A year ago, I enrolled in the Master Gardener Volunteer program as I was looking for ways to raise awareness about sustainable practices in my community.
The idea started when I worked on the NBC6’s documentary series "Healing Through Food" and I realized how disconnected we were from the food we were eating.
But the program, offered at the University of Florida' Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences extension, taught me a whole lot more.
I learned 36% of the trash we generate in Florida is organic matter and instead of sending it to the landfill, we can turn it into nutrient rich soil for our gardens through composting.
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That’s when I became obsessed with finding ways to reduce what we send to the landfill or put in our recycling bin and I started to implement some changes at home with my family.
We realized after every party at home, we had a trash bin full of disposable plates and cups. We started using what we had. At the end of the night, we just load the dishwasher.
We also stopped buying big jugs of laundry detergent and now use laundry sheets that disintegrate in the wash and come in biodegradable packaging.
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We switched the liquid body soap containers for bars and the disposable sandwich bags for reusable ones. We also cut back on paper towel use, replacing it with kitchen clothes we wash often.
For drinking water, we used to buy bottled water. Now, we have these five gallon jugs that we refill every time at the supermarket. At a supermarket, we also take our reusable bags.
When it comes to online shopping, unless it’s an emergency, we try to combine purchases and on sites like Amazon, select the option that says "reduce packaging, ship in the manufacturer's container." This way we receive fewer boxes.
And these are just some of the small steps we've taken at home.
