Brooklyn Environmentalist Refuses To Contribute To City's Ubiquitous Trash Piles
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Walk down many of New York's sidewalks and you're likely to see piles of trash bags awaiting pick up.
But, what if there was a way to live a nearly garbage free life?
CBS2's Meg Baker spoke with a young Brooklyn woman who claims to do just that.
Lauren Singer says she lives a zero-waste life in New York City. She throws away next to nothing.
"I drastically reduced the amount of trash I make by shopping in bulk, shopping at the farmers' market, making my own products, and composting," she said.
Singer only buys what she will use. She doesn't use plastic containers, opting instead for glass and metal packaging that can be reused or recycled.
"You can't find unpackaged junk food, so if I want something bad I have to make it," she said.
The Williamsburg resident brings her own bags to farmers' markets to stock up on produce. She reuses mason jars to buy whole grains.
"I keep my compost pile in my freezer. I use brown paper bags from trash, then when I go to the market on Saturdays I also drop off my compost," she explained.
In two years she has only produced a 16-oz jar of trash containing little things like Band-Aids, stickers from produce, and plastic tags from clothes.
"I use toilet paper. A lot of toilet papers are made using recycled paper, so when you flush it biodegrades so not technically a waste product," she said.
The 23-year-old environmentalist even makes her own deodorant, lotions, and toothpaste, avoiding plastic tubes and containers.
She says it saves more than money.
"It's more of an expedited process. I make a list. I have my jars. So I really save a lot of time," she said.
Another city environmentalist told CBS2's Baker that he tries to live a non-impact life because each person, on average, creates 4.5-lbs of waste a day.
"To not bring materials into your life that are not useful could mean not wasting money, but it also means packaging, plastic, also means not wasting time and life energy," Colin Beaven said.
Singer and Beavan say they're surprised at the number of people they have met who are trying to whittle waste down to a jar as well.
On just one block in Brooklyn there were more than 50 large plastic bags in a trash heap. A small plastic bag will take more than 1,000 years to degrade in a landfill.
One-use Styrofoam containers will be banned in New York City starting July 1.
Styrofoam products contribute an estimated 20,000 tons of waste in New York City schools alone.
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