Zero Waste Blog

For those of you who may have started following my journey more recently, I started out going zero waste by collecting my trash each month in a jar. At the end of each month, I inventoried what I had made and weighed it. Over time, the amount got smaller and I learned what types of things I'm a sucker for! I've kept it up as a reminder to myself to keep improving and a visual representation of what I can achieve with dedication. In April 2017, I produced 7.6 ounces! 1 broken

Is it just me or are the months going by faster now? I've been so busy preparing to move to Portland, Oregon (more on that to come!) and putting on workshops that I am writing this post already half way through the month! But down to business. For march, I produced 0.9 ounces of trash. 1 chocolate bar wrapper 1 Seahawks phone case 1 magnet 1 piece of tape 2 Chobani yogurt wrappers 2 vitamin seals 2 coconut oil seals 2 postage stickers 2 price tag attachments 3 condiment seals

Ready to peek inside my trash jar this month? It's quite a big surprise! Or should I say "little" surprise? My previous best for an entire month was 0.5 ounces of trash and granted, February is a shorter month. But technically, I now have a new record of 0.3 ounces (weight) of trash! So let's take a look at what I added to the landfill: 1 gold label 1 yogurt label 1 credit card sticker 1 vitamin seal 1 gift card strip 2 stickers 2 jar seals 2 pieces of PT tape 3 bandaids 3 en

I had big dreams of producing a tiny jar of trash this year but the truth is, life often has other plans. Hit with the worst flu I have ever experienced, I ran through all the cold supplies I had so carefully stocked for a situation like this. It became so bad that I turned to pharmaceutical nasal sprays and cough syrups just so I could sleep. And as you can see, it added quite a bit of trash to my jar, filling it to the brim. So a little piece of wisdom along with this month

2016 has come to an end and it's time to take a look inside my last month of trash...1.8 ounces of trash. December brought with it a lot of house cleaning so many items you see in this photo were either found in some back, dark corner of my house or purposefully used up because they had just been sitting around for too long. I always like to end the year cleaning out any trash that might have been missed or dropped throughout the year. 10 Probiotic Plastic Containers 7 Envelo

Well let’s take a look shall we? 1.0 ounces for the month of November. 1 salad dressing seal 7 vitamin/spice seals 2 vegan butter wrappers 1 bar code sticker 3 Levi Jeans’ stickers 1 balloon 2 pizza box thingies 2 yogurt container seals 1 medical bottle sticker 3 vitamin bottle preservative packages 1 flower pot decoration Most of these items were accidental or from my pre-zero waste life. The balloon for example was an old stress ball I made back in college that finally brok

There is always room for improvement! Even with minuscule amounts of trash in my jar each month, I made another record of just 0.5 ounces (half an ounce!). It’s not much. Like literally. It’s a tiny amount of trash. My trash jar: 4 bottle seals 3 tea bag wrappers 3 stickers from folders 1 Amazon package receipt 1 plant marker 1 butter wrapper 1 medicine bottle seal A handful of jar seals A few clothing tags So I should be cheering! But recently I have been feeling like what I

This September my goals were to bring my medical waste down and to reduce the “splurge” waste I produce when spontaneously buying treats that inevitably come with trash. In review, I could have done better with goal number one. Here’s how: To avoid medical waste I needed to be planning ahead. Anticipating what my body was going to need and heading it off before it called out longingly for a Band-Aid or plastic wrapped pill. The problem is, that needs a lot of foresight. Great

After my one stop trash pit in Mexico, !! , I was looking forward to having a month of relatively low trash production. And overall, it wasn’t too bad! As you can see in the photo and in my list, a fair amount was caused by medicine packages. You should be proud though, I am medication free now! Woohooo! August ended up totaling 3.4 ounces of trash! As I do every month, let’s take a look at what I produced and why. This helps me and everyone reading my blog learn from my mist

