For my second zero waste diary, I'd like to focus on being middle of the road. I know that's an unpopular position here on DK! But often with zero waste and the greater green movement, there is the danger of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. Popular buy-in is key to getting a grassroots, consumer-driven movement off the ground.
So even though I am writing this diary, I am not at zero waste myself. Full disclosure: I just took out my weekly trash and it was a regular size kitchen trash bag, about one quarter full. And I have it easy when it comes to trash--I am a divorced mom with my two girls on the weekends. And a couple weeks ago I bought my first compost bin and a pitchfork, and already I have seen that that has helped my trash volume decrease. Finally, I also live in Boston--land of glorious single stream recycling. So it is easier for me than most people to cut back on my trash.
I think in any movement, there has to be the leader out in front who is extreme. With residential zero waste, one of those leaders is Bea Johnson. She has received a lot of heat from people who think she's too extreme, and also some from those few who think she hasn't gone far enough. Those sorts of leaders are groundbreaking, polarizing, and completely necessary to galvanize a movement.
I had my own experience with being that kind of leader with a completely different sort of thing, and with zero waste I am content to be a moderate follower. I know, for example, that I will never give up dental floss the way the Johnson family has done. I believe they use compostable dental picks or something like that. On the other hand, I found out on her website about Eco-Dent floss, that according to the website comes in plastic-free, paper-fiber packaging that is recyclable and biodegradable. That's much better than regular floss with its plastic box.
That's one thing I did not realize until I started getting into the zero waste movement, that not all recycling is created equal. Of course best is to reuse and not throw away anything, but for recycling a rough hierarchy seems to be:
- Composting is best. I finally bit the bullet and am doing my own home composting since Boston does not yet offer municipal composting. Obviously turning waste into rich soil is the best possible solution. I am composting my fruit and vegetable scraps, tea leaves, washed eggshells, TP rolls, hair, and any undyed paper, paper products and cardboard boxes. I have persuaded my landlord to compost our yard waste.
- Glass. When glass is recycled, it is recycled into more glass bottles and jars. It can be recycled indefinitely. Of course, best use of glass containers is reusable--I have started buying milk from a local dairy that reuses its glass bottles, there is a hefty deposit ($1.50).
- Aluminum cans and foil. When aluminum is recycled, it is also recycled into more cans and foil. It does not lose strength from the recycling process.
- Dyed paper. This might be higher than the previous two because even though when paper is recycled it is not as strong, once the dyes and chemicals are removed it is a natural compostable product. Also there is a large demand for recycled paper in paper products, however they aren't the same paper products. Office paper and junk mail goes into cardboard boxes and tissues, etc.
- Plastic. Plastic is not like glass or metal--each recycling cycle makes it weaker and less suitable for manufacture, and the weakest plastic cannot be made into new products so it simply goes into landfills where it does not biodegrade. Realizing this was a big wake-up call for me. Here is a link with more information.
Now I'm not in the camp that considers plastic to be evil. And individual purchases need to be weighed against other green considerations. For example, I bought a lot of Pyrex containers for food storage in the refrigerator and freezer, because they take up less space than French canning jars and are stackable. The lids are a strong, durable plastic. And I bought a glass carafe with plastic lid to keep water chilled in the fridge.
But I have changed my purchasing behavior considerably when it comes to disposable plastic containers and anything plastic touching my food (I always have some space in my Pyrex containers so the lid isn't directly touching the food). I'm pretty sure I will never again buy bottled water in plastic or use plastic shopping bags from the store unless it's an emergency (I also have six gallons of water in plastic bottles for emergency prep). As I said in my previous diary, I am making the effort to purchase my groceries using my own containers whenever possible, and for things that I cannot, like oils, fats, vinegar, some spices and condiments, I try to buy products in glass containers.
A great website for non-plastic products is Life Without Plastic. Their products cost an arm and a leg; however they are extremely durable. One of the products I bought from them is a waterpoof steel tiffin for taking my lunch to work. It's wonderful; I can take soup to work and it won't spill in my bag. I fully expect to use that tiffin daily for the next ten years at least.
But as I said, I am moderate. I am not avoiding disposable plastic entirely. I use plastic trash bags, of course. I also get some frozen vegetables that come in plastic bags that cannot be recycled. The eggs from my CSA come in (recycled) plastic cartons--I feel it's more important to support my CSA and to use a recycled plastic product. My biggest source of recyclable plastic containers is nutritional supplements. I take a lot of vitamins and things. I did try switching to a brand that came in glass, but when it shipped they had carefully packed each glass pill bottle in non-recyclable plastic bubble wrap. Will I stop taking vitamins? No. But I will research where I can buy some of the more common vitamins locally in glass containers.
