A Year Of My Family's Trash Fits Into One Jar. Here's How

To celebrate Earth Day, we're highlighting a woman who's brought her passion for the environment to life with a seriously impressive green feat—her family of four produces almost no garbage. Katelin and fellow zero-waster Tara Smith-Arnsdorf are blogging about their trash-free journey over at PAREdown. Here's a glimpse into her story:

I was first exposed to a zero-waste lifestyle in January 2014, with a YouTube clip of a woman who—along with her family—produces less than a quart-size jar of trash annually.

Back then I would have described myself as environmentally conscious—I "cared" about what my family and I were doing to the planet. I write cared in quotation marks simply because that's all I was doing: caring. I wasn't acting. I felt paralyzed by the enormity of the problem, so my attitude was one of overwhelmed hopelessness. I was only one person, so how could my actions ever actually contribute to any sort of solution?

As soon as I turned off the video, I was compelled to start taking the first steps toward cutting down on my own trash consumption.

At the time, my family of four was going through a large black bag of trash a week, so the idea of going zero-waste felt like a formidable challenge. We started small by setting achievable, stepping-stone goals. At first, we worked to cut our trash in half by refusing single-use plastics and excess packaging, simplifying our home, and changing our consumption mindset.

Within a year, we'd reduced our trash from a large black garbage bag weekly to a grocery bag biweekly. Watching our trash rapidly diminish with each curbside pickup was all the motivation we needed to keep going.

Soon enough, we cut this down to a liter biweekly. Then, on Earth Day last year, my family made the decision to live without a garbage can.

We no longer haul the garbage to the curb—all of our trash from the last year fits into a single jar.

This basically is about changing your mindset from one of consumption to conservation, which can be really difficult for a lot of people (including me!).

Prior to living zero-waste, I navigated the grocery store aisles on autopilot. I purchased pre-washed produce in plastic bags, meat and dairy wrapped in unnecessary packaging, and bought into all of the consumer marketing telling me what processed snacks to get for my kids.

Eliminating trash forces you to wake up and make more-conscious choices—I now go to the grocery store armed with reusable totes, bulk bags, and a large container or two for meat and bakery items. I buy unpackaged produce, dried goods from bulk bins, and loose items that would otherwise go to waste, like single bananas. My children get involved by making a game out of finding the pieces of produce without stickers.

Going zero-waste has had its ups and downs, but overall the decision to live simply has brought our family so much more than what we gave up.

Since choosing to live simply, I've been able to transition into part-time work as a zero-waste blogger and stay home with my children while they're young. I'm passionate about what I'm doing, and I believe I am a being the absolute best role model I can be for my children.

I love the idealism of the zero-waste movement—the idea that living simply can be something to aspire to. It represents the desire to opt out of consumerism, and drop the notion that you have to keep up with the Joneses.

Some people may argue that trying to go completely waste-free is too extreme—too difficult in today's materialistic culture. But I believe that you must be extreme to get your cause noticed. And, as the saying goes, if it doesn't challenge you, it won't change you.