Flushing Forests and Fridays - Day 5

On flushing and dining out.


TGIF. Friday is the breath of fresh air everyone loves in anticipation for the weekend. Closing lids on laptops in exchange for clicking glasses at happy hour are sweet sounds of any Friday repertoire. 

This week, I've logged the two most common questions I’ve received: “how do you go to the bathroom?” and “how do you dine out?”. 

On flushing, I have been able to quickly answer with my 4-square rule and pending bidet installation. But digging into the numbers, there is a world of information devoted to “flushing forests” with an acute focus on America's obsession with toilet paper use compared to the rest of the world. In 2014, the world per capita consumption of toilet paper was reported at an average of 8.3 pounds per person per year. However, the American per capita consumption was at the highest end of the range at 50.7 pounds of toilet paper used per person per year. That’s about 57 sheets per day at a cost of about $74 per year on paper just to wipe our bums. For contrast, Sub-Saharan African countries sit at the lowest end of the spectrum at 0.9 pounds per person. This disparity made me realize just how thoughtless and consumptive we can be with our toilet paper usage.

Don't hate me, I love felines.

Toilet paper rolls, after all, are trees. The production of toilet paper accounts for 15% of the world’s deforestation. The World Wildlife Fund converted our global toilet paper usage to trees flushed to awaken people to the damage associated with our rolling obsession: 270,000 trees are flushed or dumped in landfills every day.

Since I know the bidet is an extreme option for most, the second best and most practical solution is increased thoughtfulness. Next time you visit Johnny (Nanny Labruto joke), consider limiting your squares. You’ll directly contribute positively towards some of the world's grand challenges. 

On dining out, it is seldom you’ll find me sitting at home on a Friday night given the endlessness of New York’s diverse eating options. I love using Friday nights as a way to catch up with friends over a good taco (or five) and some music.

This Friday, one of my best friends came in to the city for the day, so we took a walk after work. In the 90 degree heat, we opted for a great waste-free treat (total waste-free life hack here): ice cream in a cone. We specified no napkin and no paper around our cone, and we were served a top-to-bottom eatable treat.

In the evening, I headed out for an evening at Rockwood Music Hall for a show with friends and then to the Taqueria on St. Marks (cactus tacos for the win). As I explained my waste-free mission to my friends, they quickly helped me come up with solutions to ensure every step of our Friday night was waste-free:

Attitude: First and foremost, eating and drinking out waste-free requires a healthy dose of gusto that I’ve had to cultivate over the week. Share your ambitions with your friends, waiter, or bartender. Inform them that you are going waste-free upfront before you place your order so that they understand your goal. You will be surprised with how supportive everyone will be in reducing your waste to zero. They deal with a ton of waste every minute, so your request will often be greeted with refreshing support. 

Food to go: If you are at a bagel shop or getting food to go, ask for your item (i.e. bagel, sandwich, wrap) to be served on a real plate, even if it is to-go. Bring your handkerchief, and transfer your food over from the plate to your hankie to go waste-free.

Sit-down dining: Use context clues around you to check out food on other tables to figure out how your meal will be served. When you place your order, clarify if any paper will be served with your meal (trust me, waiters and waitresses have heard worse requests). Tacos, for example, are often served in reusable red plastic bins with paper underneath. Instead, ask for your meal on a real plate or hand over your clean hankie instead of using paper in the tray. You will help chip away at the downstream waste produced by restaurants. The average sit-down restaurant in America produces 410 pounds of waste per day.

Food: Order appropriately to limit food waste. 49 million pounds of food waste are produced annually from full service restaurants in America that went straight to the landfill. If you are the type of person that typically doesn’t finish your meal, consider bringing along this collapsible and washable doggie bag called the FlatOut container that can easily be thrown in your purse or backpack.

At a bar: At bars, simply ask the bartender or server for your drink without a napkin, straw, or fruit rind. That has covered all of my bases. If you are going to grab a beer, ask for a beer on tap and save a bottle.

Coffee: Get your reusable tumbler or on-the-go mug...now! Coffee and plastic cups are major waste offenders (per Day 1: 2.5 million plastic cups are thrown away every hour in America).

Dining out waste-free is totally do-able. That said, the gratification of making your meal waste-free is hard to beat. More reason for me to hop up and water the garden!

Total daily waste: two fruit stickers (plums are irresistibly in season)

Up next: traveling waste-free. 

