One of my new year’s resolutions was to ELIMINATE PACKAGING and stop generating the waste that has been clogging up our lives. We’re a family of six, so it feels almost impossible to eliminate packaging. But, darn it, I think it can be done.
I’ve been on an eco-friendly kick for awhile, but I thought if I wrote it down and committed to it, I would be more serious about my endeavor to eliminate packaging out of our lives. Mostly I’m thinking about grocery shopping, but, really, I’d like to stop all influx of packaging into our home.
After three weeks of a serious commitment to eliminate packaging, here’s what I’ve learned:
1. My husband thinks I’m crazy.
2. Said husband agreed that I could write the above sentence only if I explained that when he shared his thoughts on my cognitive functioning he did so while laboriously grating a bar of soap to make our own laundry detergent. He does this every three months or so.
DIY cleaning products are one of my favorite packaging reducers. Plus the detergent is awesome and only costs pennies!. A very simple way to eliminate packaging and save money is to make all your own cleaning and personal hygiene products. Mommypotamus is the best site I’ve found to show you how. You can also check out my DIY board on Pinterest.
3. It’s very hard to eliminate packaging without the support and cooperation of your spouse.
4. We’re eating tons of fruits and vegetables.
5. Produce bags should be illegal.
They are completely unnecessary. Put the fruit DIRECTLY INTO the cart. Same with the vegetables. Hey funky hippie Co-op shopper, are you listening? You don’t need to put that bunch of bananas in a plastic bag!
6. Buying stringbeans is trickier — the key is getting into the habit of BRINGING YOUR OWN REUSABLE PRODUCE BAGS.
7. We are eating lots of things you can buy in bulk: rolled oats, rice, beans, flax seeds, pistachio nuts, almonds, walnuts, etc.
8. I may never eat meat again. Because I can’t figure out a way to buy it without packaging. How did they do this in pre-plastic times?
9. My children wish to banish me from grocery shopping, since their father (see #1, #2, and #3) is happy to buy canned soups and cream cheese in plastic tubs.
10. I need to set up more TRADES. I trade homemade granola for raw milk yogurt (in a glass mason jar). It’s the most awesome trade ever. Now if I could find someone to trade homemade jam for granola, I’d have a source of packaging-free preserves.
11. My kids loved shaking cream into butter. I can buy cream in glass bottles and they can shake it up. It takes forever. But it’s fun. And the homemade butter is delicious.
12. Bread’s a problem. I buy it from the Village Baker and the clerk hands me naked loaves. But they don’t use organic flour and we run out quickly. Then I have to make bread from scratch. Yummy. And holistic. And all that crap. But it never rises high enough and the whole process is TIME-CONSUMING (and difficult to clean up).
13. Eggs are easy to buy without generating new packaging, since local farmers reuse egg cartons.
14. We’re eating a lot of eggs.
A few other thoughts on ways to reduce the garbage in your can:
1. Old maps make fantastic wrapping paper (check out the photo of some nicely map wrapped presents here).
2. Gently used gifts are more special than store-bought plastic crap. They have more meaning, being previously loved.
3. Advertising and junk mail is a huge source of unnecessary garbage. Twelve-year-olds are excellent at making calls to remove one’s name from mailing lists.
4. Why use toilet paper when you can drip dry?
5. Go commando with your garbage. You can eliminate packaging by never buying another plastic garbage bag. The first time I heard this idea I thought it was crazy. But we’ve been doing it for awhile now and it’s awesome. Turns out plastic kitchen garbage bags are totally unnecessary. Who knew?
Related posts:
Plastic Nation No More
Good Taste Means Less Waste
99 Ways to Become More Sustainable in the Next 9 Minutes
Sara Schley says
Go Jennifer!
You are a model. But I’m overwhelmed to simply remember my shopping bags and carts from home! Let alone make my own granola. (My Fri night Hallah is kick-ass though. Maybe there’s a trade there. If you come back East. . . )I’m now putting you in category with Barbara Kingsolver and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: world-class women writers and moms who inspire and I aspire to (but will never) be like. OK, maybe today’s a bad day cuz I have a cold due to hosting kids’ back to back girl then boy ten year old BDay sleepovers. (What was I thinking?? Never again!) Still, is it OK if I reduce my packaging some without having to go cold (or none cuz there’s no package for it) turkey?
Alexandra says
Love this list! Except for the drip-dry. Not ready to give up toilet paper, but I do use less. I agree on the fruit bags. I take my own. In France, the butcher would wrap a piece of meat in paper. Next time I see you, a bread-making lesson is in order.
Debbie says
People magazine recently had a story about a Mill Valley, CA family that only produces one liter of trash per year. I think they were incorrectly dramatic in the amount of waste the family has (e.g. when they got a new computer, they just left the waste at the store rather than taking it home – that’s not producing less, that’s just pushing the waste on someone else). They bring glass containers to the butcher for meat.
