For the make up game for #Photogames we were asked to submit New.
This collage picture represents a NEW IDEA for me....that I can and should reduce my waste.
Recently, I began to realize that I can and should reduce my waste. I grew up in consumer, convenience driven America. The culture is to buy; and buy a lot of things; and buy a lot of new things. Little thought is given to how much is coming into our lives or where it goes when we throw it out.
One of the reasons I’m thinking a lot about consumer culture and wastefulness goes back to a vivid moment in December. I spent part of December visiting my mom and during this visit, we made a trip to the landfill to dispose of her trash. Because I put my trash in a bin and it is taken away by curbside pick-up, I hadn’t thought very seriously about where it goes or how it affected the environment. I don't completely live in a bubble I know that there are landfills, I just had never been to a landfill before. I also know that there is a lot of plastic in the oceans so I reused the thin plastic grocery bags as trash liners; occasionally I even used my own bags at check out.
Since that experience seeing the landfill and then further educating myself by doing research online and watching videos about zero waste, I have been making very deliberate changes in what I purchase. I’m now shopping in ways that reduce my waste. Here’s a comparative visual example of how I’m changing both my awareness of/response to the presence of single-use plastics in food packing:
This is an example of buying walnuts with and without waste
I chose this example because in American we shop a lot. One thing we buy a lot of is food and boy do we have a lot of grocery stores. I just did a search on google maps from my location (work) there are 37 grocery stores in a 5 mile radius.
When possible, I now buy in bulk
Walnuts incute homemade cloth bags
Reusable bag used at check out
The walnuts in an up-cycled cute glass jar
The walnuts in this great Abeego reusable beeswax wrap for transportation to work
The many prepackaged options
Walnuts packaged in single use plastic
Bag given out at check out at Trader Joe's
Put my walnuts in a Ziploc sandwich or snack bag for transportation to work
This is the start of my journey of reducing my waste, especially plastic and making different choices, especially a commitment to be kind and take care of our beautiful earth.
What makes me really amazed is that I was content living with the waste I produced and now that I have had a paradigm shift and this new idea has taken hold I don't want to live that way anymore. Yes, it takes effort. Effort that I am willing to give.
I have so much more to learn. This idea has led to others that I am also exploring such as; gardening, and now composting, less waste in hygiene and cleaning supplies.