My week at the beach and my week back home have been very sobering and full of waste. I didn't feel like I had a choice though. Being at the beach I was living by another families set of guidelines, and being sick made me go for so many disposable food options while I wasn't able to cook. It all made me feel terrible. Like I was pushing my principles away for comfort. Which is exactly what was happening. I learned some lessons. Prepare better. Stick to my own standards. Ask my friends for help (something I'm terrible at). It'll all go much more smoothly next time. Though I really don't want a stomach virus ever again; that was hell.
As for my road trip with my dad, I quickly realized carrying my trash around with me, even for a day, was unrealistic. Keeping it separated from his trash and remembering where I'd put my granola wrapper in my backpack from a hike and which one was from which day just got messy and was full of crumbs. I didn't like it. I kept a mental tally though. The biggest problems were paper napkins, straws at restaurants, and granola bar wrappers. The amount of granola bars we ate was absurd. But honestly other than that, there wasn't too much trash. Then also I must mention the slight guilt my father and I both felt for driving a car around that far. It is not an environmentally sound way to travel. Though we immensely enjoyed ourselves, it was the last road trip for us. We'd opt for public transportation next time while staying more in one location. Though I'm sure I'll go on a road trip again in my life, it will go a bit differently.
So changes I would have made for that trip? Well if I could have had my shopping kit with me groceries wouldn't have been a waste issue. We could have bought bulk for most things and recycled the rest. Though granola bars still pose a challenge for me. They are a camping necessity in our eyes. I'll have to keep thinking of an alternative. Next, I have GOT to learn to ask for no straw at restaurants. I hate those plastic things. I really struggle with remembering to request for no straw though. Next, dad told me was going to start carrying reusable napkins in his car which made me swell with pride. Also got him to switch from cup to cone at the numerous ice cream shops we visited. No more cup and plastic spoon for him which also makes for a happy daughter.
It's easy changes like this that can really add up to make a difference in what's going in our landfills.
Here's the trash I collected the weekend between my road trip and my beach trip.
A trash bag with an unfortunate, large gash in it found behind my desk from a previous tenant, a piece of duct tape pulled off my fan from another previous tenant, a wrapper to a fortune cookie, two wrappers from candy (oops), a large sheet of plastic from a new air filter, a bottle cap, and a sheet of plastic from a food container.
All of these things could have been avoided. Well I'm unsure about the air filter. I need those, but maybe there's an alternative. Anyways, everything else could have been avoided. Silly purchases.
I'm beginning to keep my trash again as my life is finally getting back into a schedule. I have a week left before school begins, and my schedule is solid. Later this week I plan to record my grocery shopping to give you an idea of how zero waste shopping works.
Will update soon. Pinky promise this time.
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