The image above contains 42 individual photographs of my trash - 41 in pasta bags and one (the first one) in a taco shell bag. These photographs are in chronological order and document 900 days' worth of the waste that I produced and could not reuse or recycle.
If you opened up these bags, you would find plastic frozen food packaging for items such as vegetables, seafood, and pizza. You would find packaging for shredded and chunk cheddar cheese. You would find butter wrappers and plastic packaging for crackers and soft shells. You would find the greasy parts of pizza boxes (I remove and recycle the non-greasy parts) and styrofoam Chinese take-out containers. Put simply, you will find many of the decisions that I made over the course of two-and-a-half years in terms of food and packaging.
You will not, however, find many of the other decisions that I made. You would not find the cardboard and paperboard containers - the non-greasy pizza boxes, the cracker and butter boxes, the pasta boxes, etc. - that I placed in the recycling. You would not find the junk mail, the receipts, the paper instructions, and the paper bags that I placed in the recycling. You would not find the lint or the napkins, or the fruit and vegetable trimmings, or the coffee grounds that I composted.
You would not find the toilet paper, the dish soap, hand soap, toothpaste, and shampoo that I flushed or washed down drains. You would not find the gasoline and oil, electricity and natural gas that I consumed, or the air and water pollution that I produced.
You would not find the trash and recyclables and pollution produced by the people and businesses that prepared my food or created the packaging in which my food came. You would not find the trash and recyclables and pollution produced by the businesses that shipped and stocked the items that I bought.
By documenting my trash, I have helped to hold myself more accountable. Each and every decision makes a difference when you take a step back and look at all of the decisions together. One bag of trash does not seem like much, especially when it disappears from sight. 42 bags of trash, even small bags, placed in a row might illuminate the impact of your decisions. My goal is not to get to zero waste because I do not see how that is possible. My goal is to get as close as I can to zero waste with each decision.
Something to keep in mind is the idea that you will also not find other decisions that I made if you opened up my bags of trash. You will not find my decision to pass by that bag of candy or that box of cookies or that bag of chips because I decided that I really did not need them. You will not find my decision not to get a cup for water (or another beverage) at that fast food restaurant because I understood that I could easily go without it. You will not find my decision to walk to work or to the grocery store instead of drive. You will not find my decision to pass on dessert at that restaurant or my decision to use that napkin for my snack food at that potluck instead of a styrofoam plate. You will not find my decision to stay at home and not to hop in my car and make that trip to a certain destination. You will not find my decision to make due with what I already have instead of going out and getting more stuff. These are the decisions that truly make the difference. These are the decisions that help me cut down on my consumption and, therefore, help me cut down on my trash. Many of these decisions occur in a moment's time; but when you add them all up, you might just realize how important each one is.
Every little bit helps. It all adds up. Thank you for reading.
