Self-Change Project: Zero Waste for 10 days
Introduction:
There are three questions that have driven me to explore the project of zero waste on a deeper level. They include: Should we focus sustainability efforts on our own individual change or for our community and the greater picture? How can we ask others to make a sacrifice and a change if we cannot make the change ourselves? Is zero waste living possible? In order to tackle these questions, I must first change my behaviors to understand how psychology and the effects of the surrounding environment play a role. Over the course of the ten days I experienced moments of high and low. I encountered situations where I had to produce trash and overcome the issue and even go against social approval …show more content…
This helped me to understand when and where my tendency to produce waste was highest so I could avoid and combat these circumstances when they arose.
My first few days of observation gave me new perspective on the amount of products I use that cannot be reused, recycled, or composted. Usually after class ends I head over to Macalester’s Atrium Market to get lunch. The first day of observation, I proceeded through the line and asked for my regular order. Almost everything at The Atrium is compostable: the wrapping for the sandwich, the cookie bag, and the napkins were all safe and sound. Since Macalester is known for its use of compostable and recyclable products I assumed everything I would get in my lunch would be as well; I was wrong. The chips I received came in a non-recyclable and non-compostable bag, so the only place for the bag to go was the trash. I knew that this was not an acceptable behavior and if I wanted to continue working towards my goal, something had to change. Further discussion of my behavior during this situation is found in the Experience and Reflection …show more content…
Before the project, I used flosser picks rather than normal dental floss for convenience, but this was extremely wasteful. First of all, flosser picks cannot be recycled and they are made of single use plastic so they are meant to be thrown away after being used. They are not part of the circular system, meaning the waste they produce cannot be used for something else, violating one of the ecological principles: Life Systems Are Circular. The principle states that we live in a closed system and even though our resources are finite, our natural system works because everything is cycled (Scott, Amel, Koger, & Manning, 2016, 70-71). In a perfect, “trash-free” world, all resources are replenished because of the natural cycle. But products like flosser picks disrupt this cycle because now we have things that cannot be reused and cycled back through. This is just one example showing that the industrial/commercial system is a linear system where there is a clear starting point (manufacturing) and ending point
Introduction:
There are three questions that have driven me to explore the project of zero waste on a deeper level. They include: Should we focus sustainability efforts on our own individual change or for our community and the greater picture? How can we ask others to make a sacrifice and a change if we cannot make the change ourselves? Is zero waste living possible? In order to tackle these questions, I must first change my behaviors to understand how psychology and the effects of the surrounding environment play a role. Over the course of the ten days I experienced moments of high and low. I encountered situations where I had to produce trash and overcome the issue and even go against social approval …show more content…
This helped me to understand when and where my tendency to produce waste was highest so I could avoid and combat these circumstances when they arose.
My first few days of observation gave me new perspective on the amount of products I use that cannot be reused, recycled, or composted. Usually after class ends I head over to Macalester’s Atrium Market to get lunch. The first day of observation, I proceeded through the line and asked for my regular order. Almost everything at The Atrium is compostable: the wrapping for the sandwich, the cookie bag, and the napkins were all safe and sound. Since Macalester is known for its use of compostable and recyclable products I assumed everything I would get in my lunch would be as well; I was wrong. The chips I received came in a non-recyclable and non-compostable bag, so the only place for the bag to go was the trash. I knew that this was not an acceptable behavior and if I wanted to continue working towards my goal, something had to change. Further discussion of my behavior during this situation is found in the Experience and Reflection …show more content…
Before the project, I used flosser picks rather than normal dental floss for convenience, but this was extremely wasteful. First of all, flosser picks cannot be recycled and they are made of single use plastic so they are meant to be thrown away after being used. They are not part of the circular system, meaning the waste they produce cannot be used for something else, violating one of the ecological principles: Life Systems Are Circular. The principle states that we live in a closed system and even though our resources are finite, our natural system works because everything is cycled (Scott, Amel, Koger, & Manning, 2016, 70-71). In a perfect, “trash-free” world, all resources are replenished because of the natural cycle. But products like flosser picks disrupt this cycle because now we have things that cannot be reused and cycled back through. This is just one example showing that the industrial/commercial system is a linear system where there is a clear starting point (manufacturing) and ending point