Trash everywhere

This week's blog assignment was by far the most difficult to accomplish. I was to track all of the waste (trash) I produced over a period of three days then attempt to minimize how much trash I produced for the next three days. Under most circumstances this assignment might have been a bit of a task, but on this particular week I was on a 6 day road trip to northern California and back to visit school campuses. Lacking access to a kitchen and our regular amenities meant we had to purchase more readily made food producing trash. The problem with this assignment for this particular week is that overall it does not apply to my day to day life, though I did pick up a few tips. Anywho, here is a list of the trash that my sister (who went with me) and I produced in the first three days.
-7 coffee cups (including hotel cups)
-4 1liter water bottles
-1 pringles container
- 2 apple cores
- 1 grapefruit peel
- 4 clear plastic snack bags (rice crackers, carrots, etc.)
- 2 Chip bags
- 2 egg shells
- 1 oatmeal bag
- 1 cardboard microwave dinner container
- 1 metal chili can
- 2 plastic grocery bags
- 1 paper grocery bag
- 5 glass bottles
- 6 napkins
- 6 cotton balls

To do the next part of the assignment looked up some tips on how to minimize waste from a few websites:

http://www.futurefriendly.com/Pages/KitchenRoom.aspx#livingroom
http://voices.yahoo.com/how-reduce-daily-waste-3065137.html
http://www.thedailygreen.com/going-green/community-tips/reduce-food-waste-460708

Tips:
- use high concentration soap to waste less bottles or buy home made soap without wrapers
- use low core paper towels or reusable kitchen rags
- buy less food at one time to minimize food going bad
- use reusable shopping bags
- use LED lightbulbs with longer life
- recycle furniture and electronics
- purchase reusable batteries
- use waste reduced diapers or cloth diapers if you have children
- buy locally produced food free of wrapping
- use reusable coffee cups
- Skip individually wrapped snacks
- cancel all junk mail
- plan meals ahead of time so you buy only what you need
- eat left overs first
- serve small amounts of food
- use a compost pile

My attempts to minimize my waste production were not as successful as I would have liked. I still had to use some disposable coffee cups and water bottles. However I reused the water bottles as often as I could. We sat down and ate at restaurants that served with ceramic plates and cups. I purchased a reusable bag so that I didn't have to use any more plastic or paper ones. I still had to purchase packaged food. We did happen upon a farmers market in Santa Barbara where we bought a lot of vegetables and some fruit. We stopped at a bar in Humboldt county and I made a point to ask for locally brewed beer from the tap so that there was little transportation costs and no bottle or can to throw away. I think that using reusable bags, water bottles and coffee cups is something that I could definitely continue. I also enjoy going to farmers markets but do not think I can cut out packaging entirely. I actually really liked the idea of buying only locally brewed beer and now have an even better reason to get it on the tap. If I have the opportunity I will sit down at restaurants or make my own food instead of buying it and needing wrapping and packaging.