Silence and Noise - Day 4

On concerts and shows.

Since February, I had been looking forward to the July 9 Punch Brothers concert in Prospect Park. If you haven’t listened to them yet, check them out. Their talent is off the charts.

All week, I was mapping out how to have a successfully waste free concert on Thursday evening. Here was the plan:

1. Head to the Merchants and Advocates of Great Beer on Orchard Street and pick up my very first growler (~$5)
2. Fill up the growler with some local beer on tap
3. Pack 4 mason jars for my friends and me
4. Bring the funk
5. Head to the show

Growlers, half-gallon refillable beer jugs, are refilled straight from the tap and are a great way to limit your waste on beer cans and bottles. A one-time purchase of a growler can last a lifetime and save you a ton of money. Refills for the entire half-gallon range from $4 to $15. Freshly refilled growlers have a shelf-life of 7-10 days and around 2-3 days once opened. With the rise in microbreweries, growlers are the ideal waste-free solution to try a new beer on tap and even save some for later. While I am hardly a beer or alcohol connoisseur, the idea of supporting local breweries totally works for me.

Rushing to the show to stand on line early, I decided to re-check what time the doors opened and saw some very disappointing news: no alcohol allowed.

In a moment of disappointment, I brought my growler back home to save it for another social event (must be within 7-10 days, so friends are welcomed over this weekend!).

Heading to the show, I hung my head in dismay as I purchased some pink lemonade in lieu of beer. While I intend to recycle the bottle, I learned that researching and planning ahead is critical. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Farm on Adderley was catering for the concert, who uses 100% paper-based compostable plates and bowls.

  

After the show, I was impressed not only by the performance but also by the lack of trash I noticed at the Prospect Park Bandshell. However, this concert was certainly an outlier.

Concerts and festivals are notorious offenders for waste, and there are interventions you can take to lighten your contributions to the vast amount of garbage left behind. Ironically, the Global Citizen Earth Day Concert this year on the National Mall left behind an inordinate amount of trash.

The Association of Festivals (who knew this existed?) estimates that 80% of trash left behind at festivals is from campers and day-goers. Nearly 70% of the waste is bottles, cans, food scraps, and paper while the remainder is typically sleeping bags, chairs, gazebos, and clothes. I've seen a few pairs of pants lying around after festivals myself and have been very confused. Dude, you left your pants?!

Very timely, the Guardian just released an article titled "The cost of staging a music festival: 'We spent £30,000 on the waste'". In the article, it breaks down the cost of where you $100 concert ticket money really goes. Let's take a 10,000 person event with tickets at $100 each. That's $1 million in sales. Security can run upwards of $200,000 or more. Electricity at such an event runs about $110,000, and waste-hauling and management, toilets, and trash bins land as the highest cost at about $300,000. The worst part? This is essentially a one-time investment on an open green field that disappears in the following days, leaving a pretty unsightly environmental footprint. 

At events like Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Bonnaroo, the environmental problems stack up quickly and trash is the leading cause of problems as over 100,000 people assemble to party for days. For some insight, Burning Man and Bonnaroo have been highlighted as progressive recycling venues with composting and free water. Especially at Burning Man, participants are encouraged to leave no trash behind. Coachella and Lollapolla, however, have been cited as egregious offenders for waste generation. The worst festival? South by South West, due to the number of attendees and difficult-to-manage sprawling venues. The streets are often littered with thousands of band fliers trying to attract SXSW goers to their shows. 

There are options, however. A Greener Festival is taking on the challenge of greening events. They can be hired in tandem with event companies to run a light-carbon footprint event. Organizations are stepping up to the challenge of cleaning up the aftermath of our love for music.

As a concert-goer (or tailgater), here are some ideas for ways to go waste-free:

• Mason jar: Not only are you the trendiest cup-holder at the show, but you can also refill with water or other beverages at any time. You can put the lid on it shake your drink or keep it in your bag to drink it later.
• Bandana: You can use it to tie your hair back, pat yourself dry after a solid dance session, or use it as a napkin when eating. To be honest, I use my hankies all the time in life. Once you go handkerchief, you'll never go back.
• Drawstring bag: A bag is always useful to carry snacks like dried nuts and fruit at concerts or after the show. You can also throw recyclable or compostable stuff in it in case there are limited options at the venue.
• BYOS: Bring your own silverware. I keep a foldable spork in my bag. You never know when you will have a meal on the go and don't want to waste yet another plastic fork or spoon.

