The zero waste lifestyle
Today I want to talk to you about zero waste. The point of it is to produce next to no waste, a task which might seem daunting, impossible, time-consuming, costly, etc. It might seem completely out of your reach when you are on a budget in Morrisons and the pack of carrots in plastic is cheaper than the loose carrots, or when you realise the only way you could be zero waste was if you bought a cow or learned to make your own almond or oat milk (which you also don’t have time for). But I am here to tell you that that is no reason to try.
We cannot expect the whole world to just stop producing waste. That would be basically impossible because the food we buy will still come in plastics, tins and cartons, and despite them often being recyclable, they can end up in landfill anyway. But as zero waste chef Anne Marie Bonneau said, “We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly”. So you can be included in the environmental revolution of zero waste within your own ability. Being totally zero waste is for the dedicated and privileged, but being low waste is for everyone.
How can you do this, you may ask? Some of our previous blog posts have given tips on substitutions for wasteful products, and there is a huge amount of information on the internet if you set your mind to it.
Refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, rot — in that order. Think twice about saying yes to straws and plastic cups, invest in a water bottle that will last and a reusable cup for the coffee you buy in the morning. Try to buy fresh fruit and veg that is not covered in plastic, and for those instances where that is impossible, be sure to recycle it properly. If you realise a lot of the plastic you buy ends up in general waste, consider replacing the product with something that doesn’t produce that waste.
In short, don’t think you have to cut out all waste tomorrow. Try to refuse unnecessary single-use products, reduce your production of general waste and reduce your food-waste, reuse tins and jars that you can, recycle as best you can, and make sure what ends up rotting in landfill is the absolute minimum you can do.
