Weekly Updates

February 24, 2008  Supermarket Savvy

 I have plenty of Waste Diet topics lined up to discuss but many of them require better weather for experimenting, like composting, gardening and field trips to our local landfill.  Here we are at the end of February waiting for winter to thaw, what else can we do in this weather but go shopping.  The next few weeks will be dedicated to shopping store surveys and info on a variety of good shopping options.  When I sat down to make up a list of all the places I go for groceries, I came up with about 10 places, all close to our house or conveniently located on my trip to/from work.  Each store has their own unique Waste Diet pros and cons.  I wrote up a store survey and sent it to the store manager of all 10 stores and hopefully will be hearing from them in the next month.  Our survey includes questions about packaging but also about organic and local food options and environmentally friendly products.  My ideal grocery store would have the following options:

Fresh local, organic fruits and vegetables sold packaging free.

Healthy organic delit meat and cheese sold at a deli counter where you could bring your own containers.

Organic juices, jellies, peanut butter, and other organic products.

Organic meats and seafood sold in recyclable packaging.

Milk sold in returnable glass bottles.

Bulk bins for cereal, rice, snacks, and pasta, or items sold in large quantities.

Hodgson Mills flour (a local product) sold in 5lb bags.

Organic eggs in cardboard containers.

Stoneyfarms Yogurt.

Earth friendly paper products, laundry products, and pet products.

The store would have an environmental conscience and sells reusable canvas shopping bags and recycles used plastic bags.

The employees are friendly and the store is located within ½ mile from our home.

I realize this is a lot to ask for in one store but we are slowly narrowing our choices.  Tune in at the end of the month to see how the stores rank.  The stores included in the survey are:  Schnucks on Manchester, Dierbergs on Manchester, Walmart on Kirkwood road, Target on Kirkwood road, Sam’s Club on Big Bend, Traders Joes in Brentwood, Whole Foods in Brentwood, Sappington Farmer’s Market on Watson, Shop N Save on Manchester, and Straubs on Lockwood.

February 17, 2008 “V” is for Valentine and “V” is for Vegetarian Calling all vegetarians……… I need recipes!! We went to Chicago last weekend to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. On the way their, I mentioned to my husband that one solution for our meat waste would be to go vegetarian. I told him that I’d actually thought of the idea before we started the project but never even brought it up because I knew we could never do it. To my surprise, he said “lets try it!....but only once a week.” This week we officially started a weekly vegetarian night. Our first night fell on Valentine’s Day (it seemed fitting) with Linguine Della Nona, one of our favorite pasta recipes made with lots of garlic and zucchini. (Click on the recipe page for a copy of this recipe.) We’re big meat fans and this will be a challenge for us so I definitely need some good recipes. Please send your recipes to maren@thewastediet.com and I will post some of them on our website. To be clear, I looked up the definitions of Vegetarianism and Veganism. Although they are both noble causes, Veganism is much stricter, so for now, we’re just doing a version of Vegetarianism as means to reduce our landfill waste. Vegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes all animal flesh, including poultry, game, fish, shellfish or crustacea, and slaughter by-products. The reasons for choosing vegetarianism may be related to morality, religion, culture, ethics, aesthetics, environment, society, economy, politics, taste, or health. Veganism is a philosophy and lifestyle that seeks to exclude the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose. Vegans do not use or consume animal products of any kind. The most common reasons for becoming a vegan are ethical commitment or moral convictions concerning animal rights, the environment, human health, and spiritual or religious concerns. Of particular concern are the practices involved in factory farming and animal testing, and the intensive use of land and other resources required for animal farming.

February 10, 2008 "Confessions" I’ve been thinking its time to confess. Now that our project is online, we’ve been getting a lot of questions about where to recycle this and what to do with that. Honestly, we threw a lot of that stuff away when we moved last July. Okay so maybe we had somewhat of an unfair advantage before starting our diet because we had purged quite a bit of junk when we moved. We recycled a lot of it, we had 2 garage sales, sold items on ebay, and donated many bags of stuff to the goodwill but we also threw away a lot stuff to the landfill that probably could have been recycled. As a family, we started recycling about 6 years ago. We started with baby steps and at first, we only recycled newspapers, aluminum cans, plastic containers, and glass bottles. Gradually we added tin cans and cardboard boxes. (Those items took more time to clean and take apart boxes.) My husband has always composted yard waste in the backyard and some of our table scraps outside. I never did any of the good shopping habits until we started to research this project. The good shopping habits took about 2 months of experimenting and planning before we developed a system that worked for us and suited our lifestyle. We have bumped up our efforts in all of these areas for our project and it is finally starting to kick in. It has taken a couple of months but now, the things we are doing just feel like a natural part of our life. The point I’d like to make here is that it doesn’t matter where you are now, just start a small program to improve your habits and move in baby steps. Many things we’ve written about might not work for you. Experiment and find a plan that fits with your lifestyle. Then, make a goal how to improve, even if it’s just one thing at a time. Doing something is better than doing nothing at all. The past is the past and all you can do is move forward!

