Hey Green Junkie!

In today’s episode, I am teaching you how to minimize the waste you create in your own home and consume outside your home.

The zero waste lifestyle could actually be cool, but it’s going to take all of us to make it so. I know as a Green Junkie you’re up for the challenge so I can’t wait to hear how you’ll reduce the waste in your own life.

What you can expect from this episode:

• Mind blowing stats about waste
• Practical steps on how to reduce your waste
• Why zero waste is impossible
• Why you should start paying attention to your packaging
• How to reduce single use plastics
• How to develop a better purchasing mindset

If you love this podcast be sure to leave a review and share a screenshot of this episode to your IG stories. Tag @greenjunkiepodcast so I can shout you out and publicly say thanks. 

Your green bestie,

xoxo Stephanie

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LISTEN BELOW

TRANSCRIPT FOR EPISODE 2

0:00 Hi, Green Junkie, I'm your host, Stephanie Moram. And today I want to talk to you about waste free living and what steps you can take to live a little more waste free.

0:13 So the average American resident creates four pounds of trash per day and up to 56 tons of trash per year. Totally mind blowing. To me, that is a lot of trash. Every American makes up roughly 5% of the world's population, but generates nearly 40% of the world's total trash – again, totally mind blowing. This is a lot of trash.

0:38 So what are steps that you can take to reduce your trash? How can we bring that number down from four pounds? How can we bring it to two pounds? How can we bring it to three pounds, I got a couple of ideas for you because it doesn't have to be overwhelming to reduce your waste.

0:54 So a couple of things that you can implement today, to help reduce your waste. Again, zero waste is literally impossible. It's just a term, Reducing your waste is something I like to say instead, but most people identify with the word zero waste, so I'm just gonna go a zero waste today.

1:16 So what it is that you can do, as a consumer, as a human on the planet, to help reduce your waste on the daily? The first thing that I want to talk to you about is packaging, we buy so much stuff. And we also buy so much stuff that is wrapped in plastic, and crazy packaging. So how can we reduce our packaging? What is it that we can do to reduce the packaging that we are buying?

1:46 I think the first thing that we can do is buy in bulk, if that is an option for you, and use refill stations. So what does that look like? Well, at my local grocery store, I have a section of bulk foods so I can get oats, and I can get nuts and seeds, and rice, avocado oil, all these things in bulk, all I do is I bring my own container that I have at home, and I go to the store, and I buy my stuff in bulk. So I'm reducing my packaging by doing that.

2:18 Also, if you love to snack, and you're buying different foods, and they have you know those small snack packs, well, instead of buying the product that has the snack pack, you know for four chips, could you buy one big bag of chips? Could you buy one big bag of XYZ, and then just portion out them into snacks. Can you do something like that to reduce your packaging? Again, you're still buying chips in a package. But there's definitely less packaging in one big bag than you know, 10 or 12 or 13 small bags.

2:55 Same with shopping at local bookstores is. You are really going to reduce the amount of packaging that you are creating. Also can you look at the packaging that you're buying? So if you are buying noodles, and you don't have access to buying any sort of pasta noodles in bulk, well when you're looking at the products that you're buying, compare the packaging. For example, I've been buying a certain gluten free noodles for my children. And for the longest time it had that little plastic. I don't even know what it's called. There's a little piece of plastic on the noodles to show you that there's noodles in the box, right? And for the longest time, I was super annoyed. I'm like, I hate this little plastic thing. What is the point of the little piece of plastic? And eventually they've changed and now it's no longer there, but point is – can you compare the different pasta noodles that you're buying and be like, well, I'm going to buy from this company, because the way that they're packaging their product is more sustainable versus the other company.

3:57 Think about this when you're buying cosmetics, when you're buying food, when you're buying clothing, whatever it is that you're buying, look at the packaging, look at how the company is packaging their things and compare it to other companies and look for the company that is not only doing good in the world when it comes to the product that they're creating, but also, what is it that you're using to package their stuff? Are they using compostable materials? Are they not using compostable materials do they use a crap ton of plastic? So I would just look at your packaging.

4:28 Next up. Let's talk about single use items. So when I'm talking about single use items, I'm talking about those pesky water bottles. I think we've all bought plastic water bottles in our lifetime. But is there a way that we can reduce how many single use items we buy and can plastic water bottles being at the top of the list? Then we can look at coffee mugs and tea mugs.

4:57 Can we reduce the amount of paper towels that we are buying, can we reduce? You know, when you're taking your makeup off? Is there a way to buy, but eliminate using cotton that you're just going to put in the composting or trash anyways. Is there a way to look at the products that you're currently using and say to yourself, is there a way that I can find a reusable option for that product, versus always getting the disposable single use item.

