This one's for mother earth

Reduce, reuse and recycle is the mantra of the new millenium and I have been taking steps to do so. I reuse alot, given my love of thrift stores and garage sales. Most of my wardrobe has been either thrifted or made by me and most of my furniture has been thrifted or picked up at garage sales, Craig's List, etc. I also recycle. I can't say that I am 100% good about it but I would say I'm at 75%. But I haven't done much about reducing. So I decided to work on that area and I am starting with our food.
When you think about it, most of your waste is associated with food. Not only is there the packaging but the bags and then scraps from leftovers, etc. So my first step was to cut out the bags. So I dug in my stash and found a couple of yards of lightweight denim (cost=free) and sewn up 5 basic totes. I already had one tote so now I have a total of 6, with the one dedicated just for meat (don't want to contaminate the fruits and veggies). As soon as they were done I put them in my car so I have no excuse not to use them.
Then I thought about packaging. I try to buy fresh fruits and veggies so instead of using the plastic bag the grocery store provides, I am crocheting net bags. I hope to do at least two, one for fruits and one for veggies. I also decided that I am going to plant some container gardens. I was going to dedicate one of my beds to a veggie garden but I decided to start small. It's all about baby steps. Another thing I am going to do to reduce waste is to cook fresh - not buy so many prepackaged foods. This, of course, will have the side effect of actually making my family healthier because we will be eating better.
Finally, I am going to compost. I actually have a compost bin that I made out of a plastic storage tub but the holes that I drilled in it for venhilation are too big and have attracted some uninvited guests. So I am going to have to start over and drill smaller holes. It's amazing the amount of things you can compost outside of the obvious table scraps (no meat or fats, please) like dryer lint and toilet paper tubes.
To sum up:

1. Bring your own bags when you go shopping.
2. Buy or grow fresh/bulk to avoid prepackaged foods
3. Compost