During the time of my moratorium of fast food I found myself spending less money in general. In addition to the obvious benefit of saving money I noticed another benefit when trash day rolled around: saving the environment. When I went to empty all the trash cans I discovered that there was not enough trash in the house to fill the under-the-sink kitchen trash can. I emptied more garbage out of my cat litter box over the week than I did in the house. My recycling can held the week's newspapers and junk mail, a few empty bottles/cans, and little else. I was amazed at how little trash my household produced.
It felt like a revelation to me but it really should have been obvious. When you buy less there is less packaging to throw away. Especially with fast food, it really is amazing how much packaging it takes to contain such a relatively small amount of food. Some of the packaging is recyclable but a lot has to be trashed. I've always felt good about trying to recycle as much as possible but it would be better if I didn't have anything to recycle in the first place.
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6 hours ago
That is awesome!! Great point. I love when I produce less trash. And good for you for sticking with your fast food moratorium. :)
ReplyDeleteI've placed a moratorium on not eating any fast food, but temptation overwhelmed me. Good job on not caving in (like I did!)
ReplyDeleteVery nice! What a great unexpected benefit!
ReplyDeleteYou are right about the volume of trash, every little thing is individually wrapped then you have all the little packets of condiments, napkins etc. But cooking at home produces some trash too, pretty much everything is packaged too much. We need a system where packaging is reusable and everything at the store is bulk packaged so you have to bring your own container.
ReplyDelete@ Mrs. Money & Shtinkykat - Fessin' up: after a break of several weeks I went back to fast food with a vengeance recently. But I'll quit it again, and again, until it finally takes.
ReplyDelete@ Miss M - Yes, I agree that there is too much packaging everywhere. The more basic you buy (flour, oatmeal, veggies & fruits, etc, the less packaging there is. Less junky in every way. Interesting, no?
I just found your blog and I've enjoyed reading it! I think recycling is so important, we almost never have garbage to throw out and we compost all of our food -- it keeps the refuse costs way down (we pay for each bag we throw away)
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