I've recently noticed a rise in people trying to go no-waste, which basically means you live a lifestyle where you try to reduce the amount of trash you make, with one of the biggest things being not buying items that come in a non-reusable packaging (for example, food that comes in bags, boxes, or cans). It also often seems to involve getting into composting, so that you can get rid of food waste in a more efficient way. I'm curious what people here have to think about it, and if anyone here is living no-waste!
At first, I was very skeptical about it, as I'm in general skeptical of environmental movements that try to put more pressure on the consumer to be responsible over their environmental impact instead of putting the pressure on large corporations- after all, if these large corporations would just put their products in reusable and less environmentally harmful packaging, consumers wouldn't have to do so much work in their individual lives just to see any change. But while I still largely believe that one of the most important ways we can help the environment is to put more pressure on the government to create laws that hold corporations more strictly accountable for their environmental impact, when I saw how much trash individuals do tend to make, I was sort of floored. Particularly, I learned that apparently, my country of Canada actually tends to have the worst track record with waste, with the average citizen of Canada producing on average 2.7 KILOGRAMS of trash every single day. And a lot of other countries also have unfortunately high numbers, like US citizens producing about 1.9 kilograms of trash a day on average.
As a developmentally disabled person, I sometimes struggle with tasks like cooking for myself, so reducing my impact on the environment to a completely no-waste lifestyle sounds incredibly difficult. I often rely on pre-prepared meals to feed myself, and often end up going hungry if I attempt to make myself only eat homemade food, because my brain doesn't break down tasks easily, so if pre-prepared meals aren't available to me, I'll often end up just going very long stretches of time without eating. That being said, I'm going to try to find little ways to reduce my impact on the environment for now, starting with trying to remember to bring reusable cups when I go out for coffee instead of using the disposable paper cups the coffee shops usually give me. (Which, by the way, most coffee shops do in fact allow you to bring your own cups from home instead of using their disposable ones!) I'm also going to attempt to buy things I use often in bulk, so that even if I do have to throw away the package eventually, I'll be throwing away less packaging overall. Stuff like rice, baking soda, and at-home coffee, are things I use up very quickly, and could probably benefit from buying in bulk.
At first, I was very skeptical about it, as I'm in general skeptical of environmental movements that try to put more pressure on the consumer to be responsible over their environmental impact instead of putting the pressure on large corporations- after all, if these large corporations would just put their products in reusable and less environmentally harmful packaging, consumers wouldn't have to do so much work in their individual lives just to see any change. But while I still largely believe that one of the most important ways we can help the environment is to put more pressure on the government to create laws that hold corporations more strictly accountable for their environmental impact, when I saw how much trash individuals do tend to make, I was sort of floored. Particularly, I learned that apparently, my country of Canada actually tends to have the worst track record with waste, with the average citizen of Canada producing on average 2.7 KILOGRAMS of trash every single day. And a lot of other countries also have unfortunately high numbers, like US citizens producing about 1.9 kilograms of trash a day on average.
As a developmentally disabled person, I sometimes struggle with tasks like cooking for myself, so reducing my impact on the environment to a completely no-waste lifestyle sounds incredibly difficult. I often rely on pre-prepared meals to feed myself, and often end up going hungry if I attempt to make myself only eat homemade food, because my brain doesn't break down tasks easily, so if pre-prepared meals aren't available to me, I'll often end up just going very long stretches of time without eating. That being said, I'm going to try to find little ways to reduce my impact on the environment for now, starting with trying to remember to bring reusable cups when I go out for coffee instead of using the disposable paper cups the coffee shops usually give me. (Which, by the way, most coffee shops do in fact allow you to bring your own cups from home instead of using their disposable ones!) I'm also going to attempt to buy things I use often in bulk, so that even if I do have to throw away the package eventually, I'll be throwing away less packaging overall. Stuff like rice, baking soda, and at-home coffee, are things I use up very quickly, and could probably benefit from buying in bulk.
