Going from being a regular 2019 consumer to a Zero Waste lifestyle would be like culture shock. I personally barely scratch the surface of that Zero Waste category and I have been at this for a few years. Before we delve into changing our lives together, I have a few things that you can think about today to be more conscientious about what waste you are creating in your every day life.
First and foremost, let's reduce our goal to something more attainable for the time being and call our life style Minimal Waste rather than Zero Waste. Zero Waste is intimidating, but everyone can create less waste, everyone can change a thing or two to minimize their waste today. If everyone starts small, we can begin making a big difference.
So, to start your Minimal Waste journey, let's talk about a couple things you shouldn't do before we dive into all the things you could change. I only have four rules for you to follow starting today that will help you maneuver through the saturated world of waste reduction that is part of our society right now. It is important to begin here, with a strong foundation that you can build upon to keep your Minimal Waste lifestyle sustainable long term. You may not have noticed as you may have just started your Minimal Waste journey here today, but right now reducing your waste is a bit of a fad. Not to say that the exposure and talk isn't important and changing the way an everyday consumer looks at their life, but it is hard to navigate if you have no guidelines. Start here, and we will sift through it all together:
1. DON'T do too much at once. You know what I am saying, we are all human and it takes a long time to break habits and create new routines. Start slow. Pick a couple things, or even one thing at a time, and once you've mastered that, move on to the next. It has taken me years to get to where I am, and like I said, I am no where near perfect or where I want to be. But the goal is just to be better than we were yesterday. Start small: reusable grocery bags or carrying a reusable water bottle are the perfect places to begin, and then move on to the next thing. Don't be too hard on yourself, but also we all need to start somewhere or else we get nowhere.
2. DON'T go throwing out all the stuff you own. The worst thing you can do is to go home and throw out everything that isn't "biodegradable" or "earth-friendly". That is wasting, too!
This sort of goes along with rule one, but replace things one at a time, go slow. You need a new toothbrush? Get a bamboo one. Run out of laundry detergent? Buy some that comes in a 100% recycled plastic bottle. Love your tupperware? Use it until it dies, and then replace it with glass or metal. It's easy when we think consciously about our purchases and just take them one at a time.
3. DON'T buy things you aren't going to use. You should always think about purchases before making them even if you aren't going Minimal Waste. Why go buy stainless steal straws if you never drink from a straw? Why purchase a wooden scrubby for the kitchen
sink if you always use your dishwasher? This is why replacing things as you need to is a good place to start, but this could also apply to things like clothes shopping. Sometimes I go to the mall and walk around, mindlessly purchasing things that I don't need in a emotional moment; the definition of "retail therapy". These purchases are often impulsive, unnecessary, and inevitably come in a plastic bag. Think carefully about your purchases, and try to buy things secondhand or from an ethical company when possible.
4. DON'T be lazy or think of yourself before the Earth and the future. This is probably going to sound harsh but none of us is better than the person next to us. That is to say: no one is above the rules of littering or trying to reduce our waste. Convenience is what drives most of the trash in this world and honestly, I find it a bit alarming the way people nonchalantly continue to drink from plastic water bottles and not use reusable grocery bags (the two easiest and most effective ways to help to reduce plastic use in our society). "One more wont make a difference"... said the 7 billion people who live in the world. It is one thing to forget, but an entirely different thing to not try at all. We can do this together, let's start today.
Keeping these four rules in mind as you go about with your new Minimal Waste mindset will help you decide where to start in your life, especially when I start speaking from my experience in the posts to come. Once you get into the habit of thinking of how you can reduce waste in your everyday practices, it is easy to apply Minimal Waste into almost everything you do. Let's move forward together in crafting a world for future generations that is clean and healthy!