Zero Waste: Home Scraps
What better place to start off change than at home? Everything starts here. From planning to months on end to the long and tedious process of managing trash!
Home is the best place to reinvent... EVERYTHING. That includes habits.
Last year, the unbearable stench of garbage never failed to catch my attention. Not just me...the flies as well! It smelled like rotten food mixed with a pile of what-nots! The pest problem was getting out of hand and it was something not to be ignored. Some of you might think, "Why not just let the garbage collector take it away?" Uhm, nope. Don't settle for that. There's a better way.
Compost.
I knew my dogs had taught me a thing or two. LOL They cover their poop in soil so flies don't feast around them. So I did the same. I took all the biodegradable waste, dug a deep hole and threw everything there. This wasn't an easy walk in the park. It took time and effort. BUT BUT BUT! Fast forward to three weeks later...the maggots, the flies, the pests... they were gone! My calamansi plant bore heaps of fruits and so I got to save money from not buying it from the store! Good karma from mother nature. :D
Have limited space at home? You can always have a DIY compost. I have read about doing the Bokashi method but it's out of my budget. It's better that doing traditional compost and maybe in the future I might consider doing that. The downside of composting though is that it can get a bit smelly when you don't bury the food waste deep enough and the soild needs to be moist... and no, you can't put in meat and bones. This is where my dogs and cats come in.
My Furbabies Love Meat.
At home, manang only knows frying as a way of cooking food. It has always been that way. She basically cooks for herself. Sometimes she cooks too much. Too much fish, meat, eggs. Knowing that we don't eat it very often (because we dig pasta, salad, grilled food and smoothies), she stores em in the fridge. And forgets about them. I absolutely hate it when food goes to waste! What do I do?
I take out the food, pop them in the microwave or cook the again with rice. It's like cooking fried rice. :D There are times when I miss breakfast because I cook for them first. haha! I give the dogs the meat and bones (make sure these are not small ones) and fish to the cats (strays that I have adopted). I have very fat cats now. The coat of my dogs have transformed from dry and patchy to shiny and healthy! This is also good in preventing kidney problems in dogs. Kibble has a tendency to damage pets' kidneys if you are not careful. Imagine yourself eating instant noodles everyday. This way, you know what goes into your dogs' food. :)
Charli Enjoying Pochero.
Sharps.
I accidentally broke a piece of glass last week. Working in a hospital, we have separate containers for sharps (needles, ampules). That's what I did at home. I took an empty Arizona bottle, labeled it accordingly and threw the broken pieces of glass there. This definitely will keep collectors from getting injured. This is our responsibility in the first place. I stored the container in the kitchen for it might be of use again if I get clumsy. :D
Oily, Dirty Plastics
Plastic. Some of them, no matter how hard you try to wash them clean, still remain oily. I had this dilemma of throwing these away or not. I was reminded of the whale that was washed ashore in Spain. I couldn't dispose of it that easily. Solution? I stuffed a separate ecobrick for these types of plastic. I don't know what to do with this yet but I'm pretty sure I'll figure something out. :)
So there you have it! My own little (or not so little?) way of doing things at home. Seems a lot! :) Don't worry, you will reap what you sow. It doesn't give you instant results but remember, good things take time. ;)
Cheers,
Michelle
