apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Hardly believe this!!!! 8|

how is this even possible?

i tend to buy products with smarter and less packaging, and i always break it down before placing it in my trash.

My local council collects compost as well as recycling, which hugely reduces my weekly trash. Not as much as these folks, though!

Great info..Amazing that this is possible. It we could all only learn to curb certain trash habits. This is a major issue here in America.

That is crazy. It really doesnt seem feasible, I mean I can think of a ton of ways avoid bringing unrecyclables or uncompostables into my home, but there is always trash to be found. If its true, it puts my household's 3 bags per week to shame. Oh and of course theirs had to be a freakin drugstore size bag too. right. overkill

What's the source? I'd love to read more!

So does anybody else want a peek inside that one bag???

At the market I don't put my produce in plastic bags, I just pile it up in the cart, unless it's something like green beans that really need a bag. I saw a lady doing this and I decided to copy her. I realized the contradiction of having reusable grocery bags filled with plastic bags of produce! I'm thinking of buying some washable net bags (like laundry bags for delicates) to bring for those green beans.

I hardly believe it. Not to gross anyone out or anything, but as a woman, at least one week out of every month, I generate my own bag of garbage.
Yes, I too, would love to see what's in the bag...

They list what's in the bag here: http://www.rubbishfreeyear.co.nz/?p=99

I think they might be using "in the bag" somewhat loosely though, because their list includes things like car parts.

Aiekan, I just had the exact same thought. However, I know people who use cloth pads and/or the Keeper, so it's within the realm of possibility.

The more I think about it, the more extreme it seems. Another gross example: kleenex. Of course, you could use handkerchiefs, but then you're carrying around a snotrag in the era of swine flu. No teabags, just loose tea and a tea ball. I guess you'd have to be vegetarian, because AFAIK, you can't put meat scraps in the compost.

I think this is completely possible pending you watch what you buy. The only issue we as a modern society have, is things are prepackaged thus leading to lots of garbage. If you bought your food fresh (read: not frozen, not pre-packaged) you'd save a lot of garbage.

If you used clothes instead of paper towels.

etc etc (you get the idea).

I'm not saying we can maybe be as extraordinary as this couple and generate ONE bag of trash per YEAR but perhaps we can reduce our yearly waste by 50%!

Imagine if everyone even reduced their waste by 25% what a huge impact that would make...just imagine. Be the change you want to see in the world.

Ok I'm done. (Yes I realize how lofty of a goal that would be but you know...it's nice to dream...I'd rather the world not implode while I'm still on it lol)

Diva cup! reusable...as gross as that is.

Ammanda they make these great organic cotton reusable produce bags for using with items like green beans that need a bag. Even less waste, and are very attractive. http://www.ecobags.com/Produce_Bags

It would be an easy DIY porject too.

i've read the post, i read their detailed list of what's in the bag, and i still cannot imagine HOW this is possible.

also, relating to what they said was in the bag: only one roll of dental floss for a whole year? and they only had one lightbulb blow within that year's time? how fortuitous. :)

If you check their blog, you can see what's in the bag in their final post - http://www.rubbishfreeyear.co.nz/?p=99

I got a menstrual cup two years ago. I love it, and could't imagine living without one any more.

The Story of Stuff video was great indeed! The kind of education kids need in school.

if you read their blog they have a lot of suggestions on how to get rid of all the things that are mentioned here plus more. it's really quite inspiring though obviously a lot of diligence was important.

it seems that burning was a frequent way for them to rid themselves of items that they weren't able to recycle though they would only burn items that were nontoxic.

What about mail? I guess you can get on a no-junk mail list, but I still get a ton of mail. There are some bills I just can't get online.

@BambiJo
almost all mail is made of paper and can be recycled.

I have a girlfriend who uses a sea sponge at that time of the month. The lady who sold her on it mentioned Cleopatra as an endorsment. Not sure about that, but my friend hasn't had any dramas. She bought hers at a speciality store for other intimate things...

I just moved to a new neighborhood and my local grocery store puts most of its fresh produce on styrofoam and then wraps the whole thing in plastic. It's driving me bonkers! Even things like ginger root that it makes no sense to do this to - even for stacking ease. And if you forget your own bags, I had one clerk literally pack one item per plastic bag and I had to ask him over and over to put more in. What decade are they living in?

After reading through their list of tips and what they did to keep trash down, I think it could be done. I composted for a while and that drastically brought down my trash for the week (yes, I am a vegetarian). So I'm sure if you coupled that with other methods it could be done. It may seem impossible but hey, even if we cut our trash down by 25% that would be pretty cool.

