Garbage Can Challenge – January Update
It is hard to believe we are four months into our challenge! I was elated last month to have met our family goal and a little sad to report we were a bit shy of our goal this month. I saw it coming, with the holidays, influx of gatherings, extra food preparation, gifts, etc. While I was trying to be as vigilant as possible, we still ended up producing a little over half our large trash can’s worth of garbage over the month. I have since regained my positive attitude though, and am fired up to make this month a good garbage count month!
In my last post, I left you with a few ideas I was going to try out. Firstly, ice cream. Holy cow (no pun intended) did it come out heavenly! I didn’t make it just once. No, I couldn’t stop! I made several batches of vanilla, a few chocolate with chocolate chips, and one that I used maple syrup in as the only sweetener, and added toasted pecans. I haven’t made any in a few weeks, but just writing about it makes me want to make some tonight! I highly encourage you to try it out if you can!
Additionally, and rightfully secondly, after all that ice cream, I started making my own toothpaste. This also was a huge success. It is so simple and even got kid approved. My niece Naima loves it and told me I needed to give the recipe to her mama. Here is the recipe I used*:
2 tablespoons organic coconut oil
1 tablespoon of baking soda
~20 drops of organic essential oil (I used peppermint oil)
Mix it together and you are all set! This toothpaste can be stored in a recycled jelly jar, or something similar.
*Recipe courtesy of Lauren Singer.
Click to see Daniel and Ayla’s homemade toothpaste debut!
I’ve also stocked up on some new cotton produce bags, bamboo toothbrushes and refillable dental floss. By the way, did you know that, “if everyone in the US flosses their teeth according to ADA recommendations, every single year, our empty containers alone would fill a landfill the size of a football field that 6 stories high!”? I found this out from Lauren Singer’s video on floss, (the low-waste alternative to traditional floss is unfortunately sold out at the time I’m writing this). Even these seemingly little things make a big difference, especially as more and more people catch on!
Amelia, a long time NPDC camper and counselor, wrote in on our blog with a fabulous suggestion I wanted to share:
“Here is a tip I cam across recently. When you go to a restaurant, bring containers for leftovers instead of using the one-time-use styrofoam boxes [or plastic containers]. I can’t stand those things! Apparently it is convention in many European countries for restaurants to not even provide doggy bags; you have to bring the container yourself if you want to take your food home!
Lets break the norm and get rid of non-biodegradable one time use containers!”
Thanks Amelia! A great idea indeed! What other ideas are you guys trying out? Let us all know by leaving a comment on the blog post here.
Signing off until next time,
Ayla