Maybe you can also change habits on what you purchase ? Maybe start with the one item that is your largest glass waste producer and make that one item at home or buy in bulk ? I like the reduce glass to dust in previous post for the meantime. I did serious waste reduction here, and every household buys different items, so will vary for you, of course. We did this:
- Bought 5 gallon bucket of dishwashing detergent, so fill up the container by sink, and when this bucket is empty, I always need 5 gallon bucket outside on the homestead. Same for laundry detergent. I bought mine from Azure Standard (online ordering, once a month bulk delivery to drop points across the country).
- I also buy my soy sauce in a 5 gallon container as this just gets better with age in any case, I refill the glass bottle in the kitchen, and this container when empty makes a good water storage container.
- I buy Toilet paper by the case, thru Azure, these rolls are wrapped in paper, in a cardboard box, so all packaging can be sheet mulched on the land
- Dry goods bought by the 25-50lb bag and stored in 5 gallon buckets with gamma lids, so no plastic packaging there any more.
- We eventually started to keep our own dairy goats, and I use mason jars I wash and re-use for milk, so no more trash there.
- I, over time, keep adding to what I make at home. So, at first I canned all our jams. Then added all the diced tomatoes, which were my 2 most used canned goods. I make my own mayonaise, super easy in the blender, but I havent found a mustard recipe I like, so still buy this. I now can and dry many things.
- I tried the shampoo bar to use instead of plastic bottled shampoo, and I like it. I also buy this at azure and no packaging to get rid of, same with bulk bought bar soap.
- Buying dehydrated tomato powder to keep and use in the pantry saves room, waste and packaging. I use this instead of tomato paste or sauce, depending how much water is added, as I only can diced tomatoes, I dont sit around and cook down and reduce tomatoes !
- I tried my hand at fermenting last year, and the wine turned out well. If wine or beer bottles are your largest category, learning to home brew might save you money and waste packaging. I just used the push-in corks (T ones) in the wine I made, and these can be re-used, and keep it on its side absolutely until it hits the refrigerator, and it is doing well, and this was easy and used little equipment