homepage/journal/2011-01.mdwn

Title: Going Brown: January, 2011

January 8: Getting Started
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[Neale] After seeing a documentary called "No Impact Man" in December
last year, we made a new year's resolution to reduce how much trash we
make.  We don't have a specific goal for volume, we just want to produce
as little trash as we can.

First we had to okay this with our 5-year-old daughter.  This wasn't too
hard, since every 6 months or so we pick up trash together in the vacant
lot across the street.  She's acutely aware of not only how much trash
there is blowing around town, but also what sorts of things make up the
bulk of the trash: disposable plastics.  She seemed to think it was a
reasonable thing to do, so off we go.

After cataloging everything we threw away for a week, we determined that
our trash is largely food packaging.  We are going to stop buying new
packaged food, instead running down our pantry until our new co-op
grocery store opens its doors in February.  When the co-op opens, we'll
start buying as much as we can in bulk, and the things that we can't,
we'll try to buy in minimal packaging, with an eye toward compostable or
recyclable packaging.

We rode our bikes today to the existing grocery store, to pick up some
pizza toppings.  Our new "minimal packaging" goal actually saved us some
money on mushrooms: 1½ pounds of loose mushrooms in a plastic grocery
bag we brought with us came out to the same price as the 4-ounce
styrofoam container we normally bought.  We also made friends with a
lady in the deli department when we asked if she could make thick slices
of mozarella and wrap it in wax paper.  She did go through a pair of
disposable plastic gloves, though.

When we got home, my toothbrush had arrived.  I'm trying a [wooden
toothbrush](http://lifewithoutplastic.com/boutique/plasticfree-wooden-toothbrush-adult-p-400.html)
with bristles made of sterilized boar hairs.  Amy and Ginnie are going
with a year-long [plastic toothbrush
subscription](http://www.preserveproducts.com/toothbrush-subscription.html):
every three months, the company mails out new toothbrushes made from
recycled food-grade plastics, and you mail back the old ones to be
recycled.  Every time plastic is recycled, it degrades, but recycling is
better than throwing away, and our goal this year is to reduce our
trash.

[Amy] We also did a fairly significant purge of toys, games, and
clothing recently from our closets.  We have never been the type to
stand for clutter, but clutter is what was starting to build up.  We
noticed that a significant amount of the plastic toys we purged from our
daughter's room were cheap plastic knick-knacks that were given to her
as party favors over the years.  Our goal, therefore, is to simply take
less into our home.  We would like to be a little more discerning in
what we bring through our front door, from clothing to toys to
electronics, etc.  Basically, we'd like to pretend that we have a small
Seattle apartment again, and don't have a lot of room for impulse
purchases, or things we can't immediately find homes for.