You can also volunteer to help clean up afterwards at shows and patron events that have eco-consciousness as a priority. 

As a festival, concert, or party planner, here are some ways you can reduce your waste:

• Allow the use of only biodegradable disposables or re-usable cups and plates at stalls or in your house (or better yet, use real if you are hosting a house party!)
• Provide separate bins for recycling
• Utilize volunteers and potential sponsorship for the clean-up and sorting efforts
• Offer separate bins for waste and recycling
• Involving the crowd by supplying recycling bin bags and have the band make an announcement about the options available

As promised, waste-free lunch side idea: watermelon and mint salad.

• 1/2 watermelon
• Freshly picked mint or mint from a farmer's market

Simply carve out the watermelon and chop up the watermelon inside and mint. Use the watermelon rind as your bowl for a truly waste-free, no dish meal. The flavors together are marvelous in the summer for a refreshing lunchtime snack. I would suggest composting the watermelon rind and buying a mint plant for $3.99 for a forever supply of mint. Basil, lettuce, cilantro, and parsley are also very easy to grow at home.

Total daily waste: one pink lemonade bottle.

Over the weekend: traveling waste-free.

Treading (and Threading) Softer - Day 3

On clothes, mail, and friends.

"Every straw counts."

My friends and I made time yesterday evening to catch up and grab a drink. Upon arrival, I was greeted by a chorus of stories. "I declined a plastic bag today after I got my salad at lunch." "Leslie, I used my Nalgene all day today. No plastic bottles!" They also had my back when grabbing me a drink at the bar: no straws, no napkins, no fruit rinds. 

Today was incredibly gratifying. Not only did I officially achieve a zero-waste day, but I also saw the impact this experiment is already having on others. Between text messages from long-lost friends sharing their interest in going waste-free to emails with ideas containing more waste-free alternatives, I am more encouraged than ever.

Waking up, I knew it would be a typical Wednesday: go to work, run some errands, and grab a drink with some friends. Yet still, two unforeseen and thought-provoking challenges presented themselves.

On my way to work, a cute top in a store window caught my eye. So, I popped in. 

Like most orthodox shoppers, I browsed, deliberated, and took 5 items to the dressing room. 2 didn't fit quite right but the other 3 looked pretty good. Contently, I headed to the checkout. And then I realized: the tags.

With deeper thought, the tags were only a fraction of the problem. I was about to add more clothing to a packed arsenal of clothing at home. I was also on the verge of consuming brand new materials without truly considering the long-term waste consequences. After all, all clothes wind up with an expiration date in our closets. 

Trying to pack my closet circa 2010

Trying to pack my closet circa 2012

On clothes, the average American spends $1,100 per year on clothes while the average Manhattanite spends 4 times that amount: $4,400 per year or $362 per month. According to the Wall Street Journal, despite this accumulation of clothing and spending of money, only about 20% of the clothes in a person's closet are worn on a regular basis. And the most disappointing reality of it all? The exhilarating feeling of buying a new items on average lasts about 2 weeks. After that, your "new top" becomes "another top". 

The numbers behind the fate of clothing are staggering. In New York City, clothing accounts for just over 6% of all garbage. That's 386,000,000 pounds (!) of clothes tossed annually. On a whole, America consumes 25 billion pounds of new textiles.

For the purpose of going waste-free, let's assume we are clothing donators with the intention of recycling all purchases to a thrift shop or donating it to a good cause (i.e. Goodwill, Salvation Army) at some point in the future.

In New York City, the Salvation Army alone receives five tons of clothing per day, and they are struggling to keep up with the supply. The sheer volume of discarded yet still wearable fashion illustrates the way we view clothing in our day and age: totally disposable. 

According to the Atlantic, about 45% of donated clothes are worn again. 30% are cut down and used as industrial rags (yep, your Michael Kors dress has a 30% chance of becoming an industrial rag). 20% are ground down and reprocessed as carpeting or insulation. And the final 5% are deemed immediately unwearable and sent directly to the landfill. At the end of our clothes "second life" as a donated item, industrial rag, or carpet, nearly 100% ends up in the landfill.

What about clothes sent to developing countries? It is easy to conjure up an image of a less fortunate child receiving our old tee shirt or barely worn shoes. We contently place our clothes in a damp donation bin, feeling great about our decision to help those living in squalor. After researching what I too hoped would yield a rosy, humanitarian picture, I found a much grimmer, even greedier truth.

