Waste Free Week
Janaya Brown, Emma Engen, and Jenna Hryhoruk
Waste Free Week
The amount of waste produced by individuals is more than what can be supported by our world. Simple changes of daily habits can have a large positive affect on the future of our planet if more people commit to trying a sustainable lifestyle and cutting the convenience factor. The Zero-Waste movement can be a daunting task, but in reality, it can be as simple as you make it. That was our goal, educating people on how to do zero-waste, and where to shop local. We challenged 10 people to attempt zero-waste for a week. We got them to keep milestones throughout the week, good or bad. We began by giving a presentation to help educate them and guide them on changes that will need to be made. Our goal is to make sure they know that it is okay to fail, it will help us see where they ran into problems but also highlighting where they had success along the way. At the end of the week we asked them to take an online questionnaire on how the week went. Our goal by the end of the project was to hopefully inspire and educate the people involved in the waste free week to change at least one ‘bad’ habit and become more eco-conscious in their everyday lives.
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Fun videos. Reducing your waste to a jar’s worth is commendable. Hopefully this will inspire others to take the challenge too.
(I hope you made Jim stuff the coffee box into his pocket too!)
Hi Colin, as a group our hope was to show those participating and those that watched the video that reducing their garbage is an attainable action to incorporate into their lives. It is not always easy, but small steps can make a big difference!!!
and unfortunately he didn’t use all the coffee so he was unable to take it all with him!!! (he did use his own cup though!!)
I think that it is really cool how everyone tries to go without leaving any garbage or waste for one week. What was the hardest thing about the week?
Hi Tali, thanks for the comment. Everyone that participated had a slightly different experience but for me the hardest part was grocery shopping and preparing food that did not make waste. It took much more preparation and thought being put into what I was going to make for the week.
Great video project! It’s a great educational tool.
Is there an implicit statement about individual responsibility in the zero-waste initiatives like this one? In other words, is the onus on the individual to try to change their lifestyle and habits in order to transition to a more sustainable relationship with waste?
Hi Andrew, thank you for the question and comment. I do believe that the only way for change to really be made towards a more sustainable front is completely on individuals decisions. Larger groups can put actions into place to assist (like recycling bins) but unless individuals decide that they will take the time and correctly dispose, compost and recycle products that they are done with the relationship with waste will stay the same.