5:30 Plastic water bottles and coffee cups are at the top of the list of single use items along with plastic bags, which brings me to number three – use reusable bags as much as possible. A lot of stores now don't have plastic bags. And if they do, you have to pay for it. The grocery store that I go to personally, they don't have plastic bags, they also have no bags. So if you don't have a bag, you cannot pack your groceries. They have boxes, they have lots and lots and lots of boxes that you can use, because they promote reusing. But it's nice to have that cotton bag with you in the car or any sort of reusable bag with you.

6:19 And that's not just limited to grocery bags, it's also plastic bags. When it comes to Ziploc bags, is there a way that you can reduce the amount of plastic bags that you will be using. Again, think single use items.

6:36 One of my favorite companies for bags is called Stasher bags. I love Stasher. They are made of food grade silicone, so you know that it is safe to add food to it. And also you can use it for a gazillion other things as well. You can use it to put items in when you're traveling and you can store different items in there. But all that to say, is that is a way that you can reduce the amount of plastic bags you are using.

7:14 So like I said, it's not only the grocery bags, it's those Ziploc bags that many of us use as well. So don't forget your reusable bag, keep it in your car at all times, maybe have a rotation of reusable bags, have one in your purse, if you use a purse, have one in your car have, one at the door when you leave the house. Just have a couple laying around so you make sure you always have one with you.

7:43 Next up, is buying items in glass bottles. So most products not all but a lot of products are packaged in plastic. So we were talking about packaging before. So instead of you know reaching for x product that might be packaged in a plastic bottle, is there a way that you can find that item in glass? And once you found that item in glass, let's say you are looking for tomato paste to bring home. Can you buy it in bulk? So instead of reaching for the one that is potentially packaged in plastic, can you reach for the glass one? And now that you have a glass bottle? Is there a way that you can reuse that glass bottle?

8:33 Can you use it as a drinking cup? Can you use it as a way to store foods? Is there a way that you can use it as a fun craft. So there's a gazillion ways that you can reuse glass bottles but the point is to think before you purchase and I think this is what the whole podcast episode is about. Making a little bit more mindful choices while you are trying to live zero waste. So reaching for glass versus plastic and also aluminum. Aluminum is a great option as well. It is 100% recycled recyclable. Of course we could talk about this as well. You know there's a lot of controversy on aluminum because when it comes to food, it could be lined with well it's not lined with BPA anymore, but they use other potentially toxic sealants. So again, it's just you know, to pick your poison essentially.

9:39 Glass is great, it's non toxic, but does it actually all get recycled? Probably not. But aluminum is 100% recyclable and usually always gets recycled, but it could be coated with something that might be harmful to your health. So again, pick your poison when it comes to that sort of packaging.

9:59 Lastly, reduce your waste and live a more zero waste life by thrifting. I love to thrift. You can find so many cool things at thrift shops. It's insane. Clothing, stuff for your house, just so many things I get. I find toys for my kids, I find Halloween costumes. You can find, gosh, so many things at thrift store.

10:26 So instead of buying that item brand new, in, you know, all that plastic packaging, can you get it at a thrift shop? I'm going to give you an example. I was shopping for something for my daughter, and I was about to go buy it new. And then I thought and I said, “Hey, can I find this on Facebook marketplace?” Can I find this at a thrift shop? Can I find this at XYZ place, and I don't actually have to buy it new. And of course I found it secondhand and someone is happy to get rid of something that they no longer use anymore. And I just reduced my waste in the sense of I don't have all the packaging that comes along with buying that product new and I saved money.

11:17 So living Zero Waste also can save you money because you're not necessarily buying new things all the time. So my last tip for you was hitting up local thrift shops because again, you never know what you're going to find at a thrift shop.

11:39 So I'm going to recap quickly. Five ways that you can reduce your waste right now. Check out your packaging.

11:49 Reduce single use items. 11:51 Use reusable bags when it comes to grocery shopping and Ziploc bags.

11:56 Buy as many items as you can in glass bottles and reuse those glass bottles or try aluminum and then recycle it.

12:02 And lastly, hit up your local thrift shops to find things secondhand.

12:10 I invite you and challenge you today to do one thing that I mentioned on this list to help you reduce your waste. Are you going to opt to use a reusable bag? Are you going to start looking for items and glass? Are you going to start being mindful when you are purchasing something what the packaging looks like? So I challenge you to do one thing today to reduce your waste.

12:39 Now Green Junkie, I want you to head over to Facebook and join the Green Junkie Facebook group. This is a place where you can ask questions and you can meet other Green Junkies just like you