What is Zero Waste?
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Have you ever stopped to think about how much rubbish you’re putting out at the curb each week? If you have, the idea of reducing that pile of rubbish down to nothing can be quite overwhelming. It also raises other questions. Why would you want to? How can you? Where is your rubbish going? Here’s a little bit more about what Zero Waste is, how you can take one big step to reduce your waste and what I’ve found works for me.
The Basics
The Zero Waste movement started gaining momentum in the late 1990s. There had always been environmental movements, like the push to reduce-reuse-recycle, but this was a slightly different focus. The main goal is that nothing is sent to landfill. To prevent this there are several other streams where we can send goods that have reached the end of their lives: recycled into new products, compost, reused or gifted to others. Any way we can keep things ending up as waste rotting in a landfill can help you achieve Zero Waste.
The Trends
The goal of Zero Waste inspired plenty of people to create blogs or YouTube accounts of their journeys. Some did exceptional work like only filling a small jar over the course of the year. Others have created challenges or competitions with family members or the broader community