Hello!

Welcome to my blog, HouseholdWasteManager (: I am here to track my progress in taking the responsibility of my household waste into my own hands!

[householdwastemanager]

Day 21 - June 2nd

Conclusion - 

Today is the last day of my 21 day challenge to manage my household waste more responsibly. I believe that by doing the actions I did for the past 21 days, I definitely made a difference to lessen my impact on the environment. In total I kept around 150 Liters of Organic waste out of landfills by composting. Alongside composting, I also started recycling responsibly, keeping countless items of misplaced waste out of the landfill as well. By doing this, I more than halved the amount of garbage that my household sends to landfills each week, therefore reducing my household's greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide and methane.

The support from my family and friends throughout this challenge was definitely helpful, and changed the way we all now dispose of our waste. When grocery shopping and cooking meals, my entire family kept my challenge in mind, and whenever my friends would come over for lunch they would ask me about where their waste should go. From myself doing this challenge, my friends and family learned a lot about responsibly managing their wastes too.

If I were to have done anything differently during this challenge, I would have invested in a tumbling compost bin, which would have aided a lot in the process and taken the work out of mixing the soil everytime. I think that if every single household took as much responsibility over their own waste, the action has the potential to change the world for the better.

In conclusion I feel as though I will continue on with this “challenge” of responsibly managing my household waste throughout the rest of my life, and strive to find more ways to better my impact on the environment.

[householdwastemanager]

Day 20 - June 1st

I made a quick video about my what my daily composting process looks like!!

watch along to see how easy it really is!

[householdwastemanager]

Day 16-19 - may 28th - 31st

Grocery Shopping -

I went into the grocery store with my mom this week on a mission to find unwrapped or more responsibly packaged foods and household goods, and found that it is a lot more difficult than one may think! Living in a small town definitely makes it more difficult to shop sustainably, we do have one local “homegrown” food store, but they definitely do not have enough to do a full grocery shop there, leaving us with only two small grocery stores.

 I would say that the biggest contributor to the plastic waste in my house is wrappings from fresh vegetables and fruit, which I find absurd because mpost fresh produce has around the same shelf life when it's not wrapped up in plastic. I was unable to find any cucumbers in the store that had no plastic wrapping around them, but was able to find a pack of three cucumbers with around the same amount of plastic as a singular cucumber would normally have. Small changes like buying loose vegetables like peppers and lettuce also cut down on the plastic waste, especially when you bring your own reusable produce bags.

 Another decision we made is to continue to buy bagged milk, even though the cardboard carton may seem like a better idea, the carton itself most likely is not recyclable because it has a plastic coating around it. Instead you can buy bagged milk and donate the bags or reuse them. My school has a plastic bag collection right now in order to make rugs/blankets out of them which they donate to the food bank in town.

[householdwastemanager]

Day 11-15 - May 23rd - 27th

This week will be my second full week of doing this challenge! I have had a fairly constant amount of compost each day, at around 2.5-5 litres, except for days like today when I had around 7L because we cut up a watermelon! Thinking back to before his challenge, I remember throwing things such as watermelon rinds into the garbage and cannot believe I used to throw that amount of organic compostable waste into the garbage can!! 

Another update from this week… My mom and I cleaned out our closets!! In total we had around three large shopping bags (huge winners reusable bags) full of clothes to donate and sell. Although in past years we would never just throw away clothes, we would always donate or find another purpose for them, it was still a huge amount of matter of waste that some would throw away, that we kept out of the landfill. We also repurposed some old pairs of tights, that may not have been accepted at goodwill, into some cleaning rags that we will most likely use in the garage or outside for cleaning!

[householdwastemanager]

Day 12 - May 24th

Garbage Day -  taking a closer look into what I throw away! (metaphorically speaking)

Today was the second garbage day during my 21 day challenge to dispose of my waste in a more responsible way. I once again noticed that the amount of garbage in the bin is astonishingly low, with only two bags this week! I am very pleased with the significant drop in the amount of garbage I have been throwing away since the start of this challenge, but have decided to take a deeper look into what I am really throwing away in order to reduce that amount even more.

