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’s trash contents: being Zero Waste isn’t about the trash jar (how ironic, right?) and rather about the intention. Everyone’s version of zero waste will vary depending on their resources – community support, finances, location, education. Therefore we cannot truly compare my trash jar to the next persons. And that’s okay! The trash jar is mostly a motivation tool for myself and a way of demonstrating that change is possible in big ways! And even though my dreams of one tiny jar might be broken, I can still celebrate only 0.9 ounces of trash to start off 2017!
The contents:
1 Cough Drop Bag
1 Cheese Wrapper
1 Nasal Spray Seal
1 Green Onion Tag
1 Essential Oil Bottle Stopper
2 Vitamin Jar Seals
2 Envelope Windows
2 Yogurt Seals
3 Cough Syrup Seals
5 Random Jar Seals (spices, ketchup, etc.)
Various Goodwill Price Tags
Some of my goals this month actually include reducing my recycling (I’m writing a post on “why” soon). I am going to make my own gluten-free bread and vegan mayonnaise to avoid both the plastic bag and glass jar that come with them. I’ll be posting an update on my vegan meal resolution for the year soon too!
Boy, I better get to work…
