I Haven't Made Any Trash In 2 Years. Here's What My Life Is Like !

My name is Lauren. I'm a 23 - year - old girl living in NYC and I don't make tras h. For real. No garbage bin, no landfill. Nada. In one of my classes, there was another student who always brought a plastic bag containing a plastic clamshell full of food, a plastic water bottle, plastic cutlery, and a bag of chips. Class after class I watched her throw it all in the garbage, and I got so angry! I scoffed and sneered, but I never actually said or did anything. I just got mad. One day I was particularly upset after class and went home to make dinner and try to forget about it, but when I opened my refrigerator I froze. I realized that every item I had in there was wrapped or packaged, one way or anoth er, in plastic. This was the first time in my life that I felt like I was able to look at myself and say, "YOU HYPOCRITE." I was the green girl, not the plastic girl! It was in that moment I made the decision to eliminate all plastic from my life. 1) .............................................................................................................. . This included everything from toothpaste to cleaning product s, all things I had no clue how to make and had to learn by doing a lot of online research. One day I stumbled across a blog called Zero Waste Home . It followed the life of Bea Johnson, wife and mother of two children who all live a zero - waste life in California. 2) .............................................................................................................. . First, I stopped buying packaged p roducts and began bringing my own bags and jars to fill with bulk products at the supermarket. I stopped buying new clothing, and shopped only secondhand. I continued making all of my own personal care and cleaning products. I downsized significantly by se lling, donating, or giving away superfluous things in my life, such as all but one of my six identical spatulas, 10 pairs of jeans which I never wore and a trillion decorative items which had no significance to me at all. Most importantly, I started planning potentially wasteful situations; I began saying "NO" to things like straws in my cocktails at a bars, to plastic or paper bags at stores, and to receipts. 3) .............................................................................................................. . This process took more than a year and required a lot of effort. T he most difficult part was taking a hard look at myself, the environmental studies major, the shining beacon of sustainability, and realizing that I didn't live in a way that aligned with my values.