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The average American produces 4.3 pounds of trash a day.

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That's almost 1,600 pounds a year.

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But if we took some simple steps, we could go off the trash grid

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and minimize thousands of pounds of waste into just a single jar.

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So this is my trash jar.

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Two years of trash in this tiny little jar.

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Yep.

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That's crazy.

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I mean, I've probably produced 20 times this much in a day.

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Yeah.

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This is everything, basically, that I couldn't compost or couldn't recycle

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or couldn't figure out what to do with.

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Where did you get this idea to become Zero Waste?

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It kind of all started when I was a senior at NYU studying environmental studies.

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And one day after class, I went home to make dinner and I opened my fridge

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and I saw that everything in there was packaged in plastic.

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And I felt like such a hypocrite.

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We're supposed to be saving the planet and here you are making all of this trash.

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I feel like it's really important to live your values

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and my values are having a really low environmental impact.

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I have to live like I want that.

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And so that's why I decided to change my lifestyle.

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What was the easiest part about reducing your waste?

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I think it was just like seeing that I didn't have to do that much

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to produce very little waste.

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By composting and buying in bulk, I essentially eliminated 80% of my waste.

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Buying package-free means needing to have containers to buy things

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that you can't hold with your hands.

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For instance, I buy bulk olive oil, so I bring a mason jar to fill it up.

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I'll pick up some beer from a local shop that sells it in growlers

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that are actually reusable, so that's a totally waste-free way to drink.

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I imagine you get asked a lot of questions about how do you do this?

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I've been curious about a few things, so I'm going to throw out a few questions to you.

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Sure.

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Plastic toothbrushes?

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I use a compostable bamboo toothbrush.

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Sponges?

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I use a compostable dish brush.

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Paper towels?

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Cotton napkins.

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Plastic cookware?

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Wood or stainless steel utensils.

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Cotton balls?

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Reusable cotton rounds.

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Dryer sheets?

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Dryer balls that I make myself.

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What about shampoo?

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Bulk castile soap.

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What about soap?

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I don't know.

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What about shampoo?

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Bulk castile soap.

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Makeup?

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Organic, vegan makeup in recyclable packaging.

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Feminine products?

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Menstrual cup.

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Gift wrap?

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Why?

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Okay, so you are going to teach me how to make toothpaste.

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Yes.

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What do I do?

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So we're going to mix two tablespoons of organic coconut oil,

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and then the tablespoon of baking soda,

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and then about 20 drops of the organic peppermint oil.

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So this is how you make your toothpaste?

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Mm-hmm.

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Let me see your teeth.

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They look very nice.

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Yeah.

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What does your dentist think about this?

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They haven't gotten mad at me yet.

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So I'll just take the spoon and scoop it onto my toothbrush.

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It's not bad.

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It's actually kind of salty.

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Yeah, that's the baking soda.

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Yeah, my teeth really do feel cleaner.

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Thank you.

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Bye.

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So do you have any garbage cans in your home here?

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No, I don't have any garbage cans in my home.

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Because you don't have any garbage.

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Exactly.

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It really does compel me to want to try to reduce my waste.

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So what tips can you give me or somebody else that wants to do that as well?

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Yeah, I would suggest, you know, look in your garbage can and see what your garbage is.

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And until you do that, you don't really know what you're reducing, right?

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Step two, using a reusable bag instead of a plastic or paper bag.

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Just like easy one-time changes.

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And then the last one would be to actually make your products yourself.

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To learn how to make toothpaste, learn how to make deodorant.

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It's a really fun thing to do.

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What is your ultimate goal?

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Before I lived my lifestyle, I wonder, you know, why is there all this trash and why is that okay?

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And we have to find solutions before it gets out of control.

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I've never told anyone, oh, you should live this lifestyle or you have to live this way.

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I kind of just live my lifestyle, put it out there and see what happens.

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Be sure to check out another episode of Going Off Grid with Mike Basich in his 225-square-foot tiny home.

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I like to think of it as getting back to the basics of humanity.

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I like feeling connected to the earth.

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This episode is a part of Seeker Stories.

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We're trying to bring you cool stories from around the world.

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But in order to do that, you need to subscribe.

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So please click on that button and thanks for watching.

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Going Off Grid