Over the past several months, I have been trying to go Zero Waste. Ok, wait, back up, not Zero Waste, because I find that daunting and can't add one more hard thing into my life, what with Jasper just turning one and attached to my one finger until he feels confident walking on his own; summer in full swing with two kids at home needing love, food and attention; and work looming in the near future. But I am trying to reduce my waste in a more thoughtful way than I've ever done before. Many things have spawned this, but let's just say a documentary about how our coral reefs (which supply 70% of our earth's oxygen) are dying and plastic is the #1 cause, might have been the nail in the coffin! (pun intended)
So Travis and I started a facebook and in-person group called Grass Roots, Green School where we meet once a month to focus on a different aspect to change the planet, and at the first meeting we did a beach clean-up and talked about reducing our #1 biggest plastic waste. As a family, the biggest one I shared was those squeezy, smoothie pouches for kids that are so handy when you are out and about with 2 kids. So we came up with the not so perfect, but better solution to get reusable pouches, fill them with homemade smoothies, and freeze them for the week. These are the ones we bought ( squooshi pouches ) and I actually really like them so far; but there are many online and in stores that work well too.
As well, my mother-in-law Debbie bought me these reusable produce bags that have been really handy, and actually the thing that THE MOST people have commented on in my instagram stories. I got so many DMs about these bags, because like me, I think a lot of people are really trying to figure out doable ways to reduce waste. You plop them in your reusable grocery bags, which I think everyone is pretty much on board with those at this point, and you go to the bulk items section in your grocery store, or the produce section and look for items that don't come wrapped in plastic. I find that Safeway near me has a great selection of Organic, Unwrapped produce, more so than Superstore or others. Whole Foods is another market that is good about carrying a wide-range of produce and bulk items unwrapped, and they are launching a new, bigger bulk section at my local store that I'm excited to check out.
These produce bags can be used for things like nuts, dried fruit and larger items too; but when it comes to liquids and powdery things like Nutritional Yeast and flour, my go-to these days is good old mason jars. I find that the metal lids get rusty though, so just picked up more of the plastic jar lids on Amazon during Prime days.
I know these are small steps if you belong to a true Zero Waste community. I know I have a long way to go in my road towards Zero Waste. But I wanted to share my journey towards a Zero Waste lifestyle because I know some of you are beginning to wonder how to start doing it too. In fact I have heard from many of you that say my posts are inspiring and it makes you rethink your own plastic use. I'm not saying that to pat myself on the back, just that we are all in this together and can learn from each other, while also looking out for our planet!
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