This guest blog was written by my brilliant cousin, Amy. I spend a lot of time admitting that my zero waste lifestyle choices are far easier for me, a young single woman, than for, say, a military mom of four. Which is why Amy is all the more inspiring in her efforts to reduce waste in her family’s lives. She has kindly agreed to take time out of her busy parenting schedule to discuss those steps she’s taken.
Mom guilt.
It’s a real thing and it occurs on almost a daily basis. I’m a mom of four kids who often has thoughts like, “Did the kids eat enough vegetables today?” or “Are they watching too much t.v.?” “Was I too tough or not tough enough?” All reflective of my parenting skills in my own little world.
Lately, though, my mom guilt has taken on a more global feel.
I’m not sure of this, but I can probably guess that the children’s market produces some of the most plastic and paper waste in the American economy. That’s why I’ve been thinking about how much waste a family of six can create and whether there is anything I could do to lessen our carbon footprint. When I really stopped and thought about it, eliminating some of the waste we produce would be one of the more beneficial things I could teach my kids. It may sound corny, but there is only one Earth.
I look at reducing waste in my household as a process, not a “do it all at once or you fail” test.
I’m a pretty bad runner, but I always start slow and work myself up to a good pace and length. Like running, taking little zero waste steps that are easy to stick with can lead to more and bigger steps. It’s hard to add yet another worry or task to my already demanding job. So rather than delve into all the things I’ve done wrong since having kids, let me explain what has worked for me.
A little background about me: I had my first baby in Europe.
It was easier to follow zero waste steps in Europe.
- We lived in a big city in a small apartment, so there wasn’t room for a massive crib and toys everywhere. Instead we spent most of our time at local parks we could walk to.
- They recycle everything in Europe. There are different colored recycle bins for every kind of material on every corner.
- They don’t have plastic bags at the grocery store. I remember the first time I went and didn’t know you were supposed to bring your own bags from home. Not only did I receive glares from everyone there, but I was charged for the one plastic bag they had to fetch for me from under the counter.
(Side note: let me just say I love my cloth grocery bags. I always bring them and they not only save me from carrying a gazillion little plastic ones, but one time I got so busy helping my kids out of the car that I forgot my groceries were in the trunk. It wasn’t until a few hours later that I remembered I’d left them there, ice cream and all. Luckily, a couple of my cloth bags were insulated “cold bags” that zip so the ice cream was fine.)
Back in the U.S. I had three more kids.
This is where our story of wastefulness goes a little downhill. Here in the U.S., we have a bigger house and we have to drive everywhere. Toys began to pile up. The food we consumed began to grow at an alarming rate (Why do all of the foods that are geared towards kids come in their own individual plastic container?). So I’ve started taking small steps to eliminate that waste.
- For my children’s school lunches, I put all their snacks in reusable bags. My friend Nina Wolfe has an awesome Etsy shop called Nina’s Flying Needle, where she handcrafts reusable zippered bags in all sizes. She also is an amazing zero waste mom and I get a lot of my ideas from her. For instance, she got rid of plastic straws and uses reusable straws for her kids instead. That will be next on my agenda.
- I plan to get rid of juice boxes. They make great children’s refillable water bottles that could easily go into their lunch. I’ve started to do this, but it’s still a work in progress.
- I’ve started the process of switching to soap bars. You can never have enough soap in your house when you have kids.
- When I can, I grab a washable cloth. One thing you can’t avoid in parenthood are messes, but you don’t always need a paper towel or napkin. A rag works just as well. Rinse and use again or throw it in the wash.
My friends and I created an open share policy when it comes to toys or clothes.
You may not be able to avoid the sheer amount of plastic toys or endless amount of kids’ clothes, but you can always give things away or collect hand-me-downs yourself. There will be so many times when your kids wear a shirt one time and they out grow it. So if you have anything you don’t need anymore, pass it on! My fourth child had a hand-me-down car seat, crib, rock and play, toys, and much more.
Oh! I almost forgot one of my favorite things: coffee.
It kind of goes hand and hand with parenthood. I love the speed and ease of a Keurig. No waiting while your two year old is crying and holding onto your leg. No cleaning a pot and small parts every single day. No waking every living thing under the age of 10 up in your house just by turning it on.
However, those little plastic k-cups are a huge plastic waste. You don’t have to use them. They make so many reusable k-cup containers. Just pop in your favorite grounds and it’s just as good. I’ll admit I’m not 100% on this yet, but I certainly plan to be.
Also I rarely have time to stop at a coffee shop but if I do I should take the time to just enjoy it in a ceramic cup. We don’t need all of those paper to-go cups and plastic lids.
So where does this leave a mom like me?
I’ve got such a long way to go.
I’ll continue to recycle as much as I can, buy fresh vegetables and fruit, bring my own grocery bags, use soap bars and reusable food containers, and clean and wash up with cotton cloths.
However my hope for a future is that as soon as we are able to as a family we will move to a city that has multiple, friendly bike paths. The city we will live in in the future will also have multiple parks within walking distance and grocery stores close by. I would love to bike more and be able to walk to more places.
In my ideal world, we would still have the need for a milkman too. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have your milk delivered on your doorstep in glass containers and when they are empty they get washed and reused? You go through a ton of milk cartons when you have kids. I wish I could receive glass milk gallons at my door.
I also want to completely get rid of disposable k-cups. And paper towels. …And plastic soap bottles.
I know I’m forgetting things I can and should be doing, but for now these are my small steps.
I’ll be checking in with my friend Nina soon for her new ideas on how to stop zero waste. What is this logging activity you talk about? Picking up trash along the road as you jog? Maybe.
It’s time to turn the maybes into yes’s.
Amy Rueth is a stay-at-home mom to four children under the age of 8. She is also a military wife and was a military child. You’d think being connected to the military that long would make her list of places she’s lived extensive, but for now the list is just eight state-side moves and two to Europe. She feels the same way when people ask her how many Phish concerts she’s been to. She always feels like she should answer something around the 50 range, but instead it’s a meager 10 or so. Ah well. The drive to still see Phish live is a little like her venture into zero waste. If you haven’t had kids, then this next blog entry might cause you to judge or just simply not understand, but for those that have crossed the bridge from no kids to kids, then you know the wonderful, crazy tornado that swirls into your world.