Diva cup-- gross? How is it gross when you (I) sterilize it daily and wash your hands before and after handling it? Grosser than filling up landfills and water reserves with bleached germ sticks? Grosser than wearing a diaper (cloth or not)? I have found it quite practical, and incredibly effective!

Diva Cup changed my life.

This is not that hard to believe. I live alone and without any conscious effort, I produce about one grocery-size bag of trash per month. If I focused on eliminating trash, I could probably get down to one bag per year with minimal effort.

so did they get a medal and if so, is she using it as a liner under her Diva Cup?

Diva Cup? Holy crap! Seriously... you guys just freaked me out.

I'm green, but not THAT green...

"home body" You would think more people would be aware of the state our planet is in now and realize how easy it is... or at least ask if there is a preference... I have the same problem going to the grocery store... they put all of my meat or seafood in separate bags and I have to tell them just throw it in with the rest!! I realize they are probably told by their boss that it's a sanitary thing in case they leak, but they really should just ask.

They obviously don't have kids. We have two kids and despite our best efforts (we are vegetarian, we compost, we recycle, I use canvas grocery bags, cloth diapers, napkins, etc...) we still manage to generate quite a lot of trash. I don't see how they were able to do that. I'll have to check out their blog.

I'm so glad this post and subsequent converstaion is happening. Going Zero Waste is a comendable goal and as many have said not too hard to accomplish. Keep up the good work everyone - it warms my heart to see so many well intended folks. Change takes time - keep at it!

"One cheap and nasty plastic pen knife. Reason: somehow missed being purged when we swept through the house getting rid of ‘potential’ rubbish, sure enough it broke."

I thought it was notable that they did a purge before they started the project. I am moving and have felt guilty about all the stuff I've been throwing out (things that could be donated, dried out pens etc). It's nice to know that they had to start somewhere.

I have thought about bringing up the diva cup on *so* many of the 'green' posts but was afraid I would gross everyone out...

don't judge it until you try it, ladies! seriously, it will change your view of that whole aspect of feminine life.

Fiatlex, some composting can take meat, bones, shells of shellfish (I'm thinking of San Francisco). But a backyard compost might be a bad idea for those.

What I *really* want to know is if you can compost meat, could you compost um... what the diva cup collects?
Could we get to a point where we have compostable liners and pads? *shudder*

I have serious issues reusing. I try to reuse almost everything before getting rid of it. I really get creative when reusing, cans, boxes, cartons, wood, anything.

Aiken - Agreed. If nothing else, a girl would at least have a small grocery bag of her personal trash once a month. The bag in the picture can not be right - it must be more like some giant trash bag worth. I still find that hard to believe but maybe.

What about shampoo bottles? Ok, I guess if she makes her own toothpaste, maybe she concots her own shampoo. I would like to get the recipe.

The real question is why they held on to their garbage for a whole year. That is truly disgusting.

If you live in an area with a municipal composting program, you're likely able to put things in your bin (called a "green bin/cart" here) that you wouldn't necessarily put in your own compost pile. In my area for example, in addition to the usual stuff, we can put meat, fish, gum, paper towel, facial tissue, dryer lint, etc. into our bin. The list goes on, and it actually eliminates a lot of garbage.

Definitely worth looking into the list if you live somewhere with a program like this.

I'm not sure if all municipalities with organic waste programs do this, but in May each year we are able to go and collect compost for our garden that as a community we've helped generate. It's a great program.

mribaro, shampoo bars are a good option!

Wow, that's incredible. I'll have to read up on that more when I'm not at work :/

I make the effort to reduce trash load by recycling, but that's about it. We don't have recycling pick up so we save plastic bottles, metal & paper until we can take it to the drop off. There are lots of paper drop offs, but only 1 box I've found our whole town (a large Houston suburb) for plastic/metal- and even that is only containers. Also, all of the paper boxes say NO cardboard. I don't really know why, but I wish they had a cardboard box somewhere cuz there's so much of it. My mom reuses plastic containers like butter & whipped cream tubs, as tupperware.

My company didn't recycle at all, so I've gotten them started with paper, plastic and metal. Most people make the effort, but there's definitely still waste. It's amazing how much paper we used and, seeing that, my supervisor has made efforts to cut back, like not making copies of everything anymore (since they were rarely used anyway). It's amazing how much emptier the trash cans are everyday, they were just getting filled with paper! Some have have started recycling at home too.

I think part of the problem with waste, is that some things are kind of a gray area and people don't know if you can actually recycling them and what category they go in, and of course, not knowing where to take stuff.

We are two adults and have about 3-4 of those bags per year - without exactly killing ourselves. First of all we buy all fresh stuff and use our own grocery bags or boxes. Plus there's a serious waste management here in Germany. We recycle electronics, batteries, wood, paper, cardboard, glass, cork, metal and plastic and we have two composts. There's hardly anything left then.

