April Will Be a Month of #ZeroWaste for Me!

It's on my 25 before 25 list. I care about the environment very much and I'm generally pretty mindful about it, but I'm not perfect. I can't only focus on the environment 100% of the time. At least for a month I would like to challenge myself to push even harder to make sure that I reduce my environmental footprint. Starting tomorrow, April 1st, I will abide by these rules until the end of the month. It's basically reduce, reuse, recycle, just more hard core.

Here are my rules.

1. Recyclables do not count as 'waste', but I will try to reduce them, too. I will collect them in boxes to see how much recyclables I have at the end of the month.
2. Unlike regular trash, in South Korea 'food waste' is collected separately and often aren't sent to landfill, so I will not count them as waste. I will still try my best to reduce food waste.
3. When I'm at home I'll wash with water instead of using toilet paper (TMI?) but when I'm outside I'll have to use toilet paper.
4. Other than exceptions stated above, no waste for me. Nothing goes into trash. If I do end up creating some waste, I will donate 10000 won to an environment NGO every time that happens.

I'll be posting weekly updates to see how I do. At the end of the month there will be a recap post, so look out for that, too!

Here are my plans for reducing waste.

1. When I forget to eat before I head out or to pack my lunch, I end up buying something on-the-go from convenience store or fast food joints. That creates waste, or at least recyclables. I will make extra sure that my food is prepared so I don't have to do that.
2. No packaged food, no drinks other than water. Soda, bottled juice, things like that. Just good old water, it's best for my health, too. I carry around a flask for water so I'll be drinking water out of it, and nothing else. As for packaged food, I will stick to packing whole food based meals and only eating that.
3. Less shopping. Specifically, less online shopping. I don't shop much and I buy second hand whenever possible, but I usually buy online and the packaging, protective fillers, and bringing the product all the way to my home leaves carbon footprint. If I don't need it, I'll live without it, and if I do need something, I'll try to find something from local thrift store or flea market first.

I hope that this will be a change to rethink and re-evaluate my previous lifestyle and improve. Even if I stop aiming for 'zero waste', I'll still keep on with good habits I picked up on my journey, and that's the purpose for this little experiment of mine.