I found that my trash bin wasn't as full as I thought it might be on the night before waste pickup! My highest items were:

• food packaging (snack wrappers of my daughters, frozen food packaging, meat wrapping, etc.)
• paper towels
• coffee grounds
• disposable cups/straws

 

Since realizing that we use A LOT of paper towels, I'm looking into just using cloth towels. I'm unsure what that will look like for my family. Perhaps getting a glass jar and wrapping thin towels to easily grab. I currently have a towel bin in the laundry room, but it's up too high for my daughter and probably too far away from the kitchen to be practical. I'm looking forward to investigating the processes that we use and how they can be improved!

 

I've been tossing around the idea of composting for a while, but haven't made the jump yet. I decided to ask for a small kitchen compost bin for my coffee grounds and food scraps for my birthday (later this month). Then I'll likely purchase or make an outdoor bin after some more research.

 

Regarding the cups and straws, I WAS going to start bringing my own cup to Starbucks (which is where most of the cups were from), but now that COVID-19 is a thing, that's not allowed any more. I'll continue brewing my own coffee at home most of the time, but for now, I'm not sure what another option is for Starbucks. I tend to have meetings there, so perhaps I can use their mugs when I stay in-store? I've never done that, so it would require a bit of research if that's even a thing :-)

 

I've also recently joined the r/LowWaste reddit and have been learning LOTS. I'm hoping to find even more easy swaps over time.

 

Thanks so much for this class!