Jennifer Margulis says
We don’t HAVE A BUTCHER in the small town where I live. But maybe I can find a deli counter that will agree to that? The problem is that I don’t eat conventional meat (not interested in eating cows that were fed ground-up cow brains, thank you very much!) so I have to find a deli that carries grass fed, local, preferably organic meat. Or maybe start trading with a friend whose husband fishes?! I NEED to read that People magazine article!
Natalie says
It seems weird to me that you wouldn’t have a butcher in the whole town. Doesn’t your co-op have a meat counter?
Jennifer Margulis says
I got an email from a woman who is actually opening a butcher shop downtown this spring, so there’s hope. There’s no meat counter at the Co-op. The wrap EVERYTHING in plastic, and do all the cutting out of sight. But there must be a meat counter at another grocery store. I just worry about how those animals were treated … I don’t buy conventional meat because I don’t want to contribute to suffering…
Sarah Buttenwieser says
I was on a big jam making kick (just learned) this summer; my thirteen year old was reading over my shoulder & volunteered us up, if only we were local to you. I had been thinking the same thing!
I only take the plastic bags for string beans. I keep meaning to take it up a notch.
I read (in People Magazine natch) about a woman who brings glass jars to the butcher & puts her meat in them.
My husband thinks I’m crazy too. I’m sure he’d want caveats attached to that sentence; I can’t wait to hear how your changes evolve.
Debbie says
Jennifer – I’ll send it to you. The person in the article gets her meat at Whole Foods.
Natalie says
Buying non-food items from small, independent stores reduces packaging, and is a better way to spend your dollars. Our daughter received a gift card to national-chain-toy-o-rama for her birthday. When my husband and I went to pick something out for her, we were shocked. We never shop at said store. We’ve got a few small, local toy stores that we love. Not only were the toys at the chain store mostly crap, they all came wrapped in tons and tons of plastic. At the small toy stores, there are many items that aren’t in a package at all, or are in significantly less packaging. A small cardboard box is easily recyclable and possibly reusable, depending on its size and shape.
This topic is a big deal right now in Portland because we’ve been switched to an every-other week trash pick up. Recycling goes out weekly, compost and yard debris go out weekly, but still people complain about how their trash is piling up and how it stinks. (How can it stink? All of your food scraps are in the compost which goes out weekly? Plus, it’s 40 degrees out. Do you stick your head in the yard debris bin and inhale deeply?) I wrote a letter to the editor. It was the number 2 most commented on letter for a day or so 🙂
Jennifer Margulis says
Natalie,
This comment made me laugh. Can you post a link to your letter to the editor here? I’d love to read it.
Natalie says
Here you go:
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/01/stop_whining_about_garbage_pic.html
Please note that I was mortified when I noticed that I had written “20-gallon tank” instead of “20-gallon can”. I hate missing an error like that.
Jennifer Margulis says
Your letter is awesome. 119 responses! It’s too bad that so many of them are from crazy, hateful people. But it’s great that you got such a heated conversation going.
You can contact the Oregonian and ask them to fix that typo, by the way. It should be easy for them to do that on-line.
Here’s my favorite quote from your letter:
“There are dozens of small changes that Portland households could make to reduce the amount of waste that they produce, and it’s time to start encouraging those actions, rather than insisting that current habits are acceptable, sustainable or responsible. They are not.”
You go Ms. Natalie!
Natalie says
Thanks.
Paula Lynam says
Love this! I love baking bread and would gladly show you how I do it, which is not messy, complicated, or a pain in the neck in any way – and makes great bread or nan! Easy! Good for the children to do with you! Love to you!
Jessie Monter says
Love this! Your list made me laugh and is inspirational. Tell me more about what you do with produce. How do you store it in the refrigerator? I always reuse my plastic bags, but would love to avoid them entirely.
Jennifer Margulis says
Hey Jessie,
Thanks for asking! I just put the produce loose and un-bagged in the vegetable bin in the fridge. It does just fine there. Anything that wilts (which it would anyway, even in plastic) gets made into soup.
You really don’t need plastic bags!
I’ve been lobbying the Co-op to charge five cents per bag. I went to a meeting of the Board of Directors, I’ve talked to Richard, I’ve talked to Annie. I’ve written it on the suggestion board. They want to be sustainable by 2020 but they are so attached to their old ways and so far have refused to make changes.
If we charge something, even just a penny per bag, shoppers will start paying attention and only use the plastic produce bags they really need. That number is somewhere between ZERO and ONE per shopping trip!
Jennifer Margulis says
A reader shared this with me, a link to a family that aspires to live a zero-waste life:
Good idea! This family really inspired us:
http://www.sunset.com/home/natural-home/zero-waste-home-0111-00418000069984/
Alisa Bowman says
I am so happy you are doing this! This has been my goal for about two years. I am making progress, but I have a long way to go. Grains–pasta, cereal, rice–are especially problematic for us. Sometimes I compromise if I can at least recycle the packaging — like cardboard is ok, plastic not so much. It’s so true that you end up eating healthier because you eat the fresh stuff (not packaged as much) vs the packaged crap. I still have a long way to go. You have inspired me to try harder!
lilly says
Map wrapping paper is a really good idea an so unusual, I will give it a go!