Clothing deemed "wearable enough" in the third world are hardly donated. Clothes are shipped in containers by the tons to countries like Ghana, Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Tanzania, and Rwanda. One hundred pound bales of clothes are sold to from the port recipients in country to local sellers. The cost of one bale is about the cost of feeding a family of five for a month in a country like Cameroon. The bales are not opened until after a purchase is made, meaning that the buyer in one of these countries is at the mercy of whatever snap decision was made at a recycling center in America. If a shirt has a hole or a zipper is missing on pants, the buyer in Africa pays for the oversight. 

Photo taken following a "bale sale" in Cameroon as a seller reviews her newly acquired inventory

If these downstream stats don't get you off the clothes buying gravy train, perhaps a quick look at the upstream stats will. China's textile industry accounts for 54% of the world's total. The industry as a whole generates 3 billion tons of soot per year. A single mill in China uses about 200 tons of water for each ton of fabric it dyes; as the global water crisis grows, many rivers in China are dyed "the color of the season" as untreated toxic dyes wash off from mills. 

So, next time you go shopping, first ask yourself if you truly need the item. Otherwise, consider having a clothing swap with friends or family (nothing warms my heart more than seeing my sisters wear one of my past purchases) to give your clothes a shot at a longer lifetime. 

Better yet, there are a number of places in New York like Buffalo Exchange and across America like Crossroads Trading that will buy your name brand clothing. Similar to a consignment shop, you can opt to get cash for your clothes or opt for store credit for even more value. Clothes are bought, sold, and traded locally. This system keeps clothes on the market for a longer period of time and in essence "upcycles" your clothes. 

As for me, the next time I walk past a store window, all I will be able to see are future industrially re-purposed rags on plastic mannequins. 

After work, I headed home and checked the mail. As I weeded through the advertisements, credit card offers, and magazines, I realized I was holding another pile of trash. 

On mail, mail is difficult because you don't have complete autonomy over what you receive. In fact, in America we receive an average of 41 pounds of unwanted junk mail or catalogs per year. That said, there are some practical and creative ways to avoid receiving paper in your inbox:

• For the serious junk mail collectors, CatalogChoice and 41pounds.org can stop 80-95% of unwanted catalogs and junk mail that comes to your doorstep
• Digitize your magazine selection; nearly every magazine has an electronic version that you can view on a computer, tablet, iPad, or even phone
• Credit card companies offer paperless options (great point, Abby!). Log into your accounts online and make sure you have checked paperless on all aspects of your account (bye bye credit card offers)
• For the artsy-type out there, make use of cards or postcards that you receive by hanging them up in quirky places or collaging them into a cooler art piece for your desk or home

While I am on the topic, email is a great alternative to snail mail despite the lack of romanticism associated with it. If you email inbox is clogged up and frustrates you too, check out this amazing start-up: unroll.me. It sifts through your inbox and allows you to unsubscribe to any and all listserves to which you are subscribes (yes, I found out I was subscribed to a defunct Daily Magic Trick listserve). In fact, I was subscribed to 216 listserves and didn't even realize it. Now I am down to 12.

Final thoughts:

Waste-free eating can be challenging as I am learning first hand. I strolled around Whole Foods in the evening and realized that the entire middle of the store and even parts of the perimeter were off-limits. Therefore, I wanted to share my favorite breakfast recipe today, dabble in some lunch recipes tomorrow, and share some dinner recipes over the weekend. Enjoy!

Waste-free "Ola Granola"

2 cups whole rolled oats
1/2 cup raw, whole almonds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2  teaspoon cardamom 
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 cup real vermont maple syrup
3 tablespoons light agave nectar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup dried cranberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Stir together the oats, almonds, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, spices and salt in  a large bowl.

2. Combine the maple syrup, agave, and vegetable oil in a small bowl and then mix with the dry ingredients.

3. Spread the granola out on a nonstick sheet pan or a regular sheet pan covered with parchment paper and coated with a little vegetable oil.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until evenly browned. Let cool and add cranberries. 

Total daily waste: nada!

Tomorrow: how to go to a concert, waste-free.

Packaging Predicaments - Day 2

On stuff.

Well, this arrived today.

