Today is the last day of the Trash Analysis blog! While it is very exciting and sad at the same time, it is refreshing to know how far I have come since Day 1. Even though it has only been just over two weeks, I feel that my habits have changed significantly, and I am proud of my progress. But this challenge will not remain a fifteen-day trial. This will stay with me much longer and I now feel that I am a lot more conscious about what I throw away and what I recycle. To celebrate the end of this project, here is a picture of the last pieces of waste I generated during the project.
0 Comments
I have some depressing news today: the 30 Day Challenge will now be a 15 Day Challenge...Mr. Vetter said that it was too much for 81 students to be working on something related to the project for 100% of the time, and I totally agree with him. However, that means that the Zero Landfill Project will now be an elective, and tomorrow is my last day of personal trash analysis! Since it's October, my yogurt had a Breast Cancer Awareness lid on it, and this is the only item I had to throw away. (Recycle). Tomorrow I will be going to UCLA so it will be interesting to see what waste I generate there!
I did not produce any waste again today, and I am extremely satisfied with my progress throughout this project. I was throwing quite a bit of trash away at the beginning, but thanks to some reusable food pouches my mom bought, no more Ziploc bags end up in the landfill from my waste. I think everyone should have one, because they are a lot more affordable in the long-run in comparison to buying new boxes of Ziploc bags on a consistent basis. A picture of the reusable pouch is pictured below.
As I near the end of this blog, I am starting to think about the ways in which this type of experiment could help others. Not only have I been more intelligent with the waste I generate, but I have produced less of it. Today, all I consumed that had to be recycled was water, which came in a plastic bottle. If more people started updating a blog of this sort, they could become more aware of their habits, too.
Over the course of this challenge, I have been trying my hardest to be efficient and smart with my choices in order to benefit the Earth, and I think I have been successful in doing that. This morning, I was posed with an interesting situation. I had just finished the pound cake my family had finished and I was left with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, and a pastry wrapper. Because I was sure about the aluminum foil and the plastic wrap, I recycled those, but I through the wrapper away. Through further research, I found out that this was the right move, and I was really happy with that decision. Hopefully I can continue to think green in the future after this mini project.
I am proud to announce that today I went the whole day without throwing a single thing in the trash can! I recycled some paper and a plastic bottle, but I went 24 hours without providing anything for the landfill! It makes sense too because this is Day 10, which means that I am 2/3 of the way through this challenge! To celebrate, I posted a picture of my recycle bin below.
Because I was eating at home today, I did not produce as much waste as I do at school. However, I did have Subway for dinner, and I encouraged my parents to start recycling the sandwich wrappers and the bags from this point forward. They caught on, and I am proud to have influenced them in the direction that I am starting to take right now. My family is very efficient in the recycling category: our recycle bin is usually three times more full than our trash can, which is great. Hopefully we can keep these efforts up in order to benefit our environment further.
Along with writing about my personal trash analysis today, I also completed a trash analysis on HTHNC's campus, and I was pretty shocked about how many recyclable materials our school throws away. For my ritual, I went to MXN with my advisory, and my tacos came in plastic tubs with plastic utensils in a plastic bag. When I was done eating, I recycled everything in the bag, (including the bag itself,) and stashed some salsa in my backpack for later. A picture of the trash from my analysis at school is displayed below.
Today was a very uneventful day for recycling, because all of my food was not packaged, except for a snack bag of chocolate bunny grahams, which I threw into the blue bin. I feel as if this past week has really opened my eyes to my habits and what I can do to change them, and I'm really appreciative of what we are doing. It helps to raise awareness about keeping the planet healthy and our landfills starved.
Unfortunately, I generated a lot of waste today that could have been recycled, but I did the right thing and put everything in the blue bin. At youth group, I recycled a plastic cup and a paper plate, and I had Wendy's for dinner, (because it was 8:30 at night and I had to eat,) so that trash was able to be saved from from the can and it all went into the recycle bin. A picture is below of the plate and cup at youth group.
|
Robby AcklesStudent at HTHNC ArchivesCategories |