In this post, I’d like to describe my approach to home environmentalism by asking yourself what’s in your trash can.
I love Shelbizleee‘s tagline “You cannot do everything the world needs, but the world needs everything you can do.” Take this to heart as we dive into our own footprint.
Environmentalism sits across the table from consumerism; fundamentally opposed. The idea of having more than you need is the definition of excess and where the debate opens up regarding environmentalism vs. economic health. This is not my fight, however.
I’m making this post to provide you with a peek into my own approach toward environmental improvement beyond minimalism.
Minimalism:
Reducing your clutter responsibly is a great first step. As you are faced with decluttering so much that you spent good money on that you now know will end up in a landfill, this is where it begins.
Waste: Recycling Streams
I heard over the radio one morning, how the city was on course to fill its several BILLION DOLLAR landfill 2-3 years too early. They analyzed the contents of the landfill and determined that 70% of what was in the landfill was EASILY recyclable material. This PISSED me off! If we have BILLIONS of dollars to spend, I’d much rather it not go toward burying our trash! Absurd.
That very day I located the recycling centers in the city and gave my trash its first evil eye. I scoured the bag for the culprits. I had many. The easiest were soda cans, bottles, plastic and cardboard frozen dinners. I purchased bins to start collecting and separating that day.
A few years later the city announced that due to that research on our landfill, it would now be mandatory to break down and recycle all cardboard boxes. It wasn’t well communicated but they did mean the multilayer shipping boxes. Suddenly recycling was now available inside my apartment complex.
For years this went on unchanged, I included more and more items into recycling to remove the majority of my trash. I’d been eating TV dinners and sodas, so it was all pretty recyclable. I just kept plugging away this way.
Waste: Reduction
As I got further into minimalism, I was able to see ways to reduce the waste I was creating. It changed how I consumed things, how I had them shipped, and how much food I bought, and how often.
Truly this is where the power lies in the environmentally friendly world. The consumer drives everything. A company orients its product to align with the goals of the consumer. Obviously, anti-consumerism doesn’t work well for companies that sell products to align with, so they focus on “Green” or “Zero Waste” initiates with half hearts and you’d trust that they are trying, right?
If your price didn’t go up, probably nothing changed. Finding the balance between your goals and your budget isn’t so hard. Your budget is a tool to support your goals. So work that budget to support what you want in the world. Is it worth it to pay 4x the price twice a year to know your product will break down in the landfill?
Eco and You:
We all have different goals and different starting places. Our locations have different options and some of us need medical supplies that must be wrapped insanely specific to work correctly. We come from different places and we’ll get to different places but we can all make changes.
So I ask you again, What is in your trash?
If it’s mostly full of plastic bags, then there are options. Use them as second-life trash bags, swap for paper, or bring your own bags. Find the change that you can make consistently with the biggest impact.
When you’re not sure what to do next, ask yourself this question again and again until you can’t identify anything. Then ask yourself “What’s in your recycling bin?”. Now try to take that away entirely or reduce to bulk containers, reusable containers, or zero packaging products.
Reassess your goals for environmentalism against your budget and spending habits. Does eliminating soda from your diet also eliminate a waste stream and expense from your budget? Perhaps that’s the right place to start. Simply cutting it down will help too!