5 Tips to Go Near Zero Waste

Today is day 19 of wearing every

single piece of trash I create.

And I'm up to 58 pounds

of trash.

What that means is I'm creating

about 3 pounds of trash per day.

And this might seem like a lot.

But in reality, I'm creating

about 33% less trash

than the average American

that creates 4.5 pounds per day.

So this might seem overwhelming

to anybody that's interested

in creating less trash

that doesn't want to be a

"Trash Man" like me

which is what everybody has been

calling me or a "Trash Monster".

But the good news is there's

a lot that you can do.

and it starts with small things.

So the first and one of

the most simple

is to ditch plastic

and paper bags at the

grocery store or wherever

you're shopping.

Instead you can get

a reusable bag.

This is one of my favorites.

I've had this for 4 years.

It's called a "Chico Bag" and

it fits into this tiny pocket.

So it's easy to bring

anywhere you go.

Instead of paper towels, napkins

and tissues, whether you're

at home or at restaurants.

Instead, you can just

use reusable cloths.

They don't have to be anything

fancy at all.

These have existed for

hundreds of years and they

can save you a ton of money.

It's really convenient and easy

to get disposable cups when

you're getting your coffee or tea

or something like that.

It's really easy to just bring

your own cup or mug.

Or even a mason jar, wherever

you're going to get a drink.

And doing that, means no more

cups to the landfill.

Whether its styrofoam, plastic

or paper dishes,

plastic forks and spoons,

or to-go containers.

You can get rid of all of that,

simply by carrying your own

dishes and your own utensils.

You can use this for

sitting down to eat or for

using it for food on the go.

And lastly, you can

ditch the bottled water.

This will keep thousands

of plastic bottles from

ever needing to be made.

And save you a ton of money.

Instead, just bring your

own reusable bottle, wherever

you go and fill it up at home

or when you're out.

So those are 5 things that

we can all start today.

The good news is that none of

them mean that you have to

go out and buy anything.

You can just use materials

that you find.

They all will save you

a ton of money and

they'll decrease the amount

of trash that you're creating.

Start with just 1 of them,

if it seems overwhelming

and once you have success

with that, you can continue

on to the rest.

Trash Me