can’t be sent to Goodwill. Since they’re dirty, they also can’t be darned. And there are only so many sock puppets one needs in one’s life…
Here is our trash (Claire’s and mine) for 2 days. We’ll post about Tony’s later.
(click for bigger version)
One bag from Wacky Mac pasta
One dixie cup
2 straws
6 holey socks
one pink feather
one lid to ketchup bottle
2 clorox wipes
One teabag cover
2 gum wrappers, one tootsie roll wrapper
one purple deflated balloon
one snack baggie
one bandaid
random bits of paper and string, dental floss, etc.
No, we did not eat out (except for that Starbucks coffee). We did eat a lot of leftovers. We did eat a lot of fresh food, and we compost and recycle everything we can.
