I found the first Earth Month Challenge week to be pretty difficult. My first challenge of the month was to only purchase products with little to no packaging. I found myself trying to completely alter my daily routine so that I would be near a dining hall so I wouldn’t buy food that came in a disposable container. This was an easier feat to accomplish. However, there were many times that I would need a certain product that only comes in disposable plastic, which was very frustrating that there weren’t alternative products to buy with either reusable or recycled materials.
I think I could have done things differently if I had been more aware of how difficult changing what I buy would be. I researched a few products that are all natural and made of recycled materials, but almost none of them were made with reusable materials, such as glass bottles. I also learned that some of the products that I bought could be made from home, such as lotions. This includes a large amount of work but it would be worth not buying all of the plastic bottles. I also discovered that I need to reduce how much I eat at the cafes around campus and eat at the dining halls instead since the food comes in packaging in the cafes rather than being placed right onto my plate.
I anticipate the next week will go a little better since I now know what I need to change to reduce how much packaging I consume in my products and since I have a thermos to carry my coffee rather than the disposable cups. I did save quite a bit of money by prohibiting myself from buying excess products since most of them had too much packaging.