So, I’m a few days late with my Earth Day post, but really, shouldn’t every day be Earth Day? This post is going to stray…no not stray…it’s going to be completely unrelated to writing, so if you’re not interested in garbage (or lack there of), thanks for stopping by and hopefully I’ll see you here on Wednesday when I have a great interview lined up.

Here’s the deal…I know I’ve got a bit of a reputation for being a hippie-dippy environmentalist working toward self sufficiency and sustainability, and I relish this rep, but I also do try to keep most of that to myself too. I don’t want y’all to feel like I’m preaching at you. However, a few of you (okay, two of you) have asked me to give some tips about how you too can lower your footprint on the Earth. So in honour of Earth Day, I’m finally getting around to it.

Today’s focus will be on reducing your garbage. Victor and I produce one small bag of garbage from our kitchen about every 3 weeks. We fill our outdoor can about every two months (it’s a small can).

The very best thing you can do is produce less garbage. It seems obvious, but it will take a little thought and ingenuity on your part.

The two most efficient ways to reduce your garbage are to recycle (which I’m just going to assume you do) and to start composting. That is probably a separate post and best left to the experts . But here are two links that I picked randomly from Google. There’s so much info on this out there, I’ll leave it to you. You will truly be amazed by how easy it is and how much it reduces your garbage. And it can be done even if you live in an apartment in a city!

What is is and how to do it.

Getting started info.

In addition to recycling and composting, here are some additional things to try.

1. Buy in bulk – This is a really, really big help in regards to reducing garbage. We buy all our flour, oats, sugar, rice, beans, coconut, dried fruit, and cat food in the biggest bags we can find. We are lucky that we have storage space, but if you don’t, consider joining up with a few friends, buying everything in bulk together, and then having a party to divide it all up in the manageable quantities.

2. Cloth grocery bags – as soon as you unload them, take them back to the car. They only work if you have them with you. I also have a tiny foldable one to take with me when I’m walking.

3. Stop buying the following items – I swear, you can do this! I haven’t bought any of them in a year and I never miss them.

• Plastic baggies
• Plastic wrap
• Aluminum foil
• Kitchen garbage liners
• Big black garbage bags
• Household cleaners
• Bottled water (three years!)
• Napkins
• Paper towels*

You’re probably wondering how in the world you can live without these things that you use every day and so I’ll tell you!

Plastic baggies – surprisingly enough, these tend to show up. People bring you things in them. Also, many things I buy at the store are in resealable bags that can be reused. Like tortilla bags, dried fruit, and various things. Rewash the ones you have, turn them inside out to dry. You can use them over and over.

Plastic wrap: You just THINK you need this, but when I pledged to stop buying it last summer, I at first rationed what I had left. I still have half a roll and haven’t used any in six months or more. The first thing to do is buy glass containers with lids in various sizes. You can buy a set for twenty bucks, or if you can’t afford glass, buy plastic (but glass will last longer and food & plastic is questionable anyway – plus you can reheat in glass).

The next thing is to just look at things differently. For example, I now cover bowls with plates or lids from my cookware. This works great! If I send something home with someone, like a piece of cake, I use a thrift store plate or container that they don’t have to return. Instead of wrapping a loaf of bread in plastic, I wrap it in a towel (or put it in a recycled tortilla bag).

Aluminum Foil – Buy some casserole dishes that have either glass or plastic lids. If it’s plastic and you need to cover you casserole while it’s baking, use a cookie sheet. It works great! Baked potatoes don’t need foil, just throw them in the oven as is. When people bring food to my house wrapped in foil, or I get a sandwich at the deli, I wash the foil and fold it up and save it in case I ever desperately need a piece. It’s true that tinfoil is recyclable, but manufacturing it is extremely hard on the environment.

Kitchen garbage liners. You’d be surprised by all the things you can line your kitchen garbage can with! I use the big cat food bags, the bulk oats bag, the flour bag, even the GIANT bubble envelopes that my publisher sends me with manuscript pages in them. Also, if you’re composting, your garbage never has food** in it or is wet in any way, so it never smells and you’ll hardly have any garbage anyway, so you’ll only need to take it out when it’s full, which is not very often (2-3 weeks for us).

Big Black Garbage Bags – while I do have a box of these that I bought before “the self-imposed ban” I almost never use them. If your garbage is all “dry” then there’s no reason to line your big garbage can (at least for us…because we just take the can to the street. If you have to take the bags out, then I guess this is one thing you can’t skip).

Household Cleaners. This is doubly important because not only are most of them bad for the environment, and probably for you to breathe, but there’s a lot of packaging involved. Did you know you can clean your house with only two things? Plain old white vinegar and baking soda. That’s all we ever use. Vinegar and water in a spray bottle makes an excellent glass or counter cleaner. Baking soda will leave your sinks, tubs, and toilets sparkling (with a little elbow grease).

Bottled water – expensive, probably a scam for the most part, and uses a lot of oil in both the manufacturing of the bottles and in transportation. I pledged to stop buying bottled water almost three years ago, and in that time, I’ve bought about 5-6 bottles while crossing the country and none in the last eighteen months. All you need is a stainless steel water bottle. If you’re traveling, get a 1 or 2 gallon jug to go in the car and refill it at grocery stores that have dispensers and then refill your bottle. Easy peasy!

Napkins – invest in cotton table napkins and use them. Or make some, if you’re handy. We have about twenty that we constantly use and throw in the wash. It doesn’t matter if they get stained. These are not your holiday guest napkins. Old ones can become rags (I actually write “rag” on them with a Sharpie so we know).

Paper towels – I do buy them, but one roll lasts us about 4 months. For the most part, we use rags for everything except cleaning out the cast iron frying pan where we need a paper towel or some really nasty job (deer poop on our boots, for example!).

By now, you might be feeling overwhelmed, but even if you choose to only do a few of these things, I think you’ll see a difference. I’ll finish with a couple of bonus links. For those of you with babies in diapers, might I suggest you visit this site (their organic cotton baby clothes are adorable too). Fellow writer, Annika, will back me up on this one and can probably give you lots of statistics about diapers and landfill if you as her nicely.

Also, for those women who fall into the Teen to a Women-of-a-Certain-Age category, I can’t recommend this product enough. Yes, male readers, this is a “very girlie” site, so you’re on your own as far as clicking over out of curiosity or not!

Thanks for indulging my garbage post! Please leave tips and suggestions for reducing your footprint in the comments. I’m always looking for new ideas!

**It just occurred to me that we have no wet garbage because we are vegetarians. If you eat meat, you will have food garbage because you can’t compost meat, so you may need kitchen bags after all. Still, your garbage will be reduced a lot, and that’s the point!