live a "life less trashy"

I would just like to point out that I haven’t taken my actual garbage out in about a month, and it’s still only half-full. I just don’t create much waste beyond food scraps. I haven’t been eating out much either, which means I don’t have all that food-container waste lying around. I’ve saved every holiday tin or box that has come my way this year, and I plan to reuse them as holders for baked goods and leftovers to send home with people.

I switched Peacat to a litter called “Yesterday’s News” which comes in the same pellet form as the pine stuff, but doesn’t smell all pine-y. It’s made from recycled paper, and I think you can compost it.

I don’t know how much further I can go with this goal. I suppose I could set up my own compost box, instead of sending off my food waste in the city’s green bins, but I’m not sure what I’d do with the finished product. A container garden?

My garbage output had been dramatically reduced since I started composting my food scraps. I only have to take it out about once every two weeks, and I no longer have to worry about garbage odor, since all the stuff that smells is in the heap. Fantastic!

Other things I’ve been doing regarding this goal:
- Switched Peacat to pine litter, which is biodegradable and better for the environment.
- Bringing reusable grocery bags to the store AS WELL AS plastic bags from my stash to carry bulk items and vegetables. Plastic sucks, but I feel better about it when my bags go through a second and third and fourth use.
- Saving jars and sturdier takeout containers for a couple more rounds of use before recycling. I put leftovers and such in them.

So, I’ve just discovered the Alameda County Waste Management website, stopwaste.org, and I am really excited about some of the information I found on there. Apparently, I can get a really nice discount compost bin or worm box with proof of residency. It’ll only run me about $40! I want to implement the food scrap recycling plan for my personal use, and for my office next door.

There is also a huge list on the website, of how and where to recycle almost anything. It’s annoying that Berkeley only accepts plastics labeled with a 1 or 2. I’m going to try and figure out if it’s possible to recycle all the other plastics somewhere close by. Go team garbage!

Today I discovered that a LUSH store has recently opened very close by. They offer bulk soaps and bath products, and interesting things like shampoo and conditioner bars. It’s very easy to walk out of this place with a ton of stuff and NO PLASTIC WHATSOEVER. They wrap a lot of the solid stuff in paper, and I am oh-so-happy about this. I bought 2 shampoo bars (which are supposed to last a really long time), a little tin to keep them in, a conditioner bar, and a big chunk of mud-soap stuff.

I am way too excited about this.

This goal is inspired by the Life Less Plastic blog which I’ve recently begun following. I’m taking it in a slightly different direction and applying it to all waste-aspects of my life. Here I plan to track all my efforts. Yay!