How I'm Trying to Reduce My Waste During the Pandemic

The other day I read a response to a Tweet that has been on my mind ever since. The Tweet was from some publication with a listicle about reducing our carbon footprint as individuals. The response was about how we shouldn’t be putting the weight of climate change on individuals, but on corporations instead. 

Though I agree that demanding change from corporations (and, yes, I know I’m a hypocrite because I work for one) will have a greater impact than each of us reducing our waste as individuals, I have to say that this response felt like a cop out. 

Though we should fight for our government to mandate eco-responsible businesses, I firmly believe in what Bea Johnshon says in her book “Zero Waste Home” that we can make this change by voting with our wallets. 

Again, as someone who works for a big retail corporation, I know that we look at customer shopping trends and best-selling products on a daily basis. I believe one of the biggest ways to implement change is to take responsibility and create demand sustainable products and low-to-zero waste solutions. If everyone began to shop in this way, corporations would have to change to stay alive. 

In fact, we’re already seeing changes within our company—from product assortment, creation, packaging, and operations—leaning toward sustainability because the company realizes that this is what people want.

This is all a round-about way of saying that I believe we, as individuals, need to take responsibility and implement changes in our own lives while also pressuring our government to make changes on their side. 

Anyway - what this post is really about is trying to reduce waste while living in a Coronavirus world. 

Because of my fear of the virus, I am guilty of creating more waste than I did prior to quarantine. I have surgical masks, accept single-use plastic bags at the grocery stores (now back to bringing my own tote and washing it after returning home), Clorox wipes, and have spent a lot more time ordering things online—a shopping habit that boredom seems to have spiked… 

Realizing this and thinking about the number of trips I take to the trash receptacles, I’ve started to feel a bit sick about it all. 

I knew I needed to change. I knew that I wanted to find ways to reduce my waste, even while living in a world that is focused on disinfecting.

I’m happy to say that I’ve discovered some amazing ways in which I can do so! 

Some of the services may only be in the Bay Area, but I think some of the other practices can be implemented anywhere. 

7 ways I’m reducing waste while in quarantine:

Zero Grocery

This is a grocery start-up service that allows you to buy groceries package-free and any condiments/nuts/grains in glass jars that can be returned during your next grocery delivery. I’ve just placed my first order so I’ll let you know how it goes. 

Good eggs

Good eggs is another grocery service based in the Bay Area. It allows you to get produce from local farms. Though non-produce items come in packaging, you can return the box and ice packs to be reused by leaving them out during your next scheduled delivery. 

Farmer’s Market

I also went back to the Farmer’s Market for the first time this weekend. I was really nervous, but it felt much safer than I thought it would. I had my own hand sanitizer with me, but they had handwashing stations set up. It was much less crowded than usual and I was never right next to another person. Everyone was in face masks and the visit was fairly quick. I grabbed a few vegetables and was able to avoid any plastic.

Washing grocery bags

Now that we’re allowed to bring our own grocery bags to stores again, I just make sure to empty the contents, clean them all, then place the bag directly into the hamper to be washed. This allows me to avoid any single-use plastic bags while still feeling safe about the bag I’m using. 

Bite Toothpaste

For a while now, I’ve also been using the subscription service Bite. This service sends you one glass jar with little tablets that you use in the place of toothpaste. Then, every four months, they send you new tablets in a paper package along with a new bamboo toothbrush. This allows you to avoid plastic tubes altogether.

Microfiber cloths

I still have Clorox wipes at the ready (just in case). However, what I’ve started doing is using microfiber cloths with a Clorox spray to clean off items. Then, I leave them in a place where the UV light can hit them for a couple of days before adding them to my pantry or any other part of my house. 

Keeping a spending journal

I started writing down all of my spending in my little yellow journal. I feel like my parents, jotting down everything in their checkbooks, but the result is good for my wallet and better for the planet. For a while, I was buying anything and everything—trying to make life feel more exciting and comfortable at home. 

However, I live in a tiny studio and realized that I don’t need much. I really just need my computer, books, gardening tools, and some workout supplies to keep me busy. Almost too busy! 

The journal also helps me avoid food waste, noticing how much I was spending on groceries was shocking. Now, I find two recipes that I want to try each week, write down all of the ingredients, and make sure that those are the only ones I order online. 

Making my own frozen fruit

I eat smoothie bowls almost every morning for breakfast. I’m able to get some greens into them which I love and top them with seeds that are rich in Omega 3 Fatty Acids. However, I was starting to realize how much plastic I was throwing away each time I bought frozen fruit at the grocery store. Though I’m still not perfect about this, I’ve started buying fruits from the sources mentioned above (many come unpackaged while berries come in compostable containers). Then, I wash them all off and freeze them to use in smoothies throughout the weeks—without the plastic. 

Those are currently the seven ways that I’m trying to reduce some of my waste while staying safe in quarantine. 

I am, of course, nowhere near perfect. I’m still producing far more waste than I would like to be. There are days (like this weekend) when I bought a bag of chips and some canned Radlers to be enjoyed in the sun. My goal is to try to reduce. To work my way down from my intense consumption and use of single-use items during the start of the pandemic to less. Way less. 

What are you doing? I would love any suggestions in the comments below! Let me know how you’re targeting a zero waste lifestyle or any solutions you’ve come up with to stay sanitized and safe while avoiding single-use products.