Waste

Most of my own waste comes from fast food bags and containers, paper towels, plastic utensils, and bath products.

In the course of a full day on Thursday April 17:

A paper bag from McDonalds
A paper cup from McDonalds
A cardboard sandwich container from McDonalds
A paper cup from Subway
A plastic bag from subway                      So, in a full year, I will probably waste 1,464 plastic bags                                                                          assuming that I waste about 4 plastic bags a day. In a full year,                                                                  I will probably waste more than 3,650 paper products                                                                                assuming that I throw away 10 paper products a day.             A empty bottle of bath wash        
5 or 6 sheets of paper towels
Paper flyers for events on campus
Miscellaneous plastic bags
A gum wrapper
A styrofoam cup
A plastic water bottle
A aluminum pineapple can


So, as you can see I eat out alot especially fast food and I generate most of my waste from throwing away containers, cups and bags from fast food restaurants. I also use a good amount of paper towels every day to clean my room or wipe my hands. I do not have extensive waste as far as throwing away aluminum, glass, or plastics but I do have alot of paper waste.

As compared to other Americans, my waste is pretty minimal simply by the fact that I live alone and I live on a college campus.
I think that I have pretty good habits of reusing things or buying products that I do not have to throw away. Instead of buying alot of plastic bottles, I have a water bottle that I refill. I also only drink water to stay healthy, so I have no need to buy drinks in plastic bottles such as gatorade or fruity juices. Also, instead of buying plastic utensils and using them once, I try to wash them and reuse them over and over again.
However, I think that if I tried to recycle the bags I get from restaurants or stores instead of just throwing them away, I will be making a difference because these bags can get into the waters and hurt the animals. I think buying a reusable shopping bag for when I buy groceries or go to Walmart would be a good option to make a small difference in curbing plastic waste as plastics have the most detrimental effects to the environment and wildlife.