Personal Trash Inventory

I'll be honest. Tracking my trash for a week was pretty annoying. I was interested to see how my numbers would look by the end of it though. Before this, I didn't think I threw away too much trash. After, my numbers were a little higher than expected, but I think I'm doing okay. The thing that was most surprising to me was that there weren't many categories of things that I threw away, and almost all of it could be classified as either paper, plastic, or food waste. After making my spread sheet, I came to the conclusion that I am not particularly wasteful, but I am throwing away too much trash. What I mean is that most of the stuff I throw away could easily be recycled, or in the case of food waste, composted. Only a small portion of my trash was actually trash. I recycle at home, but while at school, I only recycle if it is really convenient, so I'm going to make an effort to separate my trash and recyclables here. My largest source of trash by far is paper. I can probably work on using less or at least being more conscientious of recycling. Also, I am going to make it a point to buy a travel coffee mug, because most days I get a coffee on campus in a disposable cup.
I do try to integrate some sustainability into my lifestyle already. I use a reusable water bottle and reusable grocery bags, I avoid using trays and excess dishes in the dining halls, I use eco-friendly cleaning supplies, and I am really good about turning off unnecessary lights and unplugging things that are not in use, but there is definitely room for me to improve.
I think in general, people just have no idea about how much waste they produce, or what the fate of their waste is. Or maybe they just don't care because they don't see how it directly affects them. Maybe if trash collecting services shut down for a couple of weeks, people would start to take notice!