L.A. Zero Waste planning

So the city of L.A. has been in the process of making a zero waste plan for the last year.You can learn more at www.zerowaste.lacity.org.
They have had a lot of public meetings, I think they have caught on to the idea of participatory planning and also hope that by inviting so much public input that they can avoid some future problems.
At last night's meeting bottled water was provided. People complained but even the woman who first brought it up was drinking it. All around, people were drinking the bottled water the city had provided. I felt on high moral ground with my reusable bottle.
But all in all, these meetings seem to bring in the converted and we are all bitching about how we need to do more but the fact is that we need to get to the people who can't even figure out recycling 101. I can give up packaging and recycle religously but that doesn't have the same kind of impact as getting the millions of people in this city to simply bring their own bags to the store, carry a reusable water bottle and properly recycle at home. Simple steps made by millions add up to a lot. I don't like to preach or make people feel bad. I'd rather practice moderation in my consumption habits and do my little part.

Zero Waste is a long way off but so much of what we need to do is so simple. I save money and waste by always making my coffee at home. Having coffee at a coffee shop is a special treat. I've come to really value the occassional cappucino and I am mindful of it. Would putting Starbucks out of business be such a bad thing? Just think of all of those plastic frappucino cups, dome lids and straws piling up in landfills. I would be happy to see a world in which we felt we no longer needed such things.

Local discoveries

Well its been several weeks since I first embarked on this adventure. Things are starting to settle down into a routine. It seems that giving up all non-reusable or compostable packaging is impossible for someone who wants to lead a normal life. Sure, I could live off just the weeds in my backyard probably, but personally I'd rather eat a pizza and add some of those wild dandelions on top. I don't want to have to give up all of my favorite foods. I've had to give up some and changed the way I make others but I enjoy eating to much to give it up because its all wrapped in so much damned plastic.
But there have been some fun discoveries along the way. I'm still buying my tortillas at the tortilleria down the street. Yes, they are packaged in thin plastic. But hey, they are local and delicious and tortillas are very important to my burritto-centric lifestyle. A new restaurant also opened down the street. It is called Andiamo. They serve Italian style food. They use all compostable plates, cutlery and to go containers. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of biocompostables for the simple reason that they still fall in the high consumption, disposable paradigm.
I favor reusable items whenever possible. However, I also realize that these compostable plastic forks are far better than conventional petroleum plastic forks.
Since the restaurant just opened the place was pretty empty when we went. We had a great pizza and a chance to sit down and chat with the owner. I asked him if they were using the LA city's commercial composting pilot program and he said they were. He said they have almost zero trash. Pretty much everything can be recycled or composted. In fact, they were trying to eliminate their dumster entirely, but hadn't convinced the city to actually take it away yet. Pretty cool. I love to have these conversations with people and to see that I'm not totally crazy in my waste reduction and composting obsessions.

cheating

This is a difficult challenge (unless you have infinite time to shop and cook and everyone around you is totally on board.) So I've cheated a little. Tortillas have been a big issue. They are a staple of our diet. We ran out of tortillas and my partner went out and got mexican takeout because he couldn't make a burrito at home. His meal came with a styrofoam clamshell box, styrofoam cup, plastic lid, plastic straw and three little plastic cups of salsa. That is a lot of waste for one measly meal. So I decided that it was important to get tortillas, even if they came in packaging.
Beer has been another problem. Draft beer is ideal. Kegs are reused hundreds of times and can last decades. However, there is no local watering hole anymore. I deeply lament the loss of our short lived neighborhood bar, Johnny's. They only sold beer, wine and soju drinks. Without the full liquor license the place didn't attract so many obnoxious people. It was a lovely little place to get a beer and only a few blocks away. I like to have a beer and relax in front of the TV now and then. So I bought a six pack. Sure I can recycle the bottles and the paperboard box thing, but I really want reusable packaging.
I was talking to a professor at my school (I'm a grad student) and he said that he homebrews and would take any 22 oz bottles I have. So I'm going to ask Whole Foods to order a case of Lagunitas Maxximus 22 ouncers for me. Lagunitas is my favorite brewery. I crave their bitter hoppy brews. So I am excited to find a second use for my beer bottles and solve that issue. I'm saving my bottlecaps to make a large mosaic so even those will be reused.