Tamika Moore Grzybowski

The plastic industry has convinced us that some plastic bags are "trash bags," while others are just "trash." Instead of throwing empty bags away (such as bread bags, pet food bags, etc.), I will reuse them as trash bags.

Vegetable broth cartons are not easily recycled and often not accepted for recycling at all. To avoid or reduce my use of these cartons, I will save my vegetable scraps and fresh herb stems to make homemade vegetable broth instead.

The only thing worse than a single-use item is a zero-use item! I will use (and use up) what I already have in my home before buying something new.

Pinterest may want you to think that you need a cupboard full of matching mason jars, but reusing what we already have is one of the best ways to reduce our waste. This month, instead of recycling glass jars (such as pasta sauce, pickles, and salsa jars), I will save them to reuse for food storage.

Get creative in the kitchen (or the garden)! Before tossing food scraps, I'll explore other ways to utilize the scraps and give them another life.