What YOU can DO today

These days, basically everything we do and everywhere we go results in some kind of garbage. The grocery store, the corner shop, coffee shops, parties, restaurants, school events - throwaway packaging is all around us. Knowing what to do in the face of so much waste - and often with so few options for reusable, refillable, or unpackaged - can be overwhelming.

You did not create this problem. Food companies, grocery stores, and the producers of single-use packaging wrap it around our food, water, and personal care products, and then invest millions in marketing those products to us. Corporations and governments have the largest responsibility for solving our worldwide waste crisis, and there are things you can do in your daily life to show them you want change and to bring power to your community - individually and collectively. To help prevent waste in your community and in your life, consider a few of these actions.

 
 
 

ASK QUESTIONS

Don’t be afraid to learn all you can and to be your own advocate.

  • Ask a business what their waste practices are. This doesn’t just inform you - It also alerts them that their customers care about what they’re doing to be waste-free.

  • Ask your regular shops and restaurants to take small steps: Selling vegetables and other foods packaging-free; offering straws only on request; using durable and reusable cups, plates, and silverware; allowing customers to bring in their own containers for leftovers.

 
 
 

LOOK AND ASK FOR NAKED GROCERIES

Naked groceries are items that have no packaging at all, which goes a long way.

  • Buy your food items in bulk. Don’t forget your own cloth bags or reusable jars to fill up! Most stores are willing to tare out the weight of your reusable bags before you fill them.

  • Skip the plastic bag for your fresh fruits and vegetables. Opt for a reusable bag or no bag at all.

  • Purchase other stuff in bulk, too. Shampoo, soap, and laundry detergent are often sold either in no packaging or in extra large containers. As much as you can, always buy the bigger container or find stores or online shops that let you refill.

  • Don’t forget your ask! Ask grocers to carry the things you need most without packaging.

Not sure where to start? Find some businesses here that sell in bulk.

 
 
 
 

SUPPORT GOOD POLICY

No Waste Louisiana supports common-sense local and state policies to prevent waste and to support businesses located here to do their part to ensure all residents have equitable access to waste-free, reasonable cost food, groceries, and goods.

  • Refillable first. Encourage all restaurants and stores to allow for refill of customers’ own reusable containers.

  • Prevention before cure. Expand city cleanup projects to include waste prevention, like banning or charging for unnecessary single-use bags, straw reduction policies, or bans on foam food containers.

  • Stop new production. Use local leverage to stand up against new plastic production facilities currently being built or planned across the state. These petrochemicals plant are a massive public health crisis, and they’re locking our communities into very precarious debt in a collapsing market.

  • Don’t burn our waste. Refuse to plan or build any kind of incinerator, pyrolysis, or gassification plants in the state, and don’t allow for the false promises of so-called “waste-to-energy” processing to be included in any definitions or standards for renewable energy. (Check here for more on the Renewable Portfolio Standard movement in Louisiana.)

In addition to these steps, cities need to support recycling as much as possible, expanding access to all residents and businesses and actively seeking new markets and processors for materials that would otherwise go to landfill. The most important factor in this change is funding, which the city should raise and prioritize.

 
 
 

BE A SMART SHOPPER

  • Shop second hand. Purchase second-hand items, such as clothes, pans, and furniture at your local thrift store, on Craiglist or social media, or at great local stores like ReStore. Save money and reduce waste at the same time.

  • Borrow. If you only need something once or for a short time, see if your neighbor or family member has one you can borrow. Or use a library - today, there are libraries for so many things, not just books! The Green Project.now offers a tool library.

  • Buy less. The next time you go to buy something, check in with yourself. Ask, "do I really need this?" If the answer is no, try not buying this time around.

 
 
 

THINK LOCAL

These days, the stuff we buy comes from all over the world, grown and made by people we don’t know and shipped across continents and oceans to our grocery stores. But it doesn’t have to. When stores commit to selling locally grown meat and vegetables or locally produced soaps, shampoos, or artisan crafts, less carbon and less packaging is used to get those items into your hands.

Choosing local gives you a lot more than just groceries: it connects you directly with the makers and growers, keeps local money in local businesses, and creates stronger bonds in our city - all of which increase our community’s health and resilience. By further choosing to support Black or woman-owned local businesses, you’ll be directly serving

 
 
 
 

TAKE THE BUS

Don’t forget that carbon emissions are also part of your waste footprint. By taking the bus or riding your bike, you’re not just doing good in your own life - you’re also showing visible support for public transportation and safe streets infrastructure to include bikes and pedestrians.

Did you know? The Orleans Parish RTA now has the GoMobile app through which you can buy monthly passes and check routes and schedules. And NOLA Blue Bikes can turn you into a bike commuter without the responsibility or expense of owning your own bike.

 
 
 
 

RETHINK YOUR FOOD

While one in eight people go hungry in the United States, forty percent of food here is never eaten. Much of that waste is in the field and at grocery stores, so choosing to shop differently and taking some steps in your own home can make a huge difference.

  • Buy differently. Shop local produce from the NOLA Food Co-op or at the Crescent City Farmers Market with 3 or 4 weekly locations around town depending on the season.

  • Plan ahead. It’s a big change after a long day at work, but if you can, buy fresh food more often (rather than shopping for weeks at a time) or do some forward planning for home-cooked meals.

  • Learn to love leftovers. They’re not always the snazziest thing, but with a little help from the internet, you can follow some tips to reinvent yesterday’s remnants into tonight’s meals.

  • Cook with food scraps. Combine leftover vegetable scraps or that chicken carcass to make a delicious broth, which can be jarred and stored in the freezer as a base for future soups.

  • Grow your own. Even if you can't keep a whole fresh garden, maybe 1 or 2 potted vegetables or a small pot of herbs by the window means less waste for just for one sprig of herb.

Still have lots of food leftovers after eating or using what you could? No worries! You can always compost. Start a compost at your home or contribute your food scraps to the many Compost NOW happening at libraries around Orleans Parish each week.

 
 
 

LOOK AROUND YOUR HOME

shampoo, soap, cleaners, using felt instead Swiffers, etc.

parties - collect mardi gras cups, plates from thrift stores, etc.

 
 
 

DO ALL OF THE “R”S

refuse

reduce

reuse

refill

(when all else fails) recycle - [link to info page on recycling]