An update on my Low Impact (i.e. low waste, low plastic use) journey: Yesterday I wrote about how trying to be zero waste makes you feel like a failure multiple times a day.
Today I am proud to report two small wins. First, a colleague told me that I inspired him to purchase re-usable produce/ bakery bags. Very proud to have already influenced at least one person to make sustainable changes in their lifestyle!
Second, I left the grocery store today without any plastic or waste! To be fair, I only purchased three items, but nonetheless, goal accomplished by bringing my own bag for my buns (ciabatta rolls) and selecting package-free produce. This also ended up with me leaving with a large head of lettuce in my arms, but I was able to put it into my reusable bag once I ate the ciabatta rolls with lunch. Unfortunately I don’t like lettuce as much as arugula (rocket) or mixed greens (which were on sale), but it came without any plastic packaging, so I picked it.
One challenge still to overcome – the use of plastic water bottles in our office. I plan to speak to our office manager and ask her about the cost of the current bottle delivery/ pickup service*, and see if I can make a business case for a water filtration/ carbonation machine instead. Working in Germany, many people love to drink carbonated sparkling water, so this would be necessary to replace the current offering of flat and sparkling water bottles.
*They also pick the bottles up and supposedly clean and refill them, so it’s at least somewhat of a closed, circular supply chain, but I suspect it’s not as eco-friendly as simply having a water filtration and carbonation machine in the office and saving on all those supply chain and transportation steps.
