I've been concerned by our trash production for longtime, consistently trying to recycle, choosing products with less packaging, refusing plastic when possible, and etc. Since the COVID19 pandemic started, the recycling program in my neighborhood completely stopped. For weeks I've been waiting for it to be back in place but even if a lot of the commerce got back, recycling doesn't seems to be a city priority for now.
While I've been weekly checking for the recycling truck to be back, I realized something that shocked me: our family trash production increased dramatically during this time. Delivered grocery comes with a load of packaging that I used to refuse when buying in store (by carrying my reusable bags), and all we buy now — mostly online — comes with a great amount of unnecessary packaging.
I'm the one in charge of the cleaning at my house, therefore I'm the one directly dealing with the trash bins on a regular basis. I got to a point of feeling overwhelmed and nauseous as the fact of tossing the recyclable items back to the regular trash can doesn't feel right. It just feels like moving backwards over 30 years, and I can't accept this in my house.
On top of it, I recently watched the documentary "A Plastic Ocean" and it felt like a punch in my stomach. A wake up call. It felt like waking up from a nightmare... except that, the nightmare is a raw reality. Everything around us is dying. Until when?
Not convinced that we need to stop producing trash?
Check out the work of Californian photographer Gregg Segal in his photoshoot series “7 Days of Garbage”
or watch "A Plastic Ocean" available in Youtube or Netflix.
The time is to rethink and evolve, and it needs to be sustainable.
For the last two weeks I've been diving deeply on this subject with my sister and, as we inspire and hold accountability to each other, we are progressively taking the step towards making our own cleaning and beauty products at home. We are reusing empty packaging from our previous products and learning how to formulate our products from fully natural ingredients easily available in our kitchens.
A transformative process, teaching us to slow down and understand how change is possible and readily available. We came across a great number of inspiring people already engaged in this the same movement around the world proving not only that the change is possible, but already here.
Here are some deeply inspiring projects
Sustain LA
About the author: Carol Jamault is a Certified Health and Life Coach (CHC), Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT), and Yoga Instructor (RYT-200) with extensive training in Ayurveda and Herbalism. She focuses on supporting her clients with stress management tools and self-care routines through an integrative approach to wellness. She guides those in a quest for personal growth and better health, by providing curated information and teaching a therapeutic lifestyle that naturally allows to restore balance, improving wellness and fostering longevity. Carol has been studying alternative healing, ethnobotany, circadian medicine, Ayurveda and herbalism since 2001. She is the founder of Hridayam Bodywork & Apothecary and partners with corporations and wellness studios to provide therapeutic bodywork, private coaching, workshops, and lectures.
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