Friends. Some new developments have occurred that I am extremely excited about. My childhood and current best friend had a proposition for me. For us to combine our interests into one blog. So Zero Waste College Student is now dead. It wasn't reaching as many people as I wanted. I felt boxed in and lost most of the time.

Introducing: thetoweringoaks.wordpress.com

I'm so excited! Now don't fret, I'll still be doing a ton of zero waste posts. That's still my main focus. But we're adding new things to the mix. We're adding all that Lauren has to offer (mostly natural health and beauty products).

It's gonna be great! So please, go follow our page, and you'll get updated every time we post something which will be so much more often since there are two of us!

So very happy right now.

See you around friends,
Anna Claire

Zero Waste Grocery Shopping: Bulk // Trash Tally #3

I've managed to par down my grocery shopping to almost no landfill trash. Yes, I still have some recycling and some trash, but I'm pretty excited with how far I've come while trying to balance so much.

The key that I was missing all along was the bulk aisle at Whole Foods. It provides so many staples that I would normally buy packaged. And with my cloth bags and jars for storage, I'm set.

The things I've bought in bulk with no packaging: rice, bars of soap, garbanzo beans, granola, nuts, raisins, snack mix, yogurt pretzels, quinoa, and tea. And there are a few different items I plan to buy next time I go such as bulk spices, rolled oats, and dried fruit among other things.

With those and produce, I'm pretty much set. There's more that can be done though. I'm going to search for a bread store soon, so I can get that without the plastic bag. And of course I'm brainstorming more

If you want some bulk reusable bags, there's a lot of options out there. I own these six bags, and I really like them. You could probably use some really fine mesh ones so you can see your product more, but these allow you to write on them with a water soluble crayon. That way you eliminate the little tag with the PLU number on it. I also write the tare weight on mine to make it more efficient and easier for the cashier. So far, I've forgotten my crayon every time, so then I have to use the little tags that end up as trash. There's always next time though.

Here's what I bought on this trip (our dogs were very interested in what I was doing): Tea (not sure how long it will last as this is the first time using bulk tea); Raisins (last about two weeks); Quinoa (again, first time purchase so not sure); Yogurt pretzels (they're way too good, I expect them to be gone by the end of the week); Granola (about three weeks); and Snack mix (also really really good, but I'll stretch it two weeks); Some mixed salad (a week and a half...probably got too much); about five or six mushrooms (a week); some packaged yogurt (a week - not pictured); and finally some packaged sprouts (the strangest weakness I have, but the packaging is recyclable).

Now I know people call Whole Foods "Whole Paycheck" which I find kind of annoying, but I guess it's just a joke. The point is, this only cost $44, and I'm gonna have food for a while. I proceeded to buy package-less produce at a local market for $15, and then a few other packaged (but mostly recyclable) things for $20. These are items I buy every other week. The weeks in between I might spend $20 on groceries. So all in all that's about $200 a month on groceries.This also includes all cleaning supplies and toiletry items unless I go on a big soap run. I honestly don't think that's breaking my bank, too much. I value my health too much to live off of ramen noodles and potato chips. And I value the remaining space left on the earth too much to fill it will trash. Therefore my values are worth about $200 a month. Perhaps I am underestimating. I'm getting a little paranoid throwing these numbers out. I'll have to continue to keep track of them and update you. I'm also a little uncomfortable sharing my spendings with whoever happens upon my page, but if this is what I have to do to give you a good representation, then it's what I'll do.

I'd love to answer any questions about how I do my bulk shopping.

Lastly, I'd like to show my trash tally for the week. This trash is from last Sunday to today. I decided I'm going to leave it in the jar cause it takes way too much time to lay it out and name everything in there; however, I'm going to squish it down as hard as I can to make it uniform each time and give a visual effect of whether it's getting smaller or not.

So what's in here? A lot of tea bag packages (which I found a solution to with the bulk tea and reusable strainer); A wristband from a bar (unavoidable unfortunately); little ties from the bulk food because I left my crayon (definitely avoidable); packaging from my prescription (seemingly unavoidable, but I'll try to get creative); some tags from some new pants I had to buy for a leadership program I do (Should have taken the time to find some used khakis. They don't have the obnoxious tags that new clothes have. I usually only buy used clothes); An old stick of deodorant I found in the depths under my bathroom sink (avoidable thanks to LUSH! Something I plan on talking about later this week); Foil lids from my new contacts (avoidable when I can afford Lasik...hah); Some plastic from a shoe repair; And a two granola bar wrappers (I'm working on it I swear!)

Here's to hoping next week holds less trash. However, all the silly things I bought when I was sick will be running out soon, so I'll have to face that trash. I'll update Sunday for sure. And hopefully get another post in this week. School starts tomorrow, so I'm not sure how busy I'll be.

What was in your trash this week?

Trash Tally #2

My absence has been lying very heavily on my mind these past two weeks. Waste is something I think about literally all day long, so it isn't that I forget to update I just get so caught up in things!  My only excuse is that I had no time to update the weekend I came back from my road trip because I immediately left for the beach on Monday. Then I brought a stomach virus back with me that absolutely crippled me for about a week. I'm still feeling it some, but my health has made a huge improvement, so I'm making a come back yet again. It really doesn't feel like it's been a month. It's been one strange summer.