Feb. 3, 2008 Go Online We officially launched our website this week and are already getting a great response! Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to look, respond, and spread the word. In honor of going online, this week’s update is about how your computer can help you reduce your waste. First, try receiving and paying your bills online. We’ve been doing it for years, you save money on postage and cut down on excess paper waste. Second, try subscribing to magazines and newspapers online. Start by selecting 1 or 2 publications you think you can do without, visit their websites and sign up for e-mail subscriptions. It’s free, you don’t get all the advertisements, and it reduces a lot of paper. We found www.epicurious.com as a replacement for all our cooking magazines. We can look for the recipes we want without the excess bulk of magazine subscriptions. We will never replace all our magazines because some of them are still really nice to get. My husband reads National Geographic to the kids each month, the photos are beautiful and the time spent with the kids is worth it. Last of all is the issue of junk mail. Many of you have asked for information regarding all the unsolicited mail we all receive daily. The average American receives 11 pieces of unsolicited junk mail each week. Added up, that bulk accounts for 100 million trees lost every year! By reducing your amount of unwanted mail, you personally will save 2 trees and will be less likely to send additional bulk to the landfill. Here are a couple of things you can do to reduce unwanted mail: For catalogues, email www.optout@abacus-direct.com with your full name and current address. For pre-screened credit and insurance solicitations try www.optoutprescreen.com . Another really good link with more information is www.newdream.org, click on junk mail facts.

January 27, 2008, "Entertaining" Whether our daughter is spontaneously inviting the kids next door over for Sunday breakfast or we are inviting friends and family over for pre-planned dinner parties, we like to entertain. Of course entertaining presents a new waste Diet challenge, other people's waste in our home. Fortunately, most of our friends already know all about our project and are more than happy to help out. In fact, the Waste Diet has proved to be quite the dinner party conversation! This month, we entertained in our home on two separate occasions. On both occasions, the dinner party crowd included adults, kids, and diaper-wearing toddlers. I had to make some quick decisions as to how to handle diaper waste. I came to the conclusion that whether a dirty diaper was thrown away in our trash or taken home with the owner, its ultimate fate would end at the landfill. Although we are trying to eliminate as much waste as possible, we're looking for sensible solutions, not going to extremes. Our goal is to find a happy medium of Waste Diet habits that we can live with for a lifetime. We will continue to entertain in our home and will not be asking our guest to take their trash home with them. One guest asked me what I would do if we un-expectantly had another child.....would we choose cloth or disposable this time. I avoided the question, but for the record, there are already 6 years worth of pre-Waste-Diet dirty Engelmohr diapers rotting away at landfills throughout the country. I like to think that if eight years ago I were as enlightened as I am today, I would have made the best environmental choice but I freely admit that I might not have. Everyone must make their own choices that fit best with their lifestyles. In my opinion, doing something is better than doing nothing at all.

January 21, 2008 "Makin' Bagels" Part of our project has included the making all our own baked goods to reduce packaging. The kids had to give up their beloved poptarts for the project, so we were challenged with finding healthy package-free substitutes. We make our own cookies, waffles, and muffins and freeze them so we always have a quick breakfast or snack at hand. This weekend we decided to try adding homemade bagels to the menu. I had no idea how hard it would be or how they would turn out but it was actually very easy, lots of fun, and delicious! We used a recipe from our bread machine cookbook. The kids had fun rolling out the dough and watching them boil. They got to sprinkle them with their favorite flavors, poppy seed, cinnamon sugar, and sea salt. We've also make all our own bread. After many failed experiments, yielding numerous bricks, we settled on a whole wheat recipe for the bread machine and a super easy old-fashioned style crusty white bread (from my mom) that we make in the oven. We always make extra and freeze a loaf or 2 for last minute needs. We found a bread-slicing guide at the goodwill and we store the sliced bread in reusable plastic containers. We go through a lot of flour and found a brand that's made here in Missouri. Hodgson Mills carries natural unbleached white flour, whole wheat flour, and many other grains. One bag of flour for $2.50 will make 5 ½ loaves of bread. You avoid extra packaging and can't beat the price!! Go dust off your bread machines, it's easy!!

