Waste Audit

A typical week of garbage at our house

I'll admit it, I get really girly when it comes to gross stuff. I'm very happy to have a wonderful husband who takes out the garbage, green bin and recycling most weeks. So when when it came to looking into the garbages this week to find out what exactly was in there, I held my breath, and used my pen to shift things around so that I could see everything.

This waste audit uncovered a few things we need to consider before beginning our journey.

• Every place we currently have a garbage can, we need to get a second container for recycling/green bin collection. Most of the waste we create in the bedroom and bathroom areas of our house can be green binned or recycled - tissues, paper towels, toilet paper tubes. Right now that stuff just goes into the one receptacle we have in these rooms, and while we often sort out the green bin/recycle items from the garbage upon collection, there are weeks that we are lazy and it all ends up in the garbage bag. A much smaller dedicated garbage can should then allow us to use the current bins as compost/recycle bins.
• Living completely garbage free in this day and age is next to impossible. The past week almost every time we've thrown something out we've said "Hmmmm... that's not recyclable or compostable. Can we live without this product?" Sometimes the answer is yes, like when the product in question is a cheese string wrapper or a chip bag, but sometimes the answer is no, like when it's an empty toothpaste tube or the top to a yogurt container. We will definitely make more conscious decisions when we are out shopping about the impact the product container will make on our garbage free challenge.

The following things are what we found in our garbage this week that our family will not be able to live without:

• Yogurt Tops - Maybe we will purchase in larger containers and then have fewer tops. The concern with this is then we might end up eating more yogurt as the portions aren't as easily controlled.
• Cereal Bag - We need to see if these are recyclable in another region.
• Cheese Packaging - This is going to end up in our one bag for the year. We will stop buying the more convenient cheese strings for the children's lunches, but our kids aren't going to let us give up cheese completely.
• Dryer Lint - Clothes need to be washed, and subsequently dried. During the warmer months, we won't have too much of this, but our house is fairly small, and we don't have room to hang all of our clothes inside come winter. This will end up in our one bag as well.
• Toothpaste Tube - Thankfully they don't get emptied very often, so we should be good for a few more months!
• Other Food Packaging - Plastic packaging that holds pasta needs to be looked in to. Hopefully it's recyclable somewhere outside Waterloo Region.

There are probably some other things that we won't be able to live without that will also need to be thrown in the garbage, but that's why we've got the one bag for the year. 

Our garbage free challenge will officially begin on July 1. The next week and a half will be dedicated to researching and creating garbage free alternatives, such as mesh bags for bulk produce.