A Week of Trash from a Zero Waster
As someone who’s been living a zero waste (or low impact, as I like to say) lifestyle for the past 2 and a half years, I’ve gotten pretty used to the new sustainable habits formed while living this way. For those of you who have no idea how someone lives without producing trash, it can be pretty daunting. I wanted to explain what types of trash I do produce, and how easy it is to avoid making 99% of the trash Americans make every single day. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments below and I’d be happy to answer! Xoxo, Sabs
TRASH DIARY
Day 1:
7:30 - Wake up, make coffee and get dressed. I’m not making breakfast this morning because I'm meeting a co-worker at a vegan cafe nearby! I bring everything I'll need for the day: mason jar with water, my lunch, and cloth napkin, as well as my book for the train ride to work.
8:40 - My co-worker arrives and I'm so ready to eat! I order an "egg" salad made with tofu, pickled beets and greens on a pumpernickel everything bagel. I made sure to ask for it "for here" to make it trash free. It was delicious!
1:00 - Lunchtime! I brought some vegan cheese spread with bread. To make the vegan cheese, I combine sunflower seed pulp (leftover from making homemade sunflower seed milk) and add soy sauce, nutritional yeast and lemon juice. I also eat some curried dal leftover from last night’s dinner. I used my To-Goware utensils, a real plate and a cloth napkin, and brought everything in jars so no waste here.
4:30 - I get to head home early today! When I get back I cook dinner: sweet potatoes with sautéed mushrooms and onion. I notice that I am running out of nutritional yeast and soy sauce, and make a note to buy some more at the co-op this weekend. I am very fortunate to have a co-op nearby that has refillable options for those things!
Pieces of trash made today: 0
DAY 2
7:00 - I slept in a bit today but still headed off to the gym. Ate apple oatmeal for breakfast (with bulk oats and farmers market apples) and heated up some leftover coffee from my French press. It's cold and rainy so I make sure to bring a cotton cloth to blow my nose instead of single use tissues. It comes in handy!
12:30 - Time for lunch! I brought my own lunch again: bread with sunflower seed cheese, topped with chickpeas and a side of chia pudding. To that, I added two sugar packets since I ran out of sugar at home and we have a TON at my office. I will compost the packets since they are paper.
6:30 - Met up with a friend at Urban Vegan Kitchen and ate some AMAZING food, like vegan mac and cheese, fried plantains with rice and jackfruit, and chocolate cake for dessert. They brought the plantain peel with the dish so I put it in my jar to bring home for compost. The only trash produced was a paper napkin, which I tucked into my coat pocket for future use. We took a short walk after that to enjoy the nice evening, and I went home via the subway.
Pieces of trash made today: 1
DAY 3
7:30 - Woke up and went to the gym! When I got home I made breakfast and coffee with bulk grounds in my secondhand French press. Then I gathered all of my bags and headed to the farmer's market.
11:30 - It was gorgeous weather so I decided to walk! It took about an hour but it was such nice weather outside that it passed quickly. I dropped off my compost in one of the bins and started shopping. First stop: the apple farmer. Every few weeks I ask him to bring me some imperfect apples and he sells them to me at a great discount! I put those in my bag, and headed on down to some other stalls where I bought potatoes, beets, bread, and a daikon radish. No receipts so no trash was made here, then I hopped on the bus home.
2:00 - I was super hungry so I made some pasta with last week's leftover veg: half a portobello mushroom and a bit of green cabbage that I sautéed. I finished it off with some balsamic vinegar from a new jar a coworker had bought me. The top was sealed so I'll have to throw that bit in the garbage.
3:30 - Time to head to the bulk store. I brought a bunch of jars and produce bags and picked up some things for the next few weeks: tamari, olive oil, pasta, kidney beans, barley, nutritional yeast, red pepper flakes, maple syrup, peanuts and oats. I also got some dish soap but didn't have an extra jar so I bought one of the Common Good jars and filled it with their bulk soap; but I made a huge mess! Fortunately I had a handkerchief and last night's paper napkin in my pocket, but I still asked for a paper towel to wipe up :( however I composted it all when I got home (the hankie is 100% cotton). The only trash produced from this trip were a few avocado produce stickers, but they were final sale avocados so I saved them from landfill!