It had slipped my mind that I ordered a frame online about two weeks ago for my newest art addition. Turns out, I'm hardly the only person receiving cardboard boxes in the mail. In fact, Amazon alone ships 608 million packages per year (that's over 69,000 cardboard packages per day) and hit a record 310 products sold in one second last year. 

Inspired by my unpleasant delivery this morning, today is devoted to exploring (1) packaging; (2) needs vs. wants; and, as promised, (3) bidets.

On packaging, I felt compelled to dig into the data behind shopping locally versus the one-click Amazon Prime luxury using two metrics: carbon footprint and total waste.

Throwing on my research cap, this study quantified the difference in carbon emissions between items ordered over the internet and those purchased in brick and mortar shops. Tracking over 40,000 online orders and in-store shoppers, data scientists found that at short distances-- less than 8.6 miles one-way-- in-store shoppers had a lower carbon footprint than online customers per transaction. Emissions per product, however, increase dramatically if individuals travel longer distances by car or public transportation for an item that could be more efficiently transported by one mass-delivery truck.

From a waste perspective, in-store shopping allows more autonomy and control over waste generate with the use of reusable bags. You also get a dose of human interaction and product engagement that Amazon can't provide. That said, when Amazon is the only option for your obscure item (like men's handerpants underwear gloves??), most of the corrugated cardboard boxes sent by Amazon are 100% recyclable for use in other paper products. In New York, recycling is actually the law. While many managed buildings will sort recycling for tenants, you can use this handy collection finder to learn more about when recycling pick-up happens near you.

The other option to recycling is upcycling, which is exactly what I intend to do with my cardboard foe at home. Since I have a number of packages I need to send, I am repurposes this monster box into a number of smaller boxes. Not only will I save money on the boxes, but I can make the boxes fit to scale for the items I am sending. There are plenty of other upcycling ideas for boxes and products, like my trusted watering can made from an old juice bottle.

We also decided to create an upcycled table for our rooftop garden. Instead of paying for a new table, my co-urban farming boyfriend and I were able to construct a table out of a table top and two salted jellyfish boxes we found on the sidewalk on trash day. Total cost: $0. Total hipster factor: 10/10.

Long story short, try to source your products locally within 8.6 miles from your home. If not, dedicate time to making your product or explore thoughtful online purchases by researching compostable or recyclable options. The Life Without Plastic online store is a great search engine to begin your low-waste hunt.

On needs vs. wants, I looked at my new art frame and realized this was definitely a "want". Did I need it? Probably not. Next time you catch yourself saying "I need a manicure" or "I need a new shirt", perhaps correct yourself and recognize that it is a "want". Before you start reducing, reusing, and recycling, see if you can start refusing.

Needs, however, still exist. On household "needs", here are some options worth exploring with helpful links. In my opinion, all are totally worth the investment to start changing your habits towards zero-trash:

• Toothpaste = make your own with just coconut oil, baking soda, and peppermint extract
• Toothbrush = compostable toothbrush 
• Dish sponge / washer =compostable brush available at ABC Home near Union Square or online
• Make-up = Go raw (really like the Raw Beauty Talks blog and Instagram account) or use TerraCycle to send in old make-up for recycling as to not disturb your beauty routine
• Make-up remover = Muslin make-up remover clothes and coconut oil
• Toilet paper = bidet (see below)
• Paper towers / napkins = handkerchiefs (buy online or at your local thrift store) 
• Feminine products = there are two options worth exploring: the Diva Cup and cloth menstrual pads (who knew such things existed)
• Shampoo and Conditioner = refill bottles with CommonGood in NYC (or Google search "refillable shampoo and conditioner in [where you live]")
• Laundry and Dish Soap = also refillable with CommonGood in NYC
• Lotion = Yep, CommonGood in NYC strikes again 
• Deodorant = Make your own at home using baking soda, coconut oil, corn starch, and lemon extract

On bidets, I received a lot of great feedback from readers after instating my 4-square toilet paper rule on Day 0. For starters, I had no idea bidets could be purchased at Home Depot for a mere $39 and installed in less than 5 minutes at home. The convenience factor is compelling. From a sanitary perspective, washing with water instead of wiping has been identified as more hygienic germ for germ than toilet paper alone. Water is cleans more gently than toilet paper when it comes to the dirty work and is waste and bleach free.

Using toilet paper adds up; my bidet-using friends informed me that their toilet paper consumption has dropped about 75% since adding a bidet to their bathrooms. In America, we use 34,000,000 rolls of toilet paper from 221,000 trees every single day. Thanks to Jesse for picking me up a bidet from Home Depot today. Installation to follow.