We recycle paper, plastic, metal, glass, cardboard... the public works department has occasional electronics recycling days for dead equipment. They collect yard waste for composting, but not actual food garbage or pet litter. With two cats (using clumping cat litter) and two rabbits 9using recycled newspaper bedding as litter) we generate a fair amount of that -- in the right compost heap, it could be used, but we can't submit it to the town's and our property (technically a condo) doesn't permit home coposting. (I might get away with a composting bin, but that's uncertain --certainly not a pile.)

Packaging (particularly styrofoam, which I don't think can be recycled, at least around here) would seem to be a big issue. I don't think my partner could go a whole year without buying SOME electronic device packaged in a big box with styrofoam inserts!

My issue is a level of laziness. I need to be better about paper, especially. The convenient wastepaper basket gets the junk mail, the plastic snack wrappers, the plucked bunny fur, the food crumbs, and dirty tissues... I need to keep the recyclable paper out of that mess. mea culpa

way up above, folks were talking about plastic produce bags at the market.

It drives me crazy at the market to see shoppers putting one pepper in a bag or two bananas. Most produce items do NOT require the bags!

Every time I go to the store, another little piece of my mind is blown by seeing people carting out 10 plastic bags that have 2 or 3 things in each. There's no excuse for it. Neither of my two regular stores even offers plastic bags anymore.

As far as excess packaging goes, I take it back to where I got it. The shop people usually look at me like I'm a nut and tell me they don't have a way to recycle it, so I tell them they should and just leave it all there on the counter. Heh. I'm sure they toss it in the trash, but if enough people were carting that crap in, they'd figure out a better way, right? That's my plan, anyway, while I'm being an annoying pain of a customer.

Diva cups... they're amazing. Don't knock em till you try em!

So if you REALLY want to talk about going green, I had a prof in college who saved the blood she collected from her diva cup, diluted it with water, and used it to water her houseplants. Um, high in iron and nutrients?

Love it. Don't believe it. But I love it.

I think people are quick to say they "don't believe it" because they can't do it themselves. Huh.

Misleading. One bag is all they have after putting trash in the recycling bins, giving stuff away to others to put in the trash or recycling bin. Outrageous, easily debunked claims by dilettantes such as this devalue reasonable environmental stewardship.

mribaro: Three words. Lush Shampoo Bars.

I shudder at the thought of the Diva cup. If I'm only allowed one bag of trash per year, it'll be THAT bag, thank you very much.

But I do have to ask, and there's really no other place to ask it: how does one manage the diva cup in a public restroom, where the stalls individual, but the sinks are shared and public?

(And those of you are are... er... "delicate" enough to only have to worry about this once or twice a day - I'm not asking about your experience, which I understand is lovely and convenient and happy and quite different from many of ours!)

Beyond the hygiene issues: Could we just make a start with getting rid of bottled water?

I walk in the woods and public parks a lot, and this is the most glaring overconsumption issue I see. Every trash can is overflowing. The bottles are lying strewn about the ground everywhere.

And why? Because no one dares to take their child to a playground and let them swing for 30 minutes for fear of immediate dehydration? Because taking an hour-long walk on a lovely shaded trail is going to kill you?

I am befuddled by adults who say they're environmentally aware, but who carry and deposit those bottles along the paths of their days.

Regarding the Diva Cup:

1) You do not have to be "green" to use the Diva Cup. I, myself, am not at all green, but I've used the D. C. for well over a year. Love it, love it, love it.

2) Gross? Less so than tampons or pads! You never have a nasty, wet, contaminated strings dangling, or bloody hair and thighs. Forgive me.

3) You do not have to sterilize it daily. Simply wash it between uses, as per instructions, (regular hand soap is fine). After all, do you sterilize your lady parts in boiling water?

4) Lasts for years and years, (no matter what the package says. They say replace yearly but that's for legal purposes and so they can stay in business). Saves tons of money along with tons of trash.

5) Unless you are a very heavy bleeder, public bathrooms will not be a concern. Simply wait until later to empty it. The cup holds far more than even a "super" tampon, (15 ml vs. 10ml). A little back-up doesn't hurt. Yes, I use cloth back-up, (I also used cloth diapers on my child. Diposables just don't make any sense to me), though I rarely have leakage. The cup actually creates a suction seal, if inserted properly. Cut off the "stem" for comfort. It really contributes nothing as far as giving you a grip. The grip is from the ribs on the cup, itself.

6) Cheaper online than in stores.

7) Give it a try. Once you get a hang of it, you may find that you really like it. For me, it truly was life changing as I was a VERY heavy bleeder and was having a great deal of difficulty controling that. The Diva Cup has allowed me to resume a normal life. Believe it, or not.