Hit 1,000 tons of avoided waste last month and it caught me off guard

I run a small cleaning biz and started tracking how much stuff I keep out of landfills by donating or recycling things clients toss. Did the math last week and I'm at 1,040 tons since 2021. That's like 20 school buses of crap that didn't burn or rot. Crazy part is I just did it by sorting daily trash. Has anyone else tracked their own impact numbers and gotten surprised?

3 comments

3 Comments

hannah_wright2mo ago

That really snuck up on you but man, what a good feeling. Must be nice to see the actual difference from just doing your job a little differently. You planning to keep tracking it?

david7392mo ago

Hold on, @hannah_wright, let's not get TOO carried away here. It's just tracking a thing, not like they found the cure for something. People get all excited about seeing a number go up and think it's some life changing revelation. You're probably right that it's a good feeling, but let's not act like it's some deep personal breakthrough. Just sounds like they got lucky and are making a big deal out of it.

kim_patel891mo ago

Haha, "snuck up on you" is right. I think if I had tried to plan it out, I'd have messed it up somehow. Probably would have overthought it and given up on day two. Honestly, my biggest fear is I'll start feeling like I'm "tracking" something important and then lose the notebook three days in. It's a classic move for me, so I'm trying to keep it light.