In summary:

• Shop local or put in the extra research to make your own stuff at home
• Add two "R"s to the environmental mantra: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rot
• Assess wants versus needs; for both, think of ways you can upcycle material
• Bidets for the win
• Handkerchiefs and reusable cups are still ranked as my #1 and #2 saving graces in significantly reducing my waste

Two final closing thoughts:

1. One of the greatest hours of my day where I can truly turn my brain off from thinking about living waste-free is the hour spent exercising and being outdoors. Since beginning my week, I've taken two long runs with no wallet in hand. Whether its walking, running, or even meditating, everyone owes themselves an hour to connect without consumption. I also encourage readers to check out Headspace, a highly effective, fun to use meditation app that blossomed out of the UK. I meditate nearly every morning to gain thoughtfulness, and it has changed my life in unthinkable ways. 

2. Since today was a non-compost day at Union Square, I brought my empty one-quart yogurt container to work as my temporary compost bucket. I'll venture out tomorrow to compost the waste. In the meantime, I will shamelessly continue to ask for my food to be served on my handkerchief, waste-free.

Total daily waste: one rubber band from the celery above (I plan to re-purpose the rubber band somewhere in the garden)

Perk of the day: Did you catch the Humans of New York post on consumption today? If not, check it out on the link above. Also, feeling the love in my subway station!

Know Your Waste - Day 1

On food, beverages, and basic products.

I woke up this morning and instinctively reached for a tissue. Not this time.

Within the first thirty minutes of my consciousness this morning, I started mapping out my day realizing that I needed a no-waste solution for, well, everything. Armed with my mason jar of homemade granola, food for most of the day picked up at the Tomkins Square Farmer's Market yesterday, and two handkerchiefs, I set forth to tackle the day, waste-free. 

A slightly heavier commute this morning

Today, I learned three things: (1) there's always a waste-free option if you're willing to get creative; (2) plan ahead; and (3) you have more support systems around you than you could imagine. 

On Day 1, I want to cover the basics: zero waste drinking and zero waste food. 

On beverages, the solution is remarkably simple and empowering: get a reusable cup. Ditch the plastic and paper cup. My reusable cup has already gotten a ton of mileage. Not only were my baristas more than happy to fill my own cup with coffee at Roasting Plant, but they also incentived me with an $0.20 BYOM (bring your own mug) discount. It might not seem like much, but $0.20 for each working day means an annual savings of $50 over the whole year. That's $16 extra coffees. That's also the price of a TI-89 calculator on Craigslist (cue inside jokes on my love affair with scientific calculators). 

Better yet, making your own coffee and tea is cheaper and compostable. At work, I brought my trusted $0.99 tea strainer and some recently acquired loose leaf tea to keep me going through the morning. Tea leaves, coffee grinds, and even paper coffee filters can be added to most compost piles covered below. 

You see, here in America as the world's most coffee-addicted nation, we consume 400 million coffee cups per day according to Harvard's School of Public Health's National Coffee Drinking Trends study (yep, that study exists). And yet, per the EPA, the average American office worker still uses about 500 disposable cups each year that go straight to the landfill. Aside from coffee, we rip through 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour and only about a quarter are actually recycled. 

All of this doom and gloom can be solved with one reusable cup. 

Throw a mug or cup from home in your bag, bring it to work, and you'll make a rewarding first step towards being a zero-waste hero. 

On food, I was introduced to urban composting the hard way. After munching on the cherries, strawberries, and apple I brought to work, I realized that the pits, stems, and core were not going to settle very well in my stomach. The pits, stems, and core stared at me at on my handkerchief, and I realized I needed to find a way to get these back to the Earth.

Enter GrowNYC, a great organization in the city that provides free services and tools across all five boroughs to improve the city and the environment. A quick Google search showed me that on Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays, and Saturdays, GrowNYC accepts food scraps at Union Square, along with 38 other locations across the city. GrowNYC compost is transformed into fertile soil amendments used in local urban farms. 

Why compost? Food in New York comprises 1/5 of our waste. In landfills, it adds to disposal costs as it needs to be separated from inorganic wastes. Further, when food breaks down in landfills, it can create additional greenhouse gas emissions. When composted, however, food scraps become nutrient-rich sources for soil and improve the quality of our soil, trees, and gardens. 

