Dumpster Diving at Home: A Primer
Reduce waste, you say… but how? Like any journey, unless you know where you are going you may not reach your destination.
Use this Home Waste Audit Checklist to better understand how you can reduce waste at home.
Ready, set, sort! All you need to conduct a do-it-yourself archeological waste sort is a pen and paper, tarp, gloves and a dry place in your yard or garage. Camera is optional.
Create a Waste Inventory. Right before your next collection day, spread out your tarp and empty a week’s worth of household garbage and recycling. With gloves on make piles of common items.
Next make a list of all of the single-use items you find, such as:
- Paper napkins, Paper towels, Paper plates
- Plastic silverware
- Water and beverage bottles
- Pop cans
- Paper or plastic to-go containers, Plastic food containers
- Shipping packaging
- Plastic bags, zip-top bags
- Paper bags
- Juice boxes
- Junk mail and catalogs
Take note of which materials take up the most space in the garbage and recycling bin, and anything that could be replaced by reusable items.
Replace. Once you have completed your waste inventory, look for anything that could be replaced with a reusable item and anything that could be purchased in bulk.
If your recycle bin contains plastic water bottles, think about getting everyone their own reusable water bottle. Lots of paper towels? Move the paper towel roll out of sight and replace with kitchen towels and cloth napkins. Lots of plastic or paper bags? Stock up and bring your own bags everywhere you shop.
There are reusable alternatives for just about everything, including snack and sandwich bags.
Bulk Up, Go Local. Many of our food and household products come in some kind of packaging.
Reducing packing is easy:
- Purchase local products
- Purchase items in bulk
- Shop at farmers markets
- Use cloth grocery and produce bags
Rag Time. Eliminate the need for paper napkins and towels by stocking up on cloth napkins, kitchen towels and cloth rags. Rinse, wash, and repeat.
Paper Weight. Help your recycling shed some pounds by opting-out of phone books and taking your name off catalog, junk mail and credit card distribution lists.
Dine in Style. Whether you are serving snacks, party fare or dinner for two, setting the table with washable, reusable plates will help reduce the need for single-use paper plates. Mix and match your casual dining options with plates purchased at second-hand retailers.
Zero Waste Road Map. After a few weeks of trying out your new zero waste habits, conduct a second sort. You might be surprised by how much you have trimmed your household’s waste-line!
Resources:
The Big Picture
There is us – me and you, and there is the US. Cup by cup, bag by bag and bottle by bottle, our individual actions add up to create approximately 243,000,000 tons of waste every year.
In the US we use:
- 60,000 plastic shopping bags every 5 seconds
- 2 million plastic beverage bottles used every 5 minutes
- 410,000 paper coffee cups every fifteen minutes
- 3.4 million tons of paper towels every year
- 100 million trees for junk mail every year
- 3 billion single-use batteries every year
- 10 billion paper grocery bags every year
Small changes in everyday habits can make a big impact on the waste we create.
Reduce, Reuse and Win! Do you live in Seattle or Shoreline? Learn how you can help your community win a community project!
Do you have a great idea or community waste reduction project? Tell us your story! Email the CleanScapes waste reduction team.
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