One measure of your environmental consciousness lies in what you throw away. What would happen if you didn’t have municipal trash pickup? You would become much more careful of what you buy. You wouldn’t accept plastic containers because you would run out of places to put them. Chances are you would buy your milk in glass containers to be returned. You’d get your eggs in cardboard cartons that you could return to the farmer or bury in your compost if you had to. You’d purchase your produce loose, without all the plastic wrap. If the store where you shop used a lot of packaging, you might unwrap items there and let the store deal with it — or tell management you won’t be buying those items in the future. 

What’s in your garbage? Can you do without the non-recyclable items? At the Weavers Way Spring 2016 General Membership Meeting, zero-waste consultant Alisa Shargorodsky will talk about how she’ll be working with Weavers Way to audit how we could get closer to a zero-waste goal. How can our packaging improve to cut down or eliminate waste? We’ll hear how audits have helped others and how we might limit our single-use packaging in the future. 

Focusing on zero waste might help you become more cognizant of your own buying habits and become a better advocate for zero waste, not just at the Co-op, but in your home and at your workplace.