The Green Me family has successfully enjoyed and survived several weeks of Birthday revels. And, we made it through without creating any excessive waste! On Saturday we hosted my son’s almost zero waste 1st Birthday party. Today I have a photo update on the state of our main garbage can, as well as, our kitchen pail. I will report in detail on our zero waste party later this week.

As you can see a bit of wrapping paper ended up in the garbage, but that is really all one can do with torn paper, as it is not eligible for recycling — even with the paper board. I was also sad to toss a bit of ribbon, but it was bent and knotted and I really didn’t see us using it again. I think the most wasteful bit of evidence towards the bottom of the can is the KTs BBQ foam cup. From this day forward I SWEAR and I PLEDGE that I will never take a foam or plastic or wax cup. I will bring my own or I will go thirsty! (Unless I am running a race and have the potential for dehydration or heat stroke!). I’ll get back to you on how that little pledge goes for the rest of the month!

One reason that we fared so well when it comes to trash, is that nearly all of Baby Green Me’s gifts came in gifts bags, a few legitimately reusable bags (cloth), but mostly gift bags, which if maintained can also be used again and again. Here is a stack of brightly colored tissue paper and gift bags that I will add to my basement gift wrap collection. To be frank, although I know that it is technically wasteful, I am quite excited by the infusion of colorful tissue paper, as I love to wrap things in bright colors, and tissue paper really is fun!

Two weeks into the challenge we have filled about 1 1/3 kitchen garbage pails with trash –  above you can see that we are currently at about 1/3 full. Other garbage pails in our home include the guest bathroom, which is just under 1/4 full and our master bath trash, which is about 1/2 full (these are both very small pails).

As I’ve mentioned in the past  — our area is relatively fortunate in that we have great recycling services, which should get even better this fall, when they FINALLY institute single stream recycling. Single stream recycling basically means that you can toss your cans, plastic, glass, paperboard and more all into one can, to be sorted at the recycling center. This method has been found to be very effective, since many people are too lazy to sort their own recycling; however, it is also expensive to set-up, so it generally only comes to areas that already have established and effective recycling programs. We also have access to a tree limb collection center, a “hard to recycle” center, a hazardous waste recycling center (CFLs, computers, etc.); and, an industrial composting center that can take all sorts of food waste and scraps. Again, we are fortunate, but all of this is not by chance, but through the hard work of several individuals who started an organization called EcoCycle back in the early 1980s.

Last week several folks commented that they’ve started recycling or collect recycling, but that they’ve ended up falling off the band wagon for a variety of reasons. My advice? Until your area gets better recycling facilities, do your best to REDUCE, REUSE & COMPOST. The less waste you have in general is a good thing. Recycling is awesome, but many of the products that we recycle used raw materials and resources, like water and energy to be made. If you can, take a week and do a trash survey, see what you bring in that might be unnecessary or extraneous, or perhaps compostable. The next week make a concious effor to reduce your waste, compost, and reuse!

For example, I used to love bubbly water in a can or glass bottle, but I didn’t really “need the water,” so I weaned myself off of it and am now content with tap water or a cup of tea. Now, drinking bubbly water seems rather inoxious, but it uses energy to transport the water, and it uses energy and resources to make the cans or bottles. To top it off, bubbly is a luxury that is easily done without. Other ways to reduce your waste are to buy in bulk (for example: 1 large yogurt tub, instead of 8 single serves), make things from scratch, and buy fewer prepared or take-out foods.