For Megean (McCloud) Weldon ’11, it really all started with a walk around the neighborhood on Earth Day in April 2015. Weldon liked to mark Earth Day with an environmentally friendly activity, so that year, she and her husband, Ben, decided to take a walk around their neighborhood and pick up litter.
Ninety minutes later, their usual 30-minute walk had yielded five full trash bags of litter.
But the real eye opener came when Weldon went to put the bags in their large trash container and the bags wouldn’t fit because of their week’s worth of trash. “I was mad. I couldn’t believe people could be so disposable and careless,” Weldon said. “But then I realized I was just as wasteful. How could I call myself an environmentalist?”
And so began her journey to reduce the trash in her life. She and her husband set a goal that day – to halve their trash and cut out nearly all plastic use by Earth Day 2016.
They started with the easy stuff: reusable water bottles (no more buying water by the case), cloth bags for groceries and cloth produce bags, less fast food, and reusable rags and cloth napkins (no more paper towels). Cooking involved simpler meals with fresh produce, homemade tortillas and homemade bread. They started a small compost bin for paper, cardboard, vegetable peelings, yard waste, etc. that turns into nutrients for their garden soil. They bought food in bulk and stored everything in glass jars. (The kitchen, Weldon says, is the biggest culprit for waste.)
The Weldons were doing so well eliminating trash, Megean was ready to take it a step further.
“I thought, ‘What if we don’t have to put our trash can out at the curb for an entire year?’ she said. “Even saying it sounded crazy, but I started researching to find a way.”
Every week from then on, the Weldons generated less and less trash, and Megean decided to start a blog about it to keep herself accountable – Zerowastenerd.com. Today, her blog has 10,000 followers, and her Facebook page has almost 1,000 likes. One of her most popular reads is “30 Days to Zero Waste.”
“It’s been a lot of fun. It’s one of those things you find in your life that you were meant to do,” she said. “It’s one of the greatest things I’ve ever done.”
Fast forward to Earth Day 2016. The Weldons surpassed their goal of not having to set the trash can out at the curb in the past year. And, there was a bonus – her husband had lost 25 pounds, thanks to the limited fast food and healthier eating.
It was now time for a new goal: only generate enough trash that will fit in a 1-gallon jar.
But by this time, there was an interesting challenge to go along with their pledge – Megean was pregnant with their first child. But they weren’t deterred. The family invested in cloth diapers, glass baby bottles, homemade baby lotion and reusable cloths instead of wipes. At her baby shower, Megean requested only wooden toys, no plastic.
The Weldons even remodeled a bathroom during their zero-trash pledge. The task was accomplished by buying secondhand and finding a place that recycles construction waste, Megean said.
Megean noted that reducing trash in your life is a conscious lifestyle choice, and they are very happy with that choice. “It’s grounded us, and it has brought a lot of pleasure back to eating,” she said.
Not surprisingly, Megean says a lot of her cooking, canning and methods to reduce waste were learned from her grandparents and great grandparents: she makes her own toothpaste, shampoo, laundry detergent and cleaning supplies.
“It’s a bizarre, disposable society,” Megean said, noting that on average, each person in the United States generates 4 ½ pounds of trash every day. “I’m happy that I’ve inspired a lot of people. That’s the end goal. I know not everyone has the resources to go zero waste. But everyone can start by doing just one thing.”