Living in a household of 7 people, we create an astonishing and disgusting amount of garbage. (Much more on this later, as I'm sure you're all dying to hear more about this topic.)
However, it pains me- like it seriously upsets my stomach a little bit, to see the quantity and range of stuff that gets thrown out.
So, in my free time I have recently been trying to think of ways to cut down on this. (And, a plus of this is that usually the more use you can get out of something you already own, the less you have to buy, and voila- saved money! Green prevails all over the place!)
My trashy thought at the moment: Cereal Boxes
On one hand, I consider myself thrifty and environmentally friendly in that I mix up a bunch of cereals to create my own daily customized trail mix, and then reuse the same Ziploc bag everyday to house this delicious mix until the bag breaks. I tell myself- you're eating healthy, you're saving money, and you're getting exactly what you want. And, you're saving at least one Ziploc bag a day from spending an eternity rotting away buried in a landfill.
On the other hand, (and the part that I don't like to think about) 7 empty cereal boxes every couple of weeks or so still equals hella' lot of trash that I am solely responsible for!
So, ok- the ceral box itself can be broken down and recycled. And, they can make wonders these days out of reused cardboard, so, that makes me feel a little better.*
But, oh, the plastic bag liners...
Those suckers take hundreds and hundreds of years to disintegrate, if ever. (I know, horrifying: http://www.greenclubinc.com/faqs.html) Which leaves me pondering, what, oh what, to do with these things beyond their intended purpose?
Solutions that come to mind easily:
1. Have a dog? Live in an area where you are required to clean up after it? Empty cereal box liners would work perfectly for picking up your puppy's waste- just stockpile the cereal liners somewhere, and then you could cut down on the other types of bags that you would have used for this.
2. .....?
Very disappointing list, I know. I usually pride myself on being able to come up with tons and tons of (albeit, random) ideas for anything. And for this, I am struggling. Majorly. What else can you do with a largish plastic bag that is not necessarily 100% clean on the inside?
(*Bonus points to the cause if you buy General Mill's cereal and clip those "Box Tops" to help education programs across the country.)
Ok, so here's another thought for what to do with those not-entirely-clean cereal box liners. You can fill them with water and freeze them eliminating the need for those blue plastic freezer things that we all use in our coolers in the summer. Just use a little tie-tie to close it and freeze it on up! Even better, you can actually freeze them in different shapes so that they follow the contour of whatever you put in the cooler - save precious space in that already too heavy beach necessity containing your yogurt, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and juice box.
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