- Jenica
Trash Audit August 2017
Whenever I start something new, be it a diet, job, class, or other change, I always give myself a little room to figure out how my zero waste lifestyle fits in. When a new change happens, I usually make mistakes. And I'm okay with that.
I recently went through a LOT of new changes. I now live in a new city and attend a graduate program at a university that's consuming every waking minute I have (I'm literally staying up on finals week right now to write this post that is eleven days overdue!). So I expect I'll have some hurdles to jump over before my zero waste routine settles in.
And boy was I right! Although I didn't produce very much trash this month, I realized just how difficult getting through the next two years in a medical field would be. GLOVES! Urgh. Disposable (and very useful) and oh so irritating! As you can see, this month my trash jar contains a set of disposable gloves I had to use while giving an oral mechanism exam in class and all the plastic wrapping that they came individually wrapped in! I can't honestly be mad at the professor or program because health concerns are real and I am thankful for options that protect me. But why, oh why, do they have to be individually wrapped?? Not only that, but in my mandatory CPR training they gave us all mouth breathing devices to practice with that were trashed after the class! Why couldn't they just be bleached and reused at the next class??
But alright now, rant over. Let's take a closer look at exactly what was in my jar this month.
Totaling 1.5 ounces:
1 CPR required mouth breathing device
1 ice cream testing spoon
1 frozen orange juice wrapper
1 frozen orange juice seal
2 disposable gloves
2 packages for disposable gloves
Numerous receipts
Various plastic envelope windows
A handful of price tag attachments
The wonderful thing about my graduate program is the tremendous amount of support and interest some of my classmates are showing about my lifestyle! I have already helped many people make changes in their grocery shopping habits. At the end of October, I am hosting three different local workshops that quite of few of my new friends have committed to attending! It can be great to explore a new city, especially when you find a group of people that make you feel whole and share some of your values too!