The Smoothie Vegetarians

People talk about ways to reduce waste and eliminate unnecessary chemicals from their lives. They do everything from recycling, to not using plastics and all the way to keeping their waste so low they can fit it in a jar . But there is one angle that most people forget about. The one thing that, in my opinion, produces a lot of waste and is actually pretty harmful: Menstruation products. I know, I know, you hate talking about your period. It seems weird to say “I have a period” but don’t be ashamed. Stand up and shout it! Over half of the world gets a period. But have you ever stopped to look at how much waste is produced and a number of chemicals are in the products? We’ve been told since we were children that tampons can make you sick. Why do we still use them? Worst of all, all that extra plastic just ends up in the dump and then in our oceans. Sea life will try to eat it and it can destroy ecosystems. Every bit of plastic made is still in existence somewhere in the ...

The last few months I have really been focusing my efforts on losing the waste coming from my home. One of the responses I have gotten from people when this topic comes up in conversation is "Do you really think you would be able to save the planet?" To me, this question basically means do you think your efforts mean anything? Because I don't. So, do I think I am making a difference? The average American throws away 4.4 pounds of trash a day, or 29 pounds per week, or 1,600 pounds per year. The average American lives to be 77 years old. This is 123,000 pounds of trash over the lifespan of one person. By taking a few steps I have reduced my household's trash by half. Going by the statics above, my husband and I should produce 58 pounds of trash a week, but at this point, we fill up one tall trash bag a week. It weighs between 6-8 pounds every week. We feel that this is still quite a bit of trash and want to reduce it even more. This is the change we have ...