I say "loose" research because, believe it or not, I haven't had to grocery shop since my last post. Thank you, Thanksgiving leftovers! Not having to go to the store means I haven't been looking at new products, but I have been coming up with some solutions that will work for the way we currently shop.
So, here it is-
The Plan:
1. Smart Shopping (this one is long, sorry)
- Bulk containers: my biggest concern lies with the individually wrapped items. Sure, they're super cute, and totally recyclable, but why do we need them? We don't. Solution: Buying foods like applesauce and yogurt in large containers, and then dividing them up into smaller Tupperware to take for lunch during the week. Sliced cheese is another pain in the neck- what the heck is up with those wrappers?? Solution: slice our own damn cheese! Sheesh, that was easy.
- Less packaging: this is sort of the same as above, but here I mean seriously, less packaging. Example: farmer's markets. The Lansing City Market in particular. I can buy my produce and meat there instead of at Kroger. It's fresh, it's local, and it's usually not wrapped in a bunch of plastic or styrofoam.
- Recycled content: for those of us in the recycling world, this is known as "closing the loop". Recycling is great! But how much good are you really doing if you continue to buy products made from raw materials? Buying stuff with some sort of post consumer product is a must if I really want to feel good about this project; a good example being toilet paper!
- Mail in recycling: I recently found this awesome website called Terracycle. They take all kinds of waste that isn't normally recyclable like Clif Bar and ZBar wrappers (a staple in our house) and turn it into cool new products. Since I will get into a lot of trouble if I stop bringing these things home from the store, they will be sent to Terracycle.
- Used/secondhand: Ok, I'm actually pretty cheap. I hate spending money if I don't have to, so this is something we already do. Goodwill is one of my favorite places to buy clothes, and most of our house is furnished courtesy of Craigslist.
2. Eliminating wasteful practices
- Takeout containers: what in the heck are we doing?? Multiple styrofoam containers to take home the rest of that meal you didn't even like, just to be thrown out tomorrow? Nope. I'll be investing in collapsible containers that will live in my purse and be available for those nights my boyfriend surprises me with dinner at a nice restaurant...pff.
- Paper towels: How lazy can we be? Yep, a child and pets live in this house. Paper towel is great- nasty pukey things go right in the trash and I don't have to deal with it. I've decided there is really no reason why a regular, cloth towel won't work for this purpose too.
- On that note- diapers. No, there isn't anyone here who wears them, but babies are part of "the plan". I refuse to use disposable diapers when the time comes. I was raised in cloth diapers and turned out fine. In fact, my dad still uses them as nostalgic shop rags.
3. Composting (oh oh! so excited about this one!)
- Less waste: OMG. So much of what we put in the garbage can be composted. Food scraps, tissues, you name it (unfortunately, we do have to keep disposable tissues in the house so sneezy mcsneezalot doesn't cover everything in snot...yes, that's me).
- Indoor compost: I will be ordering an indoor composter to sit on my kitchen counter and look pretty. When it's full, the materials will be taken to the:
- Outdoor compost: which I will build myself out of pallets.
- Pet waste: We have it. Lots. Turns out dirty cat litter takes up a lot of space in the garbage can. I will be building another, smaller, outdoor pet waste composter that will be kept far away from the "clean" compost.
4. Growing our own food
- Vegetable garden: this one is kind of a no brainer. Less money and food wasted. Fun hobby to keep the boyfriend and I doing things together. Use for all that compost. Since we live in Michigan, this will have to wait until the spring. Plenty of time to build a garden fence out of pallets :)
Phew. There are a ton of other details I am trying to incorporate into these 4 categories, but those will probably be fun experiments and surprises along the way.
I realized that after we make all these changes in 2014, what are the odds that we are going to go back to the way we are living right now? Slim to none. That means these changes are even bigger than I thought, and I'm pretty excited about that!
"Modern society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its lifestyle." -Pope John Paul II
