While preventing a landfill from being built in environmentally sensitive wetlands is our immediate concern, we should also be thinking about how to stop or reduce the need for landfills in general. Angela McShane recently wrote an article for the Littleton Coop’s newsletter The Radish about reducing waste from grocery shopping and meal prep. Excerpts of this are included here with the author’s permission, plus you can read the full article in the linked PDF below or on Issuu.
Reusable bags & jars
One of the things Angela discusses is how to avoid taking plastic bags home from the supermarket. The idea is simple – the less plastic bags you bring home, the less plastic bags you are sending to a landfill.
Whenever I leave the house by car, my bag of bags is in the back seat. I have a beautiful mesh bottom “last bag” from www.eqpdgear.com (pronounced “equipped.”) The mesh bottom allows crumbs to fall out which leaves me with less cleaning to do. My ‘last bag’ is filled with mesh produce bags (for produce and bulk items), chalkboard painted wooden clothespins (I bring chalk in a tin and write bulk PLU #s on the pins), tupperwares (prepared salads, meat,) glass jars (oils, soaps, vinegar, vanilla, honey, etc.) and two extra grocery bags. As long as I have my “bag of bags” with me, I’m free for that last minute run to the Littleton Coop, Home Depot or… any store!
Since I invested in reusable mesh produce bags and ‘last bag’ grocery bags, I’ve had a hard time taking single-use plastic bags from any store for any reason. It seems unnecessary and careless. The “last bag” I have from eqpdgear is rated to 90 lbs, so any heavy items I buy get loaded into that bag. My favorite produce bags are made by earthwise. The spare grocery bags are for the rest of my items. My bags rarely need to be washed, maybe every few months.
What to do with food waste
Another topic Angela addresses is how to reduce food waste at home – by composting!
There’s one more step to waste free shopping that really helps reduce the amount of waste going to a landfill. Do you compost at home yet? Composting at home is about as simple as it gets. And, once you have a finished batch, you can nourish your gardens and raised beds. It’s a wonderful cycle that I really enjoy seeing through. You need 4 bins.
To compost at home you need a one gallon and a ten gallon stainless steel compost bins for your kitchen counter and just outside the back door. Both can be found at Home Depot. The one gallon bucket is the bin to chuck all compostable materials from within the kitchen. Coffee grounds, food and veggie scraps, paper towels, melon rinds, leftovers, etc. Any food waste except for liquids and meat can go into the compost. The ten gallon stainless steel bucket serves as a mid-way station before you get to the tumblers in the backyard. Once the ten gallon bucket is filled, take it out back to the tumblers. Easy!
If we can reduce the amount of waste going to landfills, we reduce the need for new landfills. It’s a long-term goal worth pursuing while we continue to fight to preserve the natural resources of New Hampshire’s North Country.