It's more of a challenge at work to reduce waste than at home. It's such a throw away culture here. I'm having to train my brain to tread more lightly at work regarding paper towels, tissues, paper, etc. This particular challenge is definitely the right one for me.

I had a talk with my parents about reducing their impact on the earth. That's a first!

I'm finding out that there's so much more I can be recycling and composting!

Cocktail straws! Gah! It's so hard to remember to ask for drinks without them. And I can't imagine trying to change that habit as a bartender!

I'm so glad to be doing this challenge! I never thought I could go camping and be able to generate almost zero waste. It wasn't perfect but in comparison, to other trips, this was fantastic because we made sure to stay on top of things and recycled 99% of our waste.

I forgot to post on here the things I'm not including:
1. Toilet paper. (I use hankies to blow my nose and washcloths to remove makeup. Toilet paper is only for toilet-related things.)
2. The bags I sometimes have to use to pick up Huey's dog poop. I am going to look into getting a pooper scooper for my yard, but for the convenience and hygiene of everyone involved, I'm not carrying around Huey's poop!
3. Any litter I pick up. I'm assessing my own waste, not the waste of thoughtless people walking down my street.

So far, so good! The only trash I've generated I'm not carrying around is the empty dog food bag in the attached picture (Huey says, "It's ok, Mom, I'll claim it!)

Remove

. It's just too big. I've started making Huey's food and he's getting about a half/half ratio of homemade food and kibble right now. Hopefully we can get it to all the way homemade soon and then I won't have these big bags to throw away!

Day 1 complete and I'm already more aware of the little things I put in the trash, like the tops of zippered plastic bags of food and the crinkly plastic bag from the cereal box. I'm going to look into what TerraCycle takes that isn't recyclable curbside in St. Louis. I also had to make a conscious effort to not use paper towels to dry my hands when washing them in a public restroom -- I used to be a lot better at that, but the habit has slipped in the past couple years! I'm excited to become more aware of what I waste and how to reduce it.