I had my food waste in the freezer to prevent it from rotting. 

Then an idea came up in my mind that maybe defrosting the waste would help to shrink the whole thing, so I decided to do it… and it worked!

The jar full of food waste became half of the amount. 

This may not be reducing the food waste it self, but I think it is worth doing since I can reduce the plastic bag use for taking out the trash. 

I also find this quite easy and handy, because by freezing the food waste I do not have to worry about the smell. (Which was sometimes annoying when I was keeping it in the bin)

I might be able to continue the freezing and defrosting routine even after the cChallenge period is over. 

Since my food waste is almost filling up my jar, I started to think about making my own compost. 

However, at the end of the day I came to think that this is going to be quite difficult again since I would need an out door space with a roof… which I do not have. 

Also, there is a chance that composts can have a strong odor and I do not want to disturb my roommates nor my neighbors. 

Although it may not be so ideal at the moment, I got to study a little more about making composts at home. There are multiple ways of composting, and through our weekly online meetup today I learned that there is an organization called «The Worm Farmers». The people here can send you worms to your home if you are making a worm farm for composting!

I found this so interesting and an inspiring way to approach people to become sustainable.

I wonder if there is something similar done back in Japan. 

In the future when I go back home, I would like to try composting my food waste in my garden. 

The Worm Farmers:

Home

I am still thinking different ways of minimizing my waste. I would like to reduce especially my food and plastic waste since they are the largest part of my waste at the moment. Food waste piles up so quickly that my jar is actually almost full. 

The picture is a small contribution to reducing my waste. I decided to keep the leaves of a Japanese white radish I used for my cooking and let it grow for a bit. After the leaves grow a little more I can fry with sesame oil and make it a nice side dish instead of wasting:)

It may be small but it feels huge when I’m trying to fit my waste in a small jar. 

I am finding cChallenge quite challenging from Day 1.

There were many unpredictable wastes I had. 

At the beginning I thought I would only need to be conscious about what I buy and what I consume. However, I unexpectedly received a parcel today from a friend, and suddenly need to think of a way to fit the box in my jar… 

The box is still in use so let’s see if it will become a waste or not.

Also, I spontaneously cooked for my friends which caused more food waste. I did not imagine that veggie peels would take up so much space. Maybe I won’t peel the veggies anymore unless it is necessary.

I might need to replace these jars with bigger ones eventually, but for now I will see how long it takes until they fill up.