10:30 - I am going out dancing with some friends! I order my first drink in a glass but my second drink is in a metal can. I figure I'll recycle it when I get home but I end up losing track of it during the night and am not sure if the bar recycles (I assume they would as Brooklyn is a fairly eco-friendly area). I also am offered some gum and take it in my non-sober state. The paper wrap will get composted.. and I ended up swallowing the gum 😅 whoops!
Pieces of trash made today: 3
DAY 4
9:00 - I wake up a tiny bit hungover and make some zero waste coffee with some sunflower seed mylk (recipe in the notes of this picture.) For breakfast, I have some avocado with sourdough and top with chickpeas. Later, I head to the gym for a midday workout!
2:00 - I get dressed and make sure to wear something work appropriate as I'll be staying at a friend's place tonight in Manhattan. We are watching the Oscars together and her apartment is much closer to the viewing party than mine! I put on a skirt my roommate gave me with a secondhand cashmere top and some new tights my mom bought for me for my birthday. The tights are mostly wrapped in plastic but the little paper cutouts are recyclable.
4 - I'm making some apple crisp to bring to the viewing party! I peel some of my imperfect apples and add bulk ingredients like maple syrup, lemon juice, spices and arrowroot starch. For the crumble topping I add oats, flour, more maple syrup, coconut oil and vegan butter (my roommate has asked that I help her finish it!). I end up throwing away a produce sticker from the lemon I purchased.
8 - At the viewing party I used reusables to serve myself! No trash made here.
Pieces of trash made today: 3
DAY 5
7:30 - I wake up in Manhattan this morning and had the chance to walk to work! On the way I stopped at a coffee shop and drank a cup "for here". No receipt so this was a trash free endeavor.
12:30 - Lunch was oatmeal that I had packed last night along with another imperfect apple. I used two sugar packets from the kitchen which will be composted.
4:00 - Today was a very slow work day (unfortunately) but I split up the slow afternoon by munching on some chickpeas with a balsamic dressing.
5:30 - Finally out of work! I went straight home and made some barley with beets and a dressing made with bulk olive oil and some homemade ginger vinegar (sliced ginger set in white vinegar for a few days). Delicious!
Pieces of trash made today: 0
DAY 6
6:10 - Another early wake up! I head to the gym with my reusable water bottle and get a good sweat going. If you're interested in seeing my workouts, click here.
7:30 - Another easy breakfast of oatmeal with sautéed apples. I make coffee in my used steel French press with bulk coffee, to which I add homemade sunflower seed mylk. Yum!
11:30 - Feeling a bit hungry before lunch so I munch on some peanuts I brought from home.
2:45 - I eat leftover beet/barley with dressing. Slice up an apple and eat that throughout the afternoon.
6:30 - I get home and decide to make some soup! I add onion, ginger and miso paste to a pot, along with diced sweet potato and water (usually I'd add broth but I haven't made any recently!). After cooking for a bit, I add soy sauce and flat pasta in lieu of noodles and cook for 10 minutes more. The soup was delicious! I also added the sunflower seed pulp I have leftover from making milk last week.
Pieces of trash made today: 0
DAY 7
6:20 - It’s the last day of my trash diary! I wake up early and do my usual routine: gym, breakfast of oatmeal, and get ready for work. We were supposed to have a pretty bad nor'easter today but the weather isn’t too bad so far.
12:00 - Lunch is more beets with barley. To give it more flavor I added some tomato jam that we have in the office and some pepper. Like the sugar, the pepper came in a single use paper packet but I'll compost it. On my break I decide to do some crossword puzzles from the NYtimes. My office gets the newspaper every day and I make sure that they always get recycled.
5 - Got to leave a bit early today from the snow storm! I run home and immediately do some laundry with some Simplyco laundry powder (I've had it for over a year but don't plan on buying it again) and some lemon essential oil. After, I whip up some dinner: sautéed beet with balsamic and onion atop bulk pasta. I also boil another beet and some potatoes to prepare for my lunch tomorrow.
7:30 - I run downstairs to pick up my laundry and hang it out to dry all over my room. I never use the dryer so I save energy and money. Head to bed early around 9:30 after a quiet evening.
Pieces of trash made today: 0
If you’d like to see more of what my trash-free life looks like, you can follow my blog at sustainablesabs.tumblr.com and my Instagram @sustainablesabs.