Zero Waste Challenge: How your weekly trash can fit a small jar?

The waste generated by us are mostly taken away by dump trucks, and most of us have never bothered about it ever since. Mostly, we would like to tell ourselves that: “let the government take care of the waste.”

We forget that the government does not have a magic potion to make all of it disappear.  The residue which is collected by municipalities ends up in landfills or garbage dunes which are hazardous and horrible for the environment.

A 41-year-old mother, Tippy Thole who lives near Montreal, USA decided not to take her garbage waste for granted. She decided to do something about it by minimizing her garbage output. She now buys her edibles at farmers markets and bulk-food stores, and she belongs to a farm cooperative — all places that provide unpackaged food.

Cutting way back on trash doesn’t require time, she says, but you do have to be prepared. Thole has a shopping kit that includes cloth bags and glass jars to collect dried food, liquids, meats, and cheeses. She uses a wine tote to keep the jars upright and prevent them from banging against each other. She keeps everything in a wicker basket, stored in the back of her car.

When Tippi Thole’s grocery shopping involves

Thole says that she has been able to minimize her trash output by changing her shopping habits.  “By shopping for package-free food,” Thole says, “we’re able to eliminate this category of waste entirely. You can buy just about anything in bulk, from pantry staples to beer and wine,” she told Washington Post.

Also, rather than buying finished products, Tippi is also involved in making products which she showcases in her Instagram account as well as her website tinytrash.com.

From butter, marshmallows, granola, cleaning supplies, dish sponges (out of orphaned socks), tortillas, goat cheese, kale chips, linguine, toothpaste, cotton rounds and washcloths from her son ‘stained pajama top to producing bags from old T-shirts she has used her online recipes to help her out.

Thole says she was shocked to know the harm that plastic causes to the planet. “And plastic doesn’t biodegrade like other materials. It just breaks into smaller pieces, microparticles, which then poison the environment and animals, especially marine life and, ultimately, us.”

After that, she says, “I couldn’t in good conscience use plastic anymore.”

Can you?