FOURTEEN days, ZERO waste

— the story goes on.

This is the end of week 1. Zero-waste challenge went on without many accidents. The first time I asked my usual baker to please put the bread directly into my cloth bag, she looked a little perplexed and she reminded me that plastic bags don’t cost anything in that shop, they are free. I answer her that I was doing that in order to live zero waste. The next days she was happy to do that and she also told me that she also suggested this action to the other loyal costumers. I felt a little proud of being the reason for this little change in my neighborhood!

For what concern food-shopping I just kept on buying only fresh food at the supermarket, in biodegradable bags that I reuse for the compost bin. I try to look for no-packaging stores in Milan but they are actually quite a few, and all far from home. I prefer to go shopping by foot around home. Maybe for me it is a little easier to shop no-packaging food since my diet is actually a little poor and not much varied (only bread, veggies and fruits). It’s the first time my bad eating habits are an advantage in something. I supposed that for other people -that would like to buy pasta, souces, legumes etc- it won’t be that easy to find no-packed food. This kind of offer is still too limited in Milan.

Now, let’s come to the hard part. Cloth shopping.
I’m only 8 days shopping-free and I already feel a little frustrated. I had a few occasions to buy clothes and I had to force myself a little bit not to fall into temptation.

The bright side is that I saved some money. I saved money for not buying extra-goods, no coffee from the vending machine, no chewing-gum. It’s not a lot but I’m happy to have decreased my coffee and chewing-gum intake since they were both not good habits. My dentist will be happy as well!

My parents are still not in zero-waste mood. I did try to talk to them but they said that this family is already paying attention to not waste energy and materials. And I know it is true. I have always been taught to use as little water and electricity as possible, to do recycle and respect the environment. They agree on the values but believe that zero-waste lifestyle is extreme, as they want to underline the government's and industries' responsibilities.

Now I’m ready to start week 2, I feel that I already got used to these few eco-friendly habits (except for the cloth handkerchief which is still a little uncomfortable and weird).