Pick One Thing

I don't recycle at home.

Whoa.

Yes, you read that correctly. Darcy, the owner of Furnish, a business dedicated to landfill prevention, does NOT recycle at her house.

I realize this sounds out of place. But you better believe there's good reason, and I'm about to share all the details with you.

I collected recycling in my home for many years. I live in a condo on the 4th floor where there is no recycling service. The cans and containers would collect in boxes for many moons until I couldn't stand it anymore and I would load up a car full and drive it all to the recycling center... after it drove around in my vehicle with my for at least 48 hours, naturally.

And do you know how this made me feel? Anxious. All the time. Same scenario with food waste. We certainly don't have composting services at my building and I don't have a green space to create my own compost. Throwing away food made me hurt on the inside. All the time.

I decided it was time to practice what I preach. Imagine that?! So here's what I did...

It first starts with self awareness. PRO-TIP #1: you should start with self-awareness on your less waste journey too. I know what my habits and priorities are when it comes to the literal stuff in my life, like consumables, clothes, hygiene, etc. I can be super scatterbrained so consistently leaving the house with a tote bag, travel mug, bamboo silverware, etc. is truthfully a challenge for me. It's much easier for me to make a switch for a product I use at home.

Second, consider your path(s) of least resistance. What are the changes you could make to reduce waste in your life that would be relatively easy? This means it wouldn't add more than 5 minutes to your normal day's routine and it wouldn't impact you from a financial or health standpoint. In my case, having to find extra time to take recycling to the recycling center was a real struggle for many reasons.

The last step in your less waste journey is to pick one thing to change. Instead of trying to recycle AND collect compost AND reduce the amount of food I buy to reduce food waste and aaaaalllllll those other thing I could do... I decided to just invest in one change. I bought a countertop composter. I decided that this waste-reducing step was going to have the greatest impact than all the other options.

This one-at-a-time philosophy is how I've been able to transition many things in my life to the lower waste option. Some examples are my reusable q-tip, shampoo and conditioner bars instead of bottles, reusable napkins / paper towels, laundry soap sheets, and yes... even reusable toilet paper.

Want to talk through some options? We'd love to help! Stop in and see us or email us at furnishstudioandsalvage@gmail.com.