Day 2... Traveling part 1

I am spending my spring break in the capital of the United States - Washington DC. This is my first trip since I began to live zero waste, and in this blog post, I am going to write about the struggles I am experiencing during my trip thus far.

We left Atlanta, GA, yesterday prepared for the 10 hour car ride. The car was packed with our clothes, homework, and ourselves. We rented an airbnb with a kitchen so that we could cook our own meals instead of eating out every day. We brought a few food staples, like peanut butter and the vegan cookies I buy from Sprouts Farmer's Market. The plan was to arrive at our airbnb in the afternoon and have enough time to go shopping for food at a nearby grocery store. I even brought my own produce and grocery bags hoping to find a grocery store like home... I was very wrong.

Once we arrived, we googled grocery stores and found that there are a lot of Trader Joe's in the area. None of us had been to a Trader Joe's, but we had heard that it was a healthy grocery alternative. Our other options were Wal-Mart and Safeway. We decided to go to Trader Joe's and when we arrived there, I noticed right off the bat that this was not going to be a good store for me. I was hoping to buy some rice with my produce bag, and some veggies, like zucchini, carrots, bell peppers, and some beans. The produce section at Trader Joe's had zucchini, but each zucchini was INDIVIDUALLY wrapped in plastic. WHY??? There weren't any bulk options for rice or beans, and literally everything I wanted, except bell peppers, was packaged. I was so disappointed that my friends and I left. We decided to head to Wal-Mart just because we were so hungry that we wanted to buy something that could be quickly cooked. What I ended up buying was stuff to make pasta, soup, humus, carrots, and some other supplies. I did end up buying more plastic than I normally would, but less than I would have bought if we would have stayed at Trader Joe's.

I have decided to keep all of the trash I make for the week just because I want to see how it differs from when I'm at home. I'm on day 2 of our 6 day trip, and this is how much trash I have made so far (left). I have a tin can, which I actually plan on bringing home to use as a plant starter, a granola bar wrapper from a snack I took from a friend on the ride to DC, a ready to go bag of pasta for dinner, the hummus seal (the hummus is also in plastic but I'm still using that and didn't bring my homemade hummus), and a flyer that someone handed me while I was walking. I think I'm doing pretty well having come unprepared and not certain about what to expect on this trip in terms of living zero waste.

I will be going out to eat for the first time tomorrow in this city, so I am excited to see how it compares to the restaurants that I eat at in Atlanta. I will still be collecting my trash to see how it adds up at the end of the week, so I'll keep you guys updated. I realize I should have just brought food to DC, but that wasn't really possible. If any of you have any suggestions on how to minimize waste in DC, please leave your comments! I would love any tips.