What I have noticed: A bit more than half of what I have thrown away this week is non-recyclable plastic materials such as plastic wrappers, films, and paper products with plastic wax-like coating. The rest is mainly things such as waste from my bathrooms, and organic materials that I have decided to keep out of my compost, in order to keep it safe for my gardens, such as animal products such as meat and dairy. 

How can I reduce the amount of these wastes from ending up in my trash?

Plastics - First of all I can try to reduce the amount of plastics that I buy and consume, by finding options at stores that are unwrapped or wrapped in recyclable materials. Another option to stop my non-recyclable plastics from going to the landfill could be ecobricking! I have seen many videos about this and decided to do some research on it. In summary, ecobricking is taking non-recyclable, clean plastics and compacting them into an empty plastic container or bottle in order to make a brick that can be used to build many things. I tried to find any sort of eco-brick donation site or anywhere I could mail them to if I decided to start this project, but came up with just about nothing, especially in my area. I don’t imagine I will start eco-bricking just yet, but it could be a neat summer project when I have more time on my hands! For now I will just try to buy more products that have recyclable or no packaging!

Bathroom wastes and animal products - These types of waste could most likely be composted (tissues, toilet paper… meat, dairy….), but i have decided against putting them in my compost to keep it sanitary enough to eventually use on my vegetable garden. If my township had a compost program, I could put these things in the bin to an extent. Another option would be to start a secondary compost for things that I won't necessarily put on a veggie garden but maybe use for other projects. I would most likely need to clean up my compost area more to allow another section/bin, so maybe another summer project!

[householdwastemanager]

Day 9, 10, + 11 - May 21st-23rd

North Huron’s Waste Management and Recycling program- 

This weekend I researched and looked deeper into my township’s waste program, and compared it with some programs from other surrounding areas. To start off, my township has always had garbage pickup every week while recycling is only picked up every other week. This schedule is definitely not ideal, as it prioritizes waste instead of recycling and green wastes, making it so that many households throw their recyclable waste into their trash bins. I found this to be proven true when speaking to numerous friends that live in my township, they said that they did not know how to properly recycle and that they mainly threw everything in one bin instead of waiting for the every-other week pickup. 

The first place I decided to compare against was Guelph, ON, mainly because I have heard and seen great things about their program as some of my bestfriends live there. The first big difference I noticed was the fact that they have compost pickup every week and garbage and recycling every-other, with the addition of many more yard waste pick-ups than we do! The complete opposite from my township. I also found this schedule for waste pickups in both areas, with the first image showing my town's schedule and the second showing Guelph's. 

Although there definitely are reasons for the difference between programs, such as the much larger tax base and accessible waste management sites, there is absolutely no reason we cannot instate recycling every week or even a compost every-other. 

The next area I compared against was Listowel ontario. The reason I chose listowel is because it is only around 20 mins away, and has a similar tax base. Listowel has the same sort of schedule as winham, with the bi-weekly recycling and weekly garbage. However, they have special BRA wheelie bins, where the size of the recycling bin is at least twice the size of the garbage. Whereas in my township we use the bag tag system and have rules stating that “Blue box containers cannot exceed 18-24 gallons.” which is only around 100L (much smaller than my garbage bin), again persuading people to throw their recyclable materials into their garbage bins which have no limits except for the number of bag tags used.

[householdwastemanager]

Day 6-8 - May 18th-20th

For the past three days i have had a fairly constant amount of waste that I take to the compost. I fill almost 2 spinach containers (5L) every day, and usually take them outside after dinner or earlier in the day if I notice any kind of odour.

After the first recycling pickup day while doing the challenge, I am able to really see the amount of plastics my family uses. After only three days the recycling bin is almost about halfway full.

Another positive thing i noticed this week is that it has already been 4 days since I changed the trash bag in our kitchen and it is nowhere near being full. The main amount of matter in the trash is non recyclable plastic films and bags from things like veggies and food wrappers.

My next step for the coming couple of days will to be trying to find unwrapped vegetables and responsibly packaged foods with recyclable wrappers at the grocery stores in town (which may be difficult).

[householdwastemanager]

I found this helpful and fun tiktok video explaining the environmental effects of composting, and how you can reduce your emissions!

@ positivelygreenliving

[householdwastemanager]

Day 4 + 5 - may 16th + 17th

Recycling and garbage pickup day!!

