FOURTEEN days, ZERO waste
For the next two weeks, I’ll try to be part of this word without being harmful to him. I want to understand if it is possible to fully live my everyday life, with no excessive deprivations, while being 100% sustainable for the planet.
I consider myself neither a spendthrift nor an obsessed. I usually try to contain my waste and my environmental impact by doing the recycling, close the water while lathering and washing my teeth, turning off the lights while not being in the room… So nothing special, but I care. My diet is actually quite limitate, I usually consume mostly fresh vegetable and fruit, so my food-shopping generally don’t include plastic packagings.
If I’m honest, I don’t think that this challenge will be impossible, since I start from a good point. From this experience, I expect to learn ways to be more eco-friendly and get used to them, so that I won’t abandon them after these 2 weeks. We will see!
DAY #1–2–3
To get started, I wrote down a list of what I usually consume and trash:
- plastic cups at university
- paper tissue
- napkins
- plastic bags (for breakfast bread)
- still water bottles at home
- …
During the days, I realized that I hadn't thought about chewing-gum (and related pack), plastic bags for my little lovely dog’s droppings, 1–2 cotton pads a day, make-up remover serviettes. This already sounds a lot.
KNOWN SOLUTIONS:
Taking a metal bottle of hot coffee at school so I won’t buy anything from that toxic and evil vending machine;
Bringing my own textile bag when I go buying bread.
THINGS TO BUY (or FIND at home):
Textile handkerchief and napkins;
Glass bottle for water at home;
Washable bamboo pads.
On the net, I read that chewing gum is the second most common form of litter after cigarette butts and it is not biodegradable. Sustainable chewing gums have been produced, they are natural and biodegradable but they are more expensive, don’t look much attractive and can’t be found in normal supermarkets. So I decided to give up on chewing, which was becoming kind of addicting. If I find it impossible, I will consider other solutions.
I also found that there are biodegradable bags for dogs, also on Amazon. I am a little skeptical because where I usually walk the dog there are no bins for compost, so the bags and its contents will end up in undifferentiated waste.
Finally, I tried to include my parents (with whom I live) in this zero-waste-challenge but they actually showed zero-enthusiasm. But the next day, my mum sent me this picture of this brand new doghouse! She listened to me I suppose!
