My friend Nan let me make her annual Derby Day party a low-waste event. We used real plates, utensils and glasses, and encouraged people to bring their potluck contributions in reusable dishes.
At the end of the night, we'd collected 13.2 pounds of compostables and 6 ounces of trash. Yes, ounces. The trash consisted of about 20 straws, a few single-serving butter wrappers and a diaper (thanks, Bodhi!). We also collected 30.2 pounds of glass bottles, aluminum cans and plastic bottles. Nan knew there wouldn't be much trash after all the food and paper waste were collected, but she was amazed at just how little we ended up with.
