46 lines
2.3 KiB
Plaintext
46 lines
2.3 KiB
Plaintext
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Title: January, 2011
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January 8: Getting Started
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After seeing a documentary called "No Impact Man" in December last year,
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we made a new year's resolution to reduce how much trash we make. We
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don't have a specific goal for volume, we just want to produce as little
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trash as we can.
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First we had to okay this with our 5-year-old daughter. This wasn't too
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hard, since every 6 months or so we pick up trash together in the vacant
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lot across the street. She's acutely aware of not only how much trash
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there is blowing around town, but what sorts of things make up the bulk
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of the trash (disposable plastics). She seemed to think it was a
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reasonable thing to do, so off we go.
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After cataloging everything we threw away for a week, we determined that
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our trash is largely food packaging. We are going to stop buying new
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packaged food, instead running down our pantry until our new co-op
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grocery store opens its doors in February. When the co-op opens, we'll
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start buying as much as we can in bulk, and the things that we can't,
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we'll try to buy in minimal packaging, with an eye toward compostable or
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recyclable packaging.
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We rode our bikes today to the existing grocery store, to pick up some
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pizza toppings. Our new "minimal packaging" goal actually saved us some
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money on mushrooms: 1-1/2 pounds of loose mushrooms in a plastic grocery
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bag we brought with us came out to the same price as the 4 ounces
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styrofoam container we normally bought. We also made friends with a
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lady in the deli department when we asked if she could make thick slices
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of mozarella and wrap it in wax paper. She did go through a pair of
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disposable plastic gloves, though.
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When we got home, Neale's wooden toothbrush had arrived. He's trying a
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[wooden
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toothbrush](http://lifewithoutplastic.com/boutique/plasticfree-wooden-toothbrush-adult-p-400.html)
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with bristles made of sterilized boar hairs. Amy and Ginnie are going
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with a year-long [plastic toothbrush
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subscription](http://www.preserveproducts.com/toothbrush-subscription.html):
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every three months, the company mails out new toothbrushes made from
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recycled food-grade plastics, and you mail back the old ones to be
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recycled. Every time plastic is recycled, it degrades, but recycling is
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better than throwing away, and our goal this year is to reduce our
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trash.
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