28/03/2021
Zero waste living: MY reality!
From left ♻️ My Recycling collected from 2 weeks
🗑 Landfill bag from 3 weeks
🍌 Food waste from 1 week
I began a zero waste journey 3 years ago and here’s what I’ve learnt:
1. There is no such this as “zero waste”. It’s a design term that describes an ideal circular economy.
2. It’s a privilege to be able to care about your waste, but if you can, I think you should!
3. it’s about water waste, energy saving and buying less stuff in general too!
4. Baking instead of buying stuff in plastic is fun, and often tastier!
5. Every little effort matters.
6. Find what works for you. Maybe you don’t have a bulk/refill store, but you can avoid plastic by getting things in glass, card or tin.
7. It’s okay to slip up but don’t give up completely.
8. Make small but significant changes like switching energy providers, using a refillable bottle + coffee cup, bamboo toothbrush, buying veggies plastic free etc.
9. Create easy systems to support living sustainably- once it’s a habit it’s no longer a huge effort or inconvenience- like setting up separate bins or ordering online from a store that supports sustainability.
10. You may need to make some sacrifices. For me, that’s not buying cereal, crisps. chocolates or sweets in plastic. But that doesn’t mean I never eat chocolate! I love seeing all the new stuff that’s becoming available which is less wasteful.
Honestly, the best thing is just knowing that your efforts big or small may not be saving the earth, but you’re doing YOUR bit to help, and we need everyone’s imperfect efforts 💪
