As those who follow me on Instagram may know, I've decided to parttake in Simply Liv & Co.'s #InspiringZeroWaste challenge this year. First I'll explain what the challenge is all about and then we'll have look at my own January goal and how it's working out for me so far - spoiler alert: not like a charm.
What is the #InspiringZeroWaste challenge?
Created by Olivia who blogs about slow fashion and minismalist life at Simply Liv & Co., this challenge is, as she puts it: "a way to create a more sustainable and earth-friendly lifestyle, one month at a time". Everyone who parttakes in the challenge, gets to set their own goal each month, which makes things less intimidating and more achievable. You could for example invest in a reusable drinking bottle in January, learn how to mend your own clothes in February, commit to always bringing your own shopping bag in March, etc. The goals are meant to be accumulative (it's not because your focusing on one goal that month that you should forget about all the other low waste habits you already had), but I do love how she encourages us not to be too hard on ourselves either. As she states in her #InspiringZeroWaste Planner (which you can get for free here): "Don't beat yourself up if your goals don't go as planned" and "Doing something each month is better than doing noting".
What is my January goal?
My goal for this month is not to buy any products that come in a single use plastic packaging. Did anyone say ambitious much? Well, yes. I was quite pumped up with the "new year, fresh start" vibe when I set this goal and it was only afterwards that I realised how hard it was going to be, because really, virtually everything comes in a plastic wrapping these days! So, this is definitely not going to be easy, but I am very comitted to making it work as good as I can. If anything, this goal has already been such an eye opener and the month has hardly even started yet!
How is it going so far?
Yesterday we did our first grocery shopping of the year. And already while making our bi-weekly menu and writing down our shopping list, we realised how hard this was actually going to be. Mozarella or feta? Off limits. Our favourite falafels? Wrapped in a plastic container. That yummy raspberry granola from the local organic store? In a plastic bag! The frozen fruits I put in my oatmeal porridge every morning? No-go! Yep, I clearly did not think this through.
We did manage to make some adjustments to our usual shopping habits to make things work out though: I bought fruit preserves (without added sugar) in glass jars instead of frozen fruit in plastic bags. We brought our own reusable bags for fresh vegetables and fruit. We bought breadspreads in glass jars instead of plastic containers. We looked until we found a type of cheese wrapped in wax coated paper instead of a plastic wrapper. We switched from our regular brand of yoghurt to a brand that uses glass packaging with a deposit.
But that still leaves a lot to figure out: I decided to buy falafels at the counter with fresh cheese, meat and vegetarian products, assuming they'd be wrapped in a sheet of paper, just like the meat. But before I knew it they put them in a plastic box! Darn... Oh, and another thing I (conveniently, but sadly) overlooked: the paper they use is of course lined with a thin layer of plastic. So, I'm gonna have to find a way to work around that too.
Another side note: we still have a lot of things in our pantry like pasta, quinoa, rice, lentils, etc. that we bought before entering the challenge and that we are now still benifiting from. When these supplies are depleted however, I'm gonna have to look for a packaging free store that sells these products, because there is no way of getting these without the plastic packaging in our regular supermarket (nor at the organic Bio-Planet where we went today).
I'm so curious to see how this is gonna work out further and to find ways to improve my habits in a lasting way. In any case, I'll be sure to share it all with you guys!
Are you up for the #InspiringZeroWaste challenge? If so, what's your goal this month?