On monday nights I gather all of the recycling and garbage and take it to the street for pickup tuesday mornings. In a regular week, my household produces a large bin of garbage with about 4-5 bags in it, a bag of paper recycling, and a bag of plastic/glass/cans recycling. Although..... this week we only had ONE singular bag of garbage in our bin! I also noticed a small increase in the amount of plastics in the recycling, after researching and recycling as much as I possibly can. The amount of paper recycling stayed fairly constant, due to the fact that I have added as much as I can to the recycling, but also used some fibre recycling in my compost as carbon rich matter.

I was very shocked to find that even after only 5 days of composting and recycling properly, I had only one bag of garbage.

I noticed that the bag of garbage was slightly more full than the bags we throw in the bin normally. However, this is because without the organic waste that I now take outside to the compost, there is no need to take the garbage out due to the smell of decomposing matter, because the bag is mostly all non-recyclable plastics or food waste like meat and dairy products that I have decided to keep out of my compost. Having to take out bags less, means that I will be consuming less plastic by filling the bag and giving more life to the bag than I normally would.

[householdwastemanager]

Day 3 - may 15th

Composting and its environmental impacts

What is composting? Composting is a natural aerobic process involving the recycling of organic matter, such as yard waste and food scraps. Composting speeds up the process of decomposition by providing ideal conditions for bacteria, fungi, and other decomposers (such as worms, bugs, etc.). The final decomposed matter is called compost and is very rich in nutrients and has many uses like gardening, horticulture, and agriculture.

What are the environmental impacts of composting? 

Compostable organic waste makes up more than 30 percent of all waste that is eventually thrown into landfills. This amount of improperly disposed waste has severe consequences for the environment in ways of greenhouse gas emissions. When organic waste is disposed of improperly (landfill) it undergoes an anaerobic decomposition process, because there is little to no oxygen in landfill sites as they are piled high with garbage preventing the presence of oxygen. When these organics are decomposed anaerobically, they end up producing much more CO2 emissions than they would in an aerobic disposal process, and also produce harmful emissions such as methane and nitrous oxide. Both of these gasses are much more efficient than CO2 at holding heat in the atmosphere, meaning their impact on global warming is much more detrimental than CO2 alone. With aerobic processes such as composting, methane and nitrous oxide are not produced at all in most cases, and the CO2 that is produced is a much smaller amount per unit.

[householdwastemanager]

Day 2 - may 14th

Today I added the first load of organic waste into the compost bin!

I have decided to repurpose an empty spinach container as my in-house bin which can hold around 10 cups (2.5 L) of waste. So far it has been perfect because it is small enough to fit in the fridge/freezer, and closes completely in order to not stink up my entire house if i decide to leave it inside for more than just a day!

In about 24hrs I managed to collect around 5L (2 containers) of compost that otherwise would have been thrown into the trash. Today's load of compost contained mostly food waste like past due veggies, egg shells, coffee grounds, unused parts of fruits and vegetables, and some food that was left on plates.

[lovely-low-waster]

photo credit to lostandfarmed.com

[householdwastemanager]

Found this neat illustration about composting basics!

[householdwastemanager]

Day 1 - May 13th

Today I prepped the compost bins in my backyard!

After years of throwing organic waste from yard cleanups, old planters and decorations, the compost area was not suitable for proper composting purposes.

With a little bit of hard work, and help from a garden rake, it is looking perfect for composting, especially with the base layer of rich soil from past decomposed composted waste!

[householdwastemanager]

Introduction

Hi! Welcome to my blog Household Waste Manager!

For the next 21 days I will be using this blog to track my progress in responsibly manage my household waste, to learn more about eco-conscious ways to dispose of waste, and hopefully make a change in my community.

Why did I choose to take on this challenge? The main reason I chose to do the 21 day challenge of managing my household waste in an environmentally friendly, responsible way was because of the poorly run township waste management program in my town. With no composting program, and a faulty every-other-week recycling pick-up, my township's WM program has to be one of the worst!

After seeing this issue throughout the entirety of my life, I have decided to take it into my own hands by starting to compost and learning how to properly recycle as much as I can. Which goes hand in hand with attempting to minimize the amount of improperly disposed waste my family throws away!