These are some great ideas. Thank you.

Warmly,
Jim
www.CooperationEarth.com/earth

Hmm, this is good. I'm surprised to see no mention of Garbage, the movie (a/k/a Garbage: The Revolution Starts At Home). The couple in that film learned a lot about their footprints. I wonder how large the "one plastic bag" referred to above, will turn out to be.

Alternatively or also, a person could participate in community cleanups to remove trash from the environment. I am sure that I gather more than 1500 lbs. of trash from sensitive areas near the river in my town. Considered analogous to carbon credits, this could almost zero out my garbage footprint.

Every day I pick up at least 10 pieces of trash and recycle as much of it as possible. Yesterday it was 30 items including 12 aluminum cans and 10 PET bottles. I participate in a local watershed group that removes 300+ bags of trash every year from parks and roadsides. We are able to recycle at least a third of it.

There are lots of ways to reduce or eliminate your net footprint on this planet. Keep America Beautiful offers logistical support for local cleanup efforts.

The best recyclers, astronauts on the ISS, still produce garbage. It is valuable however to execute the exercises from time to time in order to understand what needs to be done yet to minimize our waste. In time technology will help, but first we must characterize the problem. (Thank you, Amy and Adam!) I don't suggest we all live the ascetic life, all the time.

No disposal of feminine products for 10 years! They should try this.. it's AMAZING!!! Best thing that happened to the menstrual cycle.

http://www.divacup.com/

(though, note to females: you need to be comfortable with yourself)

Regarding the toothpaste container mentioned above that "it’s hard for anyone to avoid the waste created by hygiene and medical products such as a toothpaste container." Actually, its totally doable. There are many alternatives, but the easiest one is to use tooth powder. This was very common in India (and many people still use it, although more are using toothpastes these days).

Brands such as "Vicco", "Dabar" and others provide tooth powders with 100% natural ingredients; you massage the teeth and gums using the powder on your fingertip. So, there you go, you don't event need a toothbrush. I have used these powders for many years and I feel much more clean and fresh in my mouth (by the way, many people use the tooth brush improperly and end up damaging teeth. So using your finger would help you avoid that).

The powder comes in plastic and glass containers, which you can recycle. And, of course, if you like to go one level further, you can research ways to make these powders at home, its not that difficult!

Pertaining to the kitty litter issue - use a litter based on a natural product / biodegradable product such as wheat, recycled newspaper, etc. Scoop the poop ( toxoplasmosis is shed in the feces - mainly of kittens that are first exposed to the parasite) and put it down the toilet (and the dog poop too!) and then compost the rest of the kitty litter -pee and all.

We should really think of a better way not to harm our environment. It is our responsibility to think of a solution since we are the ones who actually created those mess.