What constitutes compost? GrowNYC accepts fruit and vegetable scraps, non-greasy scraps like rice, bread, and pasta, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, egg and nut shells, pits, and cut or dried flowers. So, eat up all your meat folks. 

After dumping my compost at Union Square, I couldn't resist picking up some snacks for the afternoon at the Farmer's Market. I found these carrots, asked the seller if I could cut the roots off after purchasing them, disposed the roots in the compost, and carried 15 delightfully decapitated carrots into my reusable bag for some afternoon snacking. 

I also couldn't pass up this three-ingredient sourdough bread loaf. 

"1/4 loaf please, hold the bag."

So, place a glass Tupperware or old yogurt container on your desk and you have yourself a compost container. Collect your scraps and on your lunch break, get some fresh air, walk with purpose, catch up with an old friend, and head to the nearest compost center. No matter what city or town you live in, I would suggest a quick Google search on your nearest compost center if you can't do it yourself at home. 

As they say, make landscapes, not landfill (common phrase, right?). Regardless, I can get behind that.

In summary:

• Invest in a reusable cup or mug; bring it to work
• Invest in a Nalgene and refuse all plastic bottles, especially water
• Put a small container on your desk or in your kitchen for food scraps
• Spend 60 seconds researching your nearest compost center

On tomorrow's docket: zero-waste hygiene, debunking the bidet, and the easiest way to live a waking hour waste free. 

Later this week: no-waste/no-awkwardness socializing and the realm of possibilities for zero-waste household products.

Total daily waste: 1 toothpick (thanks tempting apple samples, you always win)

Prep - Day 0

Seven days, 168 hours, zero trash.

I moved to New York City exactly nine months ago, and for all of the urban beauty, bewilderment, and bustle that has cast its spell on me, I cannot overlook the ubiquitous and dolefully iconic trash bags. According to the NYC Mayor's Office official website, New York City generates 14 million tons of waste annually at a cost of $300 million for residential waste alone. Per capita, that translates into 12.78 pounds of trash per person per day sent straight to the landfill. 

12.78 pounds. When I first ran the math behind the number, I figured I had to be a low-waste outlier. There was simply no way I generated two new born babies' weight in trash per day. But then, after inventorying my waste for about four weeks, glancing guiltily at my filled trash can at work, and logging the number of workouts per week hauling 3-4 trash bags full of waste up and down my four story walk-up, reality hit and hit hard: I am a waster.

This week, I am committing to a zero waste life. That means no plastic coffee cup for my ritualistic 7:45am iced coffee from Roasting Plant, no straws or napkins accepted with my aperitifs, no plastic bags to weigh my bulk items at Whole Foods, no purchased food in a container (baskets of fruit included) or wrapper, no tissues, no printed paper, no salad bar containers, no nada. Zero waste.

For one week, I will chronicle the decisions, lessons, tips, products, stores, recipes, successes, and painfully awkward social moments associated with living waste-free in New York City. After one week, I hope to provide an honest assessment of if the rewards of thoughtfully living waste free outweigh the daily inconveniences of a choosing such a life. 

To kick start this journey, let me share some self-imposed rules and boundaries (yes, I can still go to the loo) and the prep I have done over the past month to gear up for my zero waste week.

The Rules:

• No trash shall enter a public or private trash can
• Unavoidable trash that is handed to me, such as receipts, will be documented and handled responsibly
• "Trash once removed" where a third party has assumed the waste I would have generated, such as salad bar food or dry cleaning, is considered waste and will be avoided
• If I owned it before starting this week, it's fair game (i.e. shampoo)
• Biogenic waste will be treated with a 4-square maximum per visit (Do you really need any more toilet paper than 4-squares? Are 25-squares really necessary?)
• Water will be conscientiously conserved 

The Prep:

• 6 bandannas purchased, in lieu of napkins, paper towels, and tissues

• 16 oz. reusable cup
• 400 mL Nalgene
• Urban rooftop garden growing cilantro, basil, lettuce, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, kale, and mint

• Pyrex glass tupperware
• Bento bags

• Reusable shopping bags
• Exploration of nearby Farmer's Markets

A moment of gratitude before I venture into the proverbial wild to those who have supported and/or inspired this initiative: Nanny, Mom, Julie, Nicole, Jason, Liz, Lindsay, Naveed, Brandon, Adriane, and Karen.

And so, tomorrow starts day one of a softer tread on planet earth.