I took on this challenge with gusto on February 5th - yes, the day of the Superbowl. I made sure the snacks and beverages I prepared were made and served in reusable containers. Then, as an added waste-reduction measure, I sorted through any other materials produced by others and recycled it. One of the best parts of this is that when I pulled a bunch of paper towel out of the garbage to compost it (yeah, garbage picking...it wasn't my finest moment), I found $10!!! Being waste-free really does pay off.
As for work, everything I ate had to be packed in reusable containers and transported to and from the office. The hardest part of this was the organics...I had to bring home apple cores and banana peels in order to compost them since there were no bins at work. Everyone in the office thought I was mildly crazy for packing up a container full of organics and encouraging them to do the same, but I think they realized just how much garbage I was NOT producing with my lunches. Hopefully they've taken note of some food to prepare which doesn't produce any garbage.
Throughout the two weeks of my participation in Recyclemania I worked on getting my roommates to recycle and compost more. By the end of my challenge, February 19th, my four roommates had produced only a half-bag of garbage in a week. This is a huge improvement from before Recyclemania! In addition to the half-bag of garbage, there were two full bins of recycling and a good amount of compost. I was fairly proud of them for putting up with me every time I stopped them from throwing food in the garbage or for taking the lazy route of not recycling because they didn't want to rinse a container. We're still rocking the composting and recycling routine and producing far less garbage than before.
I think this challenge was excellent and raised awareness about how wasteful our lifestyles are. I will keep at the anti-waste regime and continue to encourage others to do so as well. Thanks for this challenge!
Cheers,
~Courtney, guest bloggerphoto credit - jonathan rausseo