Holidays and Waste Reduction Fatigue

After almost four months away from the blogosphere, I figured it was time I actually got another post written and uploaded. I started writing a few during the Christmas season, but each one was more "ranty" than the last, and ultimately that's not what this blog is about. This blog is about sharing our journey into waste reduction, the strategies we've discovered and challenges we've faced. So hopefully this post won't devolve into a rant about consumerism, though I will probably still touch on that issue.

Still Getting the Word Out

Well, it seems as though this challenge is still interesting to people out there. Since I last posted I have had the privilege of sharing our challenge with a local church during their adult education time, had another chat with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo, and was a guest on CBC Maritime Noon and participated in their call-in show. The call-in show with Maritime Noon was great, as it gave us more ideas to use in our own challenge. And, as always, it's amazing to hear how other people are reducing their household, and in some cases, their business waste.

Holidays and Waste Reduction

It seems that everyone I've talked to in the past little while has wanted to know how we did Christmas in our house. For us we did keep our challenge in mind when preparing for the holiday, but to be honest, our Christmas this year wasn't much different from how it's always been.

Gifts

Okay, this is where I may rant a bit. We have two primary school aged children, and they like "stuff". Heck, most people like "stuff". But honestly, how much stuff do we really need? Our children make long lists of things they would like for Christmas, and I am happy to let them do that. It works on their reading and writing skills, and it does give me ideas for gifts. However, when they hand the lists over they always hear something like this: "I know you want all these things, but please remember that you have lots of toys already, and you don't really need any of this. You will get presents for Christmas, but will probably only get one or two things off your list."

As a single income family we live comfortably, but don't have a lot of leftover money once the bills are paid. We made the decision early on that Santa wouldn't bring presents to our children, so they were never disappointed or wondered what they did wrong if a desired gift wasn't received. Instead Santa has brought stocking gifts, which usually include socks & underwear, a bit of candy and a small toy or craft project. All the bigger presents come from us, and are limited in number. This year each child got a book, a board game, and then a video game and a Lego set to share. This was enough. There was no "Awww, but I didn't get..." or "Mom, you didn't get me...". Don't get me wrong, they constantly tell me about things they want, like handheld video games, or the coolest thing in the book order that comes home from school, and all the things they will buy when they're grown up. But at the end of the day they understand (I hope!) that they are blessed to have the things they do have.

When shopping for their presents I did try to keep in mind the amount of waste the packaging would create. Board games have the cellophane wrapper, which is not recyclable in our region, and Lego has the inner bags which are also not recyclable here. The books were also wrapped in cellophane, as they were Lego books that contained Lego pieces. The video game was used, so it had no packaging. All in all, not too bad for packaging.

Wrapping

This also didn't change much from what has happened in the past. In our area wrapping paper is recyclable, as long as it is non-metallic, and you remove the tape. Large undamaged pieces can be trimmed and reused the next year. We also use gift bags, and reuse those year after year, as well as reuse the tissue paper that goes in the bags. We also reuse bows & ribbons, as well as gift tags. Everything gets stored in totes to be reused the next year. Very little waste here.

Waste Reduction Fatigue

We are just finishing up month eight, and I must admit that there are times I wish we didn't start this challenge. I'm getting frustrated that I can't buy any convenience foods when I go to the grocery store, because most have non-recyclable packaging. There's no crackers, cookies, frozen vegetables or granola bars in my grocery cart. There are weeks I'm so busy that I just don't have time to bake, and packing the kids' lunches becomes very challenging. And when I do cave a buy something with non-recyclable packaging, I feel guilty or frustrated. Guilty that I'm "cheating" on my pledge, or frustrated when I have to chose a higher priced product to get it packaged in boxboard rather than cellophane.

I find myself wondering why products are packaged the way they are. I wonder if petroleum based products are cheaper to make, and if so, why? I understand that in some cases plastics are needed to keep products fresh, but is there a more eco-friendly option that could be explored. Maybe this is a question for an environmental engineer, or an environmental studies student.

Anyways, we're almost two-thirds of the way finished our challenge, and we're probably a bit over where we should be for this time. We will keep going, trying to reduce the amount of waste we're bringing in to our house. And even when we're done, I know we've made changes that will stay with us throughout the rest of our lives.