This month was a big month for me, and probably one of the most difficult of the year. As mentioned in my new year’s resolution article, February was the month for me to cut out all packaged foods. For me, I have defined this as not purchasing any new packaged foods, because if there are still some in my home during the month, it would simply just be more wasteful not to consume them. The way I have chose to define packaging is that plastic packaging of any kind is off limits even if it is recyclable. Any other type of packaging that is recyclable (metal, glass, cardboard etc.) is allowed but in very limited quantities. My reasoning for this is that plastic food packaging, when recycled, cannot be turned back into food packaging because of “possible contamination”. Additionally, it can really only be recycled about two times before it becomes unusable (where the term down-cycling comes from), whereas metals and glass can be recycled almost infinitely. The overall goal for this month and moving forward is therefore to eliminate the purchase of any packaged foods with plastic and non-recyclable packaging.

Eliminating waste from packaged foods also implies the elimination of waste from traditional single-use grocery and produce bags. I’ve been very successful at reducing my consumption of these to near zero over the past few years, so this turned out to be one of the easiest sources of waste to eliminate for me.

I started this month out by purchasing The Clean Bin Project (digital copy of course). This was such an inspirational documentary about a couple who aimed to produce as little trash as possible for a whole year. The thing that resonated the most with me from this was the incredible artwork that was featured. Chris Jordan is an amazing artist who takes traditional art pieces and transforms them into striking and impactful images. From afar, you could never tell the difference, between the original art piece and his art piece, but as you zoom in closer, you begin to see the true composition of each piece.  They are designed to add visualization to numbers, to statistics. We can put any number out there, but it is not always easy to visualize the magnitude of that number, no matter how small or large. They also symbolize the removal of ourselves from the big picture, the whole problem. If you go to the store and come home with five plastic bags and throw them in the garbage, you may think it’s not really a big deal because you are only one person, but these powerful images allow you to see just how, if every person consumes this, how quickly it really adds up. My favorite of his pieces is displayed below. This one is called “Plastic Cups” which depicts one million plastic cups, the number used on airline flights in the US every six hours.

Wait…….what?

*jaw drops* *dies a little inside*

Watching this documentary was just the kind of boost that I needed to start out the month and I would recommend it to everyone.

This month I also faced a lot of disapproval from some people around me about my zero waste endeavor. It was difficult hearing, but I defended my position about how crucial individual lifestyle changes are for the future of the planet and how we simply cannot wait for higher governments to make the necessary changes with regards to the environment and a perfect example of this is the new by-law banning plastic bags in my hometown and how it may actually be more harmful than helpful to the environment.

One of the biggest challenges I faced this month was definitely the weekly grocery shopping routine. Shopping at our usual locations/traditional grocery stores is basically impossible even in the produce section. I never realized how much food actually comes in plastic packaging until this month where I was deliberately looking for it. We ended up mostly shopping at bulk stores and tried to shop at the farmer’s market but my fear of large crowds got the better of me there and it will take while to gain the courage to return.

In terms of making mistakes, this month, there were just a few incidences of unexpected seran wrap and the roll up the rim contest at Tim Horton’s. They gave me an empty paper cup even though I had my own mug and I didn’t know what to do with it. It reminded me how much consumerism really controls so many aspects of the first world and how difficult to escape and rebel; difficult, but not impossible is what I have to keep reminding myself.

I’m looking forward to next month, which will be removing waste from shampoo/conditioner and soap. I have a few ideas in mind for how I will go about this, but I’m still open to more suggestions and ideas so please drop me a line or comment below!