#FuturisticFebruary

This February I decided to join, for the first time, the #FuturisticFebruary challenge created by the Sustainable Duo.

The idea behind it is to collect all non-perishable trash and recycling during the entire month of February, and at the end of the month document and reflect on how much you’ve produced. It’s meant to showcase how much you’re generating every month, then multiply it by 12 for a year.

Why I participated

For the past two years, I have been active in lowering my waste and striving to live more zero waste. But I have never collected everything over the course of a month. When I heard about FuturisticFebruary at the end of January, I decided why not and that it would be a good opportunity for me to really reflect on my consumption.

I also believed this was another way for me to talk and discuss how I’m working to be more sustainable in my own life online, in addition to what I already share online.

The Month

To give a bit of background on me, I am a student, lives alone and primarily eats a vegan diet.

I didn’t limit what I was buying, just staying with my normal shopping habits, to showcase really how much I am generating waste. I also ended up finishing a lot of my more bulk items during the first couple of weeks of February.

Additionally, I started to realize that a lot of the waste that isn’t recyclable comes from another packagings, such as the plastic “window” on grains and pasta boxes.

What I learned

My main source of waste really is food packaging. Nearly everything I collected this month was from some sort of packaging.

🌱 A lot of my plastic waste comes from food packaging, like the plastic “window” on pasta boxes or the caps from oat milk.

🌱 While I already knew I’m not a morning person, a portion of my trash is from breakfast bars that I grab for on-the-go. To remedy this I should prepare food for breakfast, like pre-bake breakfast bars or overnight oats instead of relying on store-bought bars.

🌱 I need find a store where I can take my jars and buy nuts in bulk instead of plastic bags or nuts.

🌱 I want to try making my own oat milk, at least once a month to decrease how many cartons I buy
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Now I can take into account what I’ve learned this month to make changes into what I’m consuming going into the rest of the year.
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While most of this is recyclable, I still feel that I’m producing too much as one person who lives alone.
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I’m definitely working to decrease the amount of waste I’m generating and living with less plastic. It’s certainly not a quick switch but a process.