Have you ever taken a zero-waste challenge? From October 1 to 30, I participated in the 30-Day Zero Waste Challenge sponsored by Waterloo Region environmental charity Reep Green Solutions. The goal for the challenge is to fit all waste destined for landfill into a one-litre mason jar. Today’s post is an honest update on how I did and what I learned.

This post was originally published in November 2021 and updated in December 2024.

The trash jar? Really?

When I first started my journey to reduce waste and eliminate single-use plastic from my life, I read about a lot of serious zero-wasters who claim to fit a year’s worth of trash in a mason jar. You’ll notice I said, “claim to”. That’s because I openly admit I was— and still am—very skeptical about these claims. I don’t consider myself a wasteful person, but I can’t imagine the effort it would take to make this happen. I question whether these people really do live an extreme zero-waste lifestyle. Do they growing their own food and making everything from scratch? Or is it all just for show?

That said, I have been intrigued by it all. When I first heard about Reep Green’s Zero Waste Challenge, I thought I’d give it a try.

About the Zero Waste Challenge

If you join the challenge, you can choose to participate in the 7-day or 30-day option. The main goal is to learn and improve consumption habits.

Since I’ve already made a lot of progress in reducing waste, I decided to go “all-in” and do the 30-day challenge.

Could I really fit 30 days of waste into a one-litre mason jar? We’ll see.

How I personalized the challenge

Reep Green encourages participants to personalize their challenge based on what is practical for them. My family isn’t always on-board with my waste reduction efforts, so I decided to focus on what’s within my control—my personal consumption. This means I didn’t include things like food packaging for family dinners in my jar. But I did include my snacks, lunches and other meals, along with personal care and cleaning items.

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Zero Waste Challenge – How did I do?

On Day 1, I excitedly took out my one-litre jar and posted a picture on Instagram. The challenge was underway!

Week 1 update

Here’s a picture of my jar at the end of Week 1.

The contents of the jar at the end of week 1 included:

• twist tie
• wine cork
• band-aid wrapper and band-aid
• plastic bread tag
• juice carton cap ring
• seal cap from a bottle of ibuprofen

None of these items take up much space but it was a good reminder of how, despite my best efforts, eliminating plastic completely is tough!

Oh yes, there were also several candy wrappers. I love candy and, with Halloween on the way, we have a lot of it in our house. It’s difficult for me to resist a sweet treat. I do buy candy at the bulk store but then I just eat more of it. I really wish we had recycling options for candy packaging because it’s something I will never be able to cut out completely.

Week 2 update

By the end of week 2, the jar was starting to fill up.

If you’ve been following along with my decluttering challenge, you’ll know I try really hard to find new homes for the things I’m getting rid of so they don’t end up in landfill. This week’s decluttering task was makeup. Luckily, I don’t have a lot of makeup, but I did put an eyebrow pencil and two small makeup samples in the jar.

In addition to the makeup items, I added the following to the jar in week 2:

• Plastic seal from a tub of yogurt.
• A decorative tag from a new pair of shoes I bought.
• Another plastic bread tag.
• Another plastic juice carton ring.
• A blister pack from an allergy pill.

Oh…and a few more candy wrappers went in the jar, too. I might have to do a “zero candy challenge” to make sure I don’t overflow my jar.

Week 3 update

Overall, week 3 was a good week. I even had a few days where I didn’t add any waste to the jar. Here’s how the jar was looking at the end of week 3.

But wait, there is a problem. There’s no way that plastic chip bag will fit in the jar. I decided to leave it out for now and see if I could stuff it in at the end of the challenge.

In addition to the pesky candy wrappers, there were a few different items that I put the jar this week.

• A plastic cheese package.
• Plastic film from a frozen microwavable dinner.
• Wax hair removal strips.

We were getting close to the end and there was still room in the jar. This just might be possible!

30-day update

The end! It’s over. So how did I do?

This week, I put a couple of new things in the jar that I hadn’t given much thought to before:

• Individually packaged tea sachets. Most of them are paper but the one I had was paper with a foil lining so I don’t think it can be recycled. I’ve written before about my dislike for excessive packaging. This is one more item to add to the list.
• Removable strip from a self-adhesive envelope. Remember when we used to lick envelopes? Now, for the sake of convenience, they come with a peel-off strip that’s made of a waxy non-recyclable paper. When I use up my current supply of envelopes, I’ll look for an alternative.

In the end, I managed to squeeze the chip bag into the jar on the last day. I did it! I’m feeling pretty great about this.

What I learned

Since the goal of the challenge is learning, I’m not going to beat myself up too much over the candy wrappers and chip bags. We all have our vices, right?

The biggest thing I learned was that small, incremental changes add up over time. I would have been afraid to try this challenge two years ago when I was just starting out on my waste reduction journey. Over the last two or three years, I have chipped away at waste by replacing one item at a time with a packaging-free solution. The fact that I fit a month’s worth of waste in a mason jar is proof that those small changes matter.

Snack foods are a big problem area. It’s so frustrating that they come in packaging that can’t be recycled. I’ve heard of innovative recycling programs for these items in British Columbia, and the UK. The new province-wide recycling program in Ontario has promised to expand the list of items we can recycle. Let’s hope snack packaging will be on the list.

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I’m still a long way away from fitting a year’s worth of waste in a mason jar, and maybe I’ll never get there, but I feel good about how far I’ve come. As I walk around my neighbourhood on garbage day, I notice many households putting out 4 or more bags every 2 weeks. Our family uses our green bin and blue box faithfully, and rarely fills a single bag in 2 weeks.

Progress…not perfection!

Would you be willing to take a similar zero-waste challenge? Tell me your thoughts below.