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.

Zero Waste Traveling: Preparation

Attempting to reduce your trash output involves a bit of planning especially with traveling. So here's a rundown of my preparation. Hoping this will minimize my impact on my travels for the next two weeks if only a little.

So first of all, I'm flying to meet my father up north for a road trip. I don't want to check a bag, and I'm trying to pack light. So as we all know, can't bring liquids over 2 ounces on a plane (or something like that). When you go through security, all liquids must be in a plastic bag and must be removed from your luggage. So to avoid use of a plastic bag, I'm using my mesh produce bags to store my tightly sealed liquids. I also use reusable little bottles for my shampoo/conditioner etc rather than buying disposable little travel sized bottles.

To avoid buying a drink or using the little plastic cups they give you on the plane, I am of course bringing my reusable water bottle which will be utilized the entire trip. I'm not sure what to do about food since I can't bring food through security. But if I get hungry, I'll try to find whatever option produces the least trash.

I'm bringing some extra reusable bags as well. And then I also am bringing some powdered laundry detergent that I made, so we don't have to use single use detergent at laundromats.

So here's the small amount of preperation I've done. Hoping this will help.

I'll report back in two weeks!

Trash Tally #1

I hate my decision to do this. It's a pretty awful thing to do. Only because I am so much more aware of what I'm producing trash wise. So here it is. The amount of trash I've produced in four days. This isn't even all of it. I kept forgetting and throwing things away. So let's take a look at this terrible quality photo.

So what I've produced: granola bar wrappers (I think I threw away a few on accident), a tinfoil wrap from a sandwich, multiple stickers, plastic wrap with tape from a tattoo I got earlier this week, a waxy piece of paper from an online order, packaging from my prescription, a huge awful piece of plastic my watch came on, one of four poptart wrappers, and two cans on biscuits. No pictured: a Styrofoam cup/plastic straw (I know, I know).

I think that's it for four days. But today isn't over. You may think, not bad. But I think it's pretty bad. I leave for my trip tomorrow morning really early. Here's to hoping that I only produce about this much on average while on my trip. And hoping that when I get back, I'll make huge improvements. I'll keep collecting in the meantime.

Still Learning

Summer yields not much free time, I've come to realize, since I haven't updated in a solid two months.

I've been distracted with travels, two jobs, and getting settled yet again among it all.

I'm currently prepping for perhaps my most exciting travels of the summer and hope to update with a zero waste travel edition. My first true attempt, I might add, so I'm guaranteeing many mistakes.

Throughout all the adventures I've had this summer, I've been thinking a lot about this task I've set myself up to and all the excuses I've made for not being further along. I've realized that there have been a ton of subconscious excuses. I have the mindset that I am a zero waste advocate; therefore, I don't produce much trash. False. Every time I'm at work and I grab a pack of peanut butter crackers "just one time" it grows into a habit. A habit I don't even realize is happening. A habit I go to every time I'm hungry at work and have peanut butter crackers wrapped in plastic at my fingertips whenever I want them. This applies to other things as well, this is just an example.

So yesterday I found a series of blogs/projects (which I will share at the bottom) that have the same general thought process as me. These people looked at the American society and how it functions. They questioned how sustainable our practices are for future generations. They decided our practices can really suck. Then they decided to change said practices in their own lives.

So I decided that I'm going to start collecting the trash I produce. Starting right this second. Anything that can't be reused, recycled, or rotted will be saved to show you before I send it off to the landfill. Maybe at the end of the week. Maybe at the end of the month. It depends on how much trash I produce. I'm not really sure what to expect honestly. I have a feeling this vacation is going to be sobering. It's harder to be zero waste when I'm on a road trip for two weeks.

Fortunately, I have a father who supports me (and even agrees with me) on my views. So maybe it won't be too bad. I suppose we'll see the beginning of August.

Wish me luck! And if you wanna try it yourself, I wish you luck as well.

http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/responsible-living/photos/9-bloggers-yearlong-green-journeys/rising-to-the-challenge

Zero Waste in College: Finals

Finals seems to be an especially wasteful time of year for college students, including myself. We eat out even more than usual, buy a ton of coffee, and use a ton of paper printing and writing on to study.

Grades are important, so I'm not suggesting you take the extra time to try and implement zero-waste practices this week. I understand how stressful this time of year is.

But I have one suggestion. To avoid spending a ton of money on coffee and five hour energy's, try out caffeine pills. It's gives you a ton of energy and the bottle can last you an entire semester. Saves money and lessens trash output. Personally, I just camp out in the library, take one of the pills, and drink a ton of water (utilizing my water bottle and the library water fountain). It helps me focus and stay awake. Drinking water is important when you take it though. Walking to the water fountain and back is a good break, ensuring you're not sitting for too long. Also, try to eat beforehand. I get really jittery when I don't.

Now, time to study for stats final. I'll be traveling a lot in the next month, so soon I'll update with some zero-waste traveling tips.

Good luck with your studies!