I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately... maybe because being wasteful, taking advantage of our disposal society makes me feel so guilty. Usually it is out of laziness. For example, I purchased cloth shopping bags, to take shopping of course, and I often leave them at home. Why??? I'm not sure. Lack of planning? Perhaps. Although I am getting better. Currently all I do is:
- recycle (mandated in Seattle, and so so easy)
- use cloth shopping bags, sometimes
A few things I plan to do to reduce my waste, minimizing my ecological footprint:
- use cloth bags for ALL shopping
- buy cloth napkins
- buy quality food storage containers... (I tend to toss cheap recyclable tupperware)
- buy products with minimal packaging
- buy food composting bins, to compost veggie scraps
- think more about cloth diapers... (having trouble with this one)
- buy used if possible Freecycle, Craigslist
Also, I ran across a yahoo group called The Compact, and its members pledge not to buy anything new for an entire year. Food and medicine being the exception of course. You buy used, borrow, or barter. HMMM intriguing, although I would have to get Jaime to go in with me or it wouldn't work.
4 comments:
I have made my own shopping bags and I tend to do the same thing forget them at home. To help I put them by the front door and put them in my car so I have them close.It sometimes helps
What do you use for garbage bags? And have you completely stopped buying ziplock baggies? You never fail to inspire me!
Heather... we have very little trash since we recycle nearly everything, but I usually use empty bread bags, or grocery bags if I need to. In Hawaii, I used a huge plastic garbage bag everyday! Here, a small bag will last 3 days. I still use ziploc bags, but only the ones I still have left over from my last Costco purchase.. I reuse them. I will not buy more.
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