January 14, 2008 "Understanding the Enemy - Plastic Film" Isn't there a saying that goes something like know your friends but know your enemies better? If there is one Waste Diet enemy, its plastic film. It's unavoidable and it's everywhere! It is almost impossible to go to the grocery store and totally avoid bringing home plastic film. Plastic film is defined as any kind of plastic wrap product. Most often its used for food packaging and it cannot be recycled. As a busy working mother, I've relied on all of those pre-packaged, processed and individually wrapped food items designed to make life easier. Our kids have become dependant on those easy items that come wrapped in plastic like poptarts, gogurts, pudding pops, small bags of chips, jello, the list goes on. To combat plastic film, there are several things you can do. Try buying in bulk, avoid processed food, cook from scratch, and/or try to do without. Even within these guidelines, plastic film is still unavoidable unless you can buy everything from a local farmer's market or grow it and make it yourself. The plastic film industry argues that because their product is so much stronger per weight than any other type of packaging they can use much less of it. One example they use is the metal coffee tin verses the newer coffee brick style of packaging. By comparison, the weight and shape of a typical metal coffee tin to the weight and shape of a vacuum packed coffee brick in plastic film, is much less efficient. The cans are much heavier and harder to pack for exporting. We like to think that the empty coffee can would end up in the recycle bin whereas the coffee brick bag can only go to the landfill. Unfortunately many cans go directly to the landfill weighing more and taking up more space compared to plastic film that is light weight and lies flat. I appreciate the plastic film argument but hope there will soon be a more environmental packaging solution.

January 8, 2008 "Kitty Litter Study" I hate to start our plan by discussing the topic of kitty litter but it is one of our biggest challenges with the waste diet. In addition to 2 adults and 2 kids, our household also includes a dog and 2 cats. We are fortunate that my husband can take Rusty, our dog, to work with him everyday. When Rusty is home he naturally deposits waste in our backyard. Unfortunately, our 2 cats, Stinky and Kitch, are strictly indoor cats and can't take advantage of natural outdoor relief. Before starting this project, we read alot of articles on cat litter to determine the best approach for our project. We settled on a combination of flushable, biodegradable cat litter and biodegradable pan liners. There is alot of controversy about whether composting cat litter is safe, so we decided against it and will accept sending cat litter in biodegradable bags to the landfill each month. After much experimentation we (the cats and I) decided to use Swheat Scoop which is made from recycled wheat particles and is flushable and biodegradable. We use biodegradable cat pan liners from biobag. One bag of used litter is approximately 10 lbs of waste that we'll send to the landfill each month.

January 1, 2008, "Ready, Set, Go" Three hundred and twenty pounds of trash! That equals how much waste our household of four (2 adults and 2 kids) produced in just 2 months. That equals approximately 40 pounds per person per month. That is why our nation's landfills are overflowing and that is why our family's 2008 new year's resolution is going on a waste diet for an entire year. Today is January 1st, 2008 and the first official day of our year sabbatical from waste. Ironically, our regular trash pick-up day fell on the last day of 2007 so we purged as much as we could, we put out 10 bags of trash, mostly comprised of Christmas wrappings plastic packaging . Yesterday's output totaled 107 lbs of waste comprising of 74 pounds sent to the landfill and 33 pounds sent to the local recycler. In grand style, we splurged on the last day of the year before starting our diet and sent 10 bags of waste to the landfill! I've always been intrigued by the people who do something drastic to change their lives while simultaneously proving a point. There was the guy who ate nothing but McDonald's fast food, the woman who cooked everything in Julia Child's cookbook, the couple who stopped buying things, the family who didn't buy anything from China, another family who only ate from local resources, the guy who gave up electricity, and a more recently, a couple who are giving up everything and calling themselves the no impact guy. To be honest, for a long time now, I've wanted to think of something our family could do for a year and live to tell about it. In late October, it finally came to me “ lets give up trash for a whole year! The inspiration came as a result of moving into our new green home last July. We were already pretty good recyclers but much further could we go? For the last two months in 2007 I religiously weighed all our trash and recycling, while researching ways to further reduce and eliminate our waste. The first thing I learned is that this is definitely not a new and innovative idea. There are many communities and organizations already diligently working to reduce the nations waste. Many individuals are already doing great things to reduce their own waste. Although our effort might not be unique or different, we decided to try it anyway and see what we could accomplish in a year. I initially thought that recycling was the answer but I quickly learned that recycling alone is not the solution. There are many good sources for recycling all kinds of items, but not everything can be recycled. Although recycling is commendable it takes quite a lot of effort and energy to collect, sort, clean, and process. We soon realized that the best way to reduce waste was not to create it in the first place. Our solution should include on re-evaluating the things we buy and carefully considering every new purchase. (We'll take hints from the couple who stopped buying things.) into something else, therefore our solution should not rely on recycling alone. It was my husband, John's idea for the waste diet. I'm more of an extremist and wanted to do it all-or-nothing style but John was quick to point out that we'd be much better off trying to come up with a plan we could live with for a lifetime. That meant eliminating as much waste as possible without drastically changing our lifestyle. Just like going on a food diet, you'll have more success if you can adopt a diet change you can live with for a lifetime. So that has become our goal to create a lifetime plan to reduce waste without changing our lives (too much). We'll spend the year researching and investigating waste options and documenting our findings and actual waste output. We'll still have our local trash pick-up but we don't have to put any trash out if we don't have any. We're going to be as accurate as we can but we have no way of proving what we're doing other than our own documentation, so you'll just have to take our word for it!