Amy's Nutrition Picks: Reduce, Reuse, Rot, Recycle

Drive through any neighborhood on garbage day and you'll notice many garbage bins are full to the brim, lids ajar. Where is all this garbage coming from? Examining the sources of our waste, as well as the useful adage Reduce, Reuse, Rot, Recycle, may help us all cut back.

Reduce: Reducing waste is actually good for your health! If you notice many highly processed and unhealthy foods come in multiple packages-packages within packages! A typical fast food meal is teaming with entirely disposable packaging. Whole foods like fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and meat come with very little packaging…and therefore very little waste. Buying from bulk bins often reduces packaging even more. Don't be afraid to constantly ask for less packaging at the checkout as well: skip the plastic bag used to carry only one item, the unnecessary lid, or the large pile of napkins.

Using cloth diapers is another easy (and inexpensive) way to reduce waste. Disposable diapers actually constitute 30% of the non-biodegradable waste in a landfill and consume many natural resources to produce. Ask me for hints on successful cloth diapering.

Reducing waste also means cutting our consumerism…otherwise known as our voracious appetites to buy more things that we usually don't need. As a mother I tend to use "running errands" as an excuse to buy things (and get out of the house), however, less time spent shopping means more time for more meaningful activities. According to author Schor, a professor of sociology at Boston College, shopping has low process benefits. Process benefits are pastimes correlated with higher levels of human satisfaction.

Reuse: Easy examples of reusing are to donate used items to a second hand store, bring your own bags to the grocery store, and wash and dry re-sealable plastic bags to use again. Many stores also accept used items: return ink-jet cartridges at the office supply store or buy a refill kit, return used eyeglasses to the optical store, bring used hangers to a dry cleaning store, or donate broken, small appliances to an electronics repair shop. Look for creative ways to reuse other items, rather than reflexively tossing them!

Rot: Compost! Many kitchen scraps and all yard waste (besides weeds with seeds) should also be composted, rather than sent to the landfill. Many places in Weber County will also take yard waste for free, compost it, and then sell the compost.

Recycle: With the sophisticated recycling available today, it's amazing how almost everything can be recycled! Recycling is the new garbage.

Challenge yourself to produce just 1 bag or less of garbage each week. If you produce more than that, look into the source of the excess garbage.

Amy Cain, dietitian
(801) 476-2212