Trashless Tuesday!

We are starting a new tradition at A Happy Green Life – Trashless Tuesday! We want to help bring awareness to the amount of garbage that the average person and family throw away EVERY day! We are hoping that we can encourage people to make conscious decisions to reduce their garbage footprint!
So…what does this mean for you? Well, take the pledge with us to have a garbage FREE day every Tuesday! Of course you can have as many garbage free days as you want – and we hope that it will open our eyes to the type of products we are using and their impact – reducing our garbage footprint everyday!
Start by thinking about the types of products you use on an average day – do you specifically buy products that can be reused or recycled? Can you up-cycle that jar into something magical for your little one? Can you use that milk jug again?
We are excited to learn about the things you learn by trying this! Please share your experiences with us!

Trashless Tuesday #1 – EPIC FAIL!
We tried, and we have to admit this is going to be harder than we thought. Today was a ‘work’ day for us. We took the kiddos and went to a local supplier to pick up some supplies. While out, lunchtime quickly approached – and we made a conscious decision to eat somewhere that we could sit down and eat – so no to-go containers. Everything was going smooth until the kiddo’s waters came in paper cups – which at least we can recycle. And then…they needed straws (they are just too little for a big kid cup) so we can reuse those right? BUT – we had leftovers and they only had Styrofoam containers – uggh…GARBAGE!
After lunch we headed to a friend’s house for a play date. On our way, we stopped for a Starbuck’s coffee. We got ourselves the reusable ‘iced’ cups so that we can reuse them every time we NEED a coffee! SCORE for trashless Tuesday! Now we only have to remember to bring them with us so we don’t have to buy one every time!
After our playdate, it was time to head back to A Happy Green Life headquarters to do some work. Kiddo’s playing outside, all is well, no garbage! But then it is dinner time – and since we had been busy all day – no motivation to cook – and of course, it is kid’s eat free night at Round Table Pizza. So we go out to eat – napkins, straws, and GARBAGE oh no…a pile of disgusting kiddo-face-wipes all over – FAIL!
What we learned: we need to create a Trashless Tuesday/ EVERY DAY to-go kit! We need to be sure to bring a bunch of our cloth wipes at all times – they are perfect for wiping faces, messes and hineys. We also need to bring containers with us to store our leftovers – genius! And reusable cups, with straws would also prevent some unnecessary garbage!
Here’s to next Tuesday and a more successful Trashless Tuesday – who’s up to join us on this adventure?

Wordless Wednesday

Dumping Prohibited

Trash

My family and I take a walk every evening, recently I noticed that there was a lot of trash along the sidewalk. My husband suggested that we have a police call (a police call is where everyone goes outside and picks up the trash within a designated area). That evening when we went out we brought trash bags and gloves. We ended up collect two garbage bags full of trash and one of recycling along our one mile walking route. Our three year old had a blast! You would never think a kid would have so much fun picking up trash, but it was like a giant scavenger hunt for her. She loved guessing if an item what trash or recycling and she loved to hear us cheer for her when she got the answer right!

After our police call we came home and did a little research on trash, here is what we found out:

The number one form of litter is fast food waste

Besides fast food waste the most common trash are cigarette butts, plastic bags, paper, candy wrappers, and bottle caps.

On average in one day 7 million pounds of litter are removed from beaches, lakes and streams

Animals from nearly 442 species are entangled in or ingest trash in water annually; the majority of these animals will die

People under the age of 15 are least likely to litter, people over the age of 25 are most likely to litter

In a poll conducted in 2010 people said that they litter because there is already a presence of trash, it is the easiest way to get rid of their unwanted things and because it is a social activity that they learned from their parents.

I have to tell you that some of the facts shocked me. Littering is a big no no in our house and was definitely forbidden in my home when I was growing up, it shocks me when I see someone do it so it surprised me how much litter is removed on average in a day. I was equally shocked by the fact that people over the age of 25 are most likely to litter, you would think this group of individuals would know better! The most important thing I learned was that people litter because their parents did. Children watch their parents do everything; even something as simple as tossing a cigarette butt out the window will be engrained in their subconscious and will be repeated when they are older. We must teach our children that littering is bad, and we need to do it by setting a litter free example.

Trash is gross; it belongs in a trashcan, recycling bin or compost not on the sidewalk or street. It harms animals and makes our neighborhoods ugly. I am proud to say that we have been picking up trash every night now for two weeks and we have inspired three other families on our block to do the same! When you ask my three year old what you do with trash she enthusiastic answers, “put it in the trash can!” It is our job to clean up our planet and teach our children to do the same. I heard this great quote the other day, “If every person picked up just one piece of litter today, there would be over 300 million fewer pieces of litter. If every person picked up 10 pieces of litter, there would be 3 billion fewer pieces damaging our environment. If you and your friends spend just one hour picking up litter in your own neighborhood, you will not only pick up thousands of pieces of trash, you will also make a tremendous impact on your community!”

-Amanda