Marni says
Thank you for writing this, Jennifer! I may have to renew my efforts! I used to be so mindful of packaging, but I got beaten down by my supposedly environmentally-minded and leftward-voting family. My sister called me an “Environmental Nazi” and my mom comes to visit and stashes brand new plastic Ziploc bags all around the house for me to find when she leaves. My in-laws shower Maile with plastic crap and if I ask, respectfully, for less plastic crap, my mother-in-law says “Don’t ruin my fun.” My dad said it was “disgusting and unsanitary” to reuse plastic bags (that have been rinsed and dried!) and throws them away after my efforts. And, contrary to my better judgement, the fact that I save ALL my plastic all year and recycle it in October at the Armory has lead to my feeling slightly more free to buy things in packaging. Yet I know the logic is faulty (my purchases still lead to MORE packaging being produced in the first place!).
So thank you for the reminder that others really are trying as well, even if it often doesn’t feel like it.
I’m back on the wagon.
EcoGrrl says
Thrilled to find your blog – great minds think alike! FYI on detergents – New Seasons & Whole Foods sell eco-friendly dish and laundry soap in bulk (liquid and powder) so you don’t have to grate bars of soap.
I agree with you on meat -the big problem is the laws in Oregon that ban consumers from using their own packaging for things that the store worker has to serve. So the deli loses a lot of my business!!
I just usually don’t eat bread unless it’s homemade – empty calories – but if I do, I’ll get local one and use the bag for poop collecting for my pup (whaddayagonnado).
Funny thing about the curbside composting – I rarely eat meat and when I do it’s usually boneless, so I never use the pail they provide as the non-meat items go into my own compost pile 🙂 (Yeah and the comment about the whiners on the program cracked me up too!)
Total agreement on produce bags – how can they ‘ban’ plastic bags in stores w/o banning produce bags? I grow my own greens (spinach in January has been fantastic in pots outside my front door!) and use paper bags for mushrooms that can be reused & recycled. I think people forget that plastic is not recycled into new plastic bags etc but downcycled and then discarded 🙁
My garbage is picked up monthly and I only accumulate 1/2 a container if that, but I’d like to get better, still. My current annoyance? Mixed material bubble/foil packs for pills, etc. Grr.
Natalie says
It sounds like you’re from Portland too? We just asked at New Seasons about bringing our own containers for meat and the man at the counter said (like you say) it’s not allowed. We were disappointed.
Your PlusSizePregnancy says
I am envious. This is on my list of things to attack, but I have been putting it off. I have used maps as wrapping paper and that is a fun thing! Comics also work for that. I saw that zero waste family on TV. Hard to do! I definitely am more cognizant about packaging waste than I used to be. It’s incredible how much of it there is. I am thinking if you buy meat at the butcher, at least the butcher paper would be recyclable or compostable.
Daniel Burnette says
Read your comment about bread-making. You didn’t provide many details of how you are making your dough, but I know from experience that many people use water that is too hot, the result being that they kill off most of the yeast. Don’t use water that is more than 110 degrees Fahrenheit; body temperature is best. It’s the mechanical (kneading) and chemical reaction (yeast + a bit of sugar + water) that activates the yeast and makes the bread rise, not the temperature of the water.
Once your dough is mixed, let it rise properly without overheating it (not in the warm oven, not on a warm stove top).
One more tip (once you get everything else right): use a good bread flour, such as King Arthur bread flour. It costs more than all-purpose flour but the results are worth it.
Just Jenn says
For meat you could use a vinyl coated “lunch bag” who’s top you could fold over and clip. (keep up right so no juices leak out, and use a sealant on the seams to help with this as well) Just wash and reuse.
Drip dry? Or keep a bucket with dry face clothes near by that could be washed daily. (Don’t mix them up with the ones you actually use on your face though!)
Melissa Mohr says
I have a yeast tip too: For a couple months when I first started baking bread I couldn’t get a decent rise out of it, then my sister-in-law said the yeast in the individual packets is often old and dead, and that I should buy a 1 lb bag of Saf-Instant yeast. I did, and instantly started baking awesome loaves.
Shoshanah Dubiner says
Jennifer-I loved this post. You are an inspiration. I have figured out how to make rice milk at home (rice farina+water, cooked, + a little honey+a little oil+ a little vanilla flavoring, all blended in our Vita-Mix). Only the vanilla flavoring is not available in bulk, I don’t think. I like it better than the boxed stuff at Coop that’s EXPENSIVE. Now if I can get MY husband to enjoy it…..
In the old days people took baskets to the market to carry food home in.
sarah henry says
Good on you. You’re not crazy, just conscientious. Love the maps as wrapping paper idea.