The Zero Garbage Challenge

EATING OUT

When I leave the house, these are the things that I take with me: cloth bag, container, plastic baggie, napkin, silverware, travel mug, water bottle.  With these six items, and a few polite requests to the server, I can easily avoid garbage when I eat out.

To-go Cups

Instead of single-use plastic water bottles or to-go cups, I use a Kleen Kanteen bottle.  Other favorites are Sigg bottles and Nalgene bottles. And then there’s always the classic glass jar with a lid.

Travel Mugs

My Autoseal travel mug is a wonderful little contraption.  After I fill it with a hot or cold beverage and seal the top, I can shake it, carry it in a backpack, roll it across the table or drop it in the yard - all without spilling a drop.  It also keeps my tea hotter than any travel mug I’ve used before.  The only down side is that the nifty vacuum-sealing top is hard to clean.

Reusable travel mugs are everywhere.  If you tend to forget yours, then buy a few and leave them by your front door and in your car.  Or do what I did: if you forget, make yourself buy a new one. You’ll learn pretty quickly! And if it takes a dozen new mugs for you to form the habit, then you can give away some of your surplus.

To-go Containers

There are so many alternaties to Styrofoam and other disposable containers.  Many restaurants are now offering compostable containers, such as Green Duck containers.  If your favorite restaurant still uses disposable containers, ask them to switch.  After enough requests, they will!

An even better option is to bring a container with you when you eat out.  If I’m eating out and I forget my container, I either eat all of the food on my plate, or I wrap the leftovers in a soggy little napkin and try to get them home before that napkin falls apart in my pocket.  This is a good way to train myself to remember a container!