Personal Trash Inventory

1. For a week, from Tuesday, March 30th to Monday, April 5th 2010, I kept track of every single item that I threw away, recording each item in a notebook that I kept with me at all times.
I honestly do not think that I throw out a lot of trash compared to the average person. Before this exercise, I didn’t really consider myself a wasteful person, but I still felt like I would consume too much sometimes. For example, that little pang of guilt felt if I forget to tell the cashier “I don’t need a bag”, or tossing away the paper/plastic disposable wrappers and sandwich boxes at Bruin Café. This exercise was really effective for me. Keeping track of every trash item over a week’s time (down to each gum wrapper or toilet paper) really forced me to evaluate my consumer impact. Now, I am much more conscious of my waste and things I put into the trash! At first, it was difficult to stick to my normal routine where I don’t consider each item I throw away because having to keep track of each thing I put in the trash made me want to reduce my waste. However, I tried to not change my routine for the purpose of documentation for this week.
2. One specific area of wastefulness was my paper waste. I was kind of shocked at the amount of paper towels that I use in the bathroom after washing my hands. Instead, I could bring a cloth towel with me, or just head back to my room to dry my hands on a bath towel. Something that I found entertaining and rather shocking was the amount of apples that I eat in a day!! I kept track of the apple cores that I threw away and found that I eat between 3 and 4 apples a day!! (Good or bad thing??)
3. From looking at my trash tally, some aspects of my lifestyle are reflected. The majority of my waste (in terms of weight) is from fruit or vegetable scraps, including apple cores, banana peels, orange peels, or melon rinds. Since I live on campus in a residence hall (Dykstra Hall), I eat most of my meals in the dining halls. They provide plates, glasses, and silverware, which are washed and reused; this is the reason why I do not have a lot of paper product waste. However, there are many instances where I wasn’t near a dining hall or restaurant for a meal, and then chose to get my food in disposable containers. Plastic water bottles, plastic cups, paper plates, plastic cutlery, and disposable sandwich boxes were all items on my list. I realize now that I could have avoided most all of these items, instead choosing reusable ones or not buying the item at all. Also, walking around campus, I began to notice that we are surrounded (even bombarded) by disposable items. No one gives a second thought to filling up a large plastic cup with soda, gulping down the drink, and tossing the cup after less than two minutes left of use. At first, I was rather angry at the universal ignorance, but then I realized that ignorance is exactly the cause of this wastefulness. No one knows any better! Our society dictates that disposable items are the norm, and to deviate from this norm is quite difficult. We, as Americans, are programmed to getting what we want, whenever we want it, even if we do not need it. For example, did I really need that BruinCafe Smoothie in the thick plastic cup with a lid and straw?? I could have settled for filling my reusable water bottle at the soda machine and adding a slice of lemon. Everyone should keep track of their trash for a week—it really opens your eyes and especially helped me determine the difference between necessities and frivolities.
4. From my week-long inventory, I learned that many of the items that I threw away could have been prevented altogether. For example, instead of choosing to eat at an on-campus restaurant where the food is excessively packaged, I could go to a dining hall and return my plate/utensils to be washed and reused. My lifestyle is very different from the one advocated in the first few chapters of Radical Simplicity. On page 5, Jim Merkel states that it is “challenging…to say no to what just seems normal to have” and I found this to be extremely true. We are programmed to use disposable items and to change this requires a change in our entire society. Global Living asks you to evaluate the material and non-material aspects of your life in regards to the environment and your surroundings; I have found that there are many other options and activities that do not require wastefulness (such as spending time outdoors instead of going on a shopping spree, for example). Although Jim Merkel's case is quite radical, there is definitely much to be learned from his actions. I hope that it causes each reader to truly reflect on their lifestyles and reevaluate their place on this earth.