Plastic Free July is supposed to be a month raising awareness around plastic consumption and production and encouraging people to try new things to reduce their garbage output. As a zero waster, Plastic Free July has my name all over it. I have managed to keep my trash production under 1.0 ounce for the last 11 months which is a huge achievement. I haven't however been monitoring my recycling consistently and I know I have a decent amount of plastic that gets recycled. It is

You might be asking yourself right now, “Wait, is June really over?” And you would be right. No. It’s not the end of June. But yes, I am doing my one month review right now. Why? Well, let me explain. I’m leaving for Mexico – tomorrow. I’ll be gone for exactly a month and I would like to keep track of the trash I produce while away. Therefore I am cutting June a little short and making July slightly longer to cover my entire trip. Don’t worry, I won’t push any trash under the

In May, I produced all of 0.6 ounces of trash. My record has been 0.7 ounces from September of 2015 and last month I finally did it one better! I know. One measly ounce doesn’t seem like much. But when you get to the point I am at, where every speck of trash makes a difference, an ounce can seem like a whole lot! So let’s take a look at what I produced: -1 straw -1 deodorant label -2 meat weight stickers -1 cheese wrapper -1 Ricola Cough Drop bag -4 jar seals (2 ice cream, 1

This month I produced 1.5 ounces of trash: 2 cheese packages 2 broccoli tags 1 tea wrapper 1 band aid 1 blister pad 1 vitamin jar seal 2 sandwich sticks 1 straw 2 hair ties 4 plastic clothing tag markers 1 disposable razor blade and handle A month worth of floss This brings my total for this year up to 14.6 ounces of trash. Remember that last year I produced 3 lbs. and 2.15 ounces of trash. My goal is to beat it! And at this rate, I am on track. So now comes the reflection pa

February 2016 Trash Detail: -2 Top Ramen Noodle Packets -2 Top Ramen Flavor Packets -6 Fruit Stickers -1 Straw -1 Facial Product Sticker -1 Hair Tie -A Month of Floss -1 Piece of Tape -1 Piece of String -3 Plastic Price Tag Attachments -1 Price Tag Sticker -1 Decorative Price Tag Attachment -1 Medical Container -4 Light Bulbs The total comes to 10.2 ounces of trash for a whole month. Not bad? Not my best either. I was really quite disappointed when I learned CFL lights aren’t

Let's take a look at what I produced in the start of 2016. This month, after all, could foreshadow into how my entire year will do! January 2016 Trash Detail: -1 Sour Cream Seal -2 Lindor Truffle Wrappers -1 Frango Chocolate Wrapper -1 Plastic Hook -3 Fruit Stickers -Handful of Price Stickers (Goodwill) -1 Tea Bag -1 Brocolli Sticker/Rubber Band -1 Pill Case -2 Vitamin Bottle Seals -2 Hairties -2 Top Ramen Packets (from my dorm room days…) -2 Medical Tubes/Packaging -A Month

One year ago on January 1st, 2015 I first started my zero-waste challenge. When I thought of the #onejarchallenge originally, I never imagined how much I would enjoy seeing the changes I could make in my waste production and just what a profound difference it would have on my entire life. I went from your average American producing 4.5 pounds of trash A DAY to only producing 3.13 pounds A YEAR. I’m not bragging when I say that it’s pretty damn awesome – because honestly, it i

This last month, September, I only produced 0.7 ounces of trash! Everything, besides what is featured in this photo, was reused, recycled, or composted. That is a record for me! Hopefully I can continue with these low numbers next month too! A few days ago my sister asked me, “How do you produce so little trash when you have to buy food?” I laughed and said, “It’s not easy!” The truth is we live in a culture that thrives off of one-use items. And that includes all of our food

Another month has gone by so it’s time for me to weigh my waste! This is actually one of my favorite parts of my zero-waste challenge because I get to see how I have compared to previous months and also remind myself of what I have learned of the last month. So the totals are in! August 2015: 3.6 ounces of waste! Let’s break that down. My 3.6 ounces of waste contained one noticeably large item which was a deodorant stick that was leftover from my days of still buying plastic