Where I am being sneaky is in the way I reuse my non-recyclable food wrapper plastic bags. I reuse them to throw away small amounts of non-compostable food trash that generally would stink up my kitchen trash. If I tie them tightly, I can go for a week with one kitchen trash bag without any smell, even in this hot weather, and that kitchen trash bag is only partially full.
Also I keep things in perspective and go for the high-volume trash sources. Yes, I use Brita water filters, but one small filter every couple months is not going to stress me out.
My elderly mother sends my girls and me a package every several months, usually packed full of styrofoam peanuts. They are being reused, she gets them from her workplace, but I can't reuse them so in the trash they go. It drives me bananas, and on my list of things to do is finding someplace where I can donate them for someone else to reuse, but I'm not going to discourage her from sending us packages.
Another place where I am environmentally moderate is my meat-eating habits. I will never be vegetarian. I got some heat with my green disclaimer:
Zero waste is not the most important thing a person can do to reduce their carbon footprint. Taking public transportation over driving, particularly for a daily commute, weatherproofing one's home and turning down the thermostat, cutting down on air travel, switching to renewable energy sources, and most importantly political action to get the Republican climate deniers out of Congress are all bigger priorities in fighting climate change. Don't use zero waste as an excuse to rest on your green laurels.
Predictably there was pushback from DK vegetarians over the large carbon footprint of meat, and the Treehugger link showing 51% of greenhouse gas emissions come from the meat and dairy industry was posted. I find that article misleading, to say the least, but even if one goes with those tortured stats, those emissions are from the meat and dairy industry as it currently stands. Everyone green and just about everyone rational can agree that factory farming of cattle, pigs and chickens is wrong, stupid, and incredibly stressful on the environment, both from a greenhouse gas perspective and from a waste perspective (with runoff affecting our waterways, etc.). As a voter and a progressive, overwhelmingly the most important issue for me is fighting global warming. It's a fact that responsible livestock farming can be used as a tool to fight global warming. Another article at Treehugger explains:
It's true: cattle, sheep, and goats can all decimate an environment if not properly managed. Furthermore, cattle emit huge amounts of methane, especially if corn-fed. Because methane is a denser greenhouse gas than CO2, it has a larger overall negative effect on the earth. But to eliminate ruminants entirely from our diets deeply disrupts our capacity to sequester CO2 and produce water in grassland watersheds.
I strongly believe that the most effective way to get rid of CAFO's is with a more moderate approach than becoming vegetarian. My view is spelled out in this Treehugger link:
On the one hand, I understand her point. The meat industry is more likely to respond to and react to meat eaters, than to those who eschew its products all together. And likewise, in a world where meat eating is the cultural norm, a campaign to reform our animal husbandry, rather than abolish it all together, has much more chance of near-term success.
I choose to spend my meat budget on more expensive pasture-raised meat and eat less of it, rather than to go vegetarian. I do save money by buying my meat at my local Muslim halal butcher, who gets his beef and chicken from local small farms where the animals are not confined. It's not quite organic because the animals are also given non-organic feed, particularly in the winter months when they can't graze, but the farming is humane and no antibiotics or growth hormone are used. He does give me my meat in plastic bags, but in this case I think it's important to support better livestock farming practices.
But I was remiss in leaving out avoiding factory farmed meat in my green disclaimer, so I will add it in the future, and here is hoping that omnivores like me can join together with vegans and fight the true enemy:
Introducing ... the Vegan/Omnivore Alliance against Animal Factories
In our society, I can think of two broadly defined groups that abhor our animal-agriculture regime: 1) conscientious omnivores, inspired by the work of figures like Wendell Berry, Vandana Shiva, Michael Pollan, and Eric Schlosser, who think that animals have a place in our farming and our diets, but in a much different way than the prevailing manner; and 2) vegans, who wish to remove animals from our farms and tables altogether.
The two groups present radically different visions, but share an enemy: industrial animal agriculture. Yet rather than collaborate, too often they squabble. Meanwhile, industrial meat lurches on, consolidating its grip on our food system and spreading globally. Enough! The lion must stand in solidarity with the lamb, in opposition to, uh, ... the dragon. Thus my new idea: the launching of the Vegan/Omnivore Alliance against Animal Factory Farming (twitter hashtag: #VOAAF).
--snip--
If McWilliams is correct, then vegans and omnivores agree on 99 percent of the meat issue. So let's put aside the other 1 percent -- for now -- roll our sleeves up, and clasp hands. There's no fee to join the Vegan/Omnivore Alliance against Animal Factories, no number to call, no petition to sign, no special handshake. Declare you're a member, and you are one. (I am a writer, not an organizer; the VOAAF will never formally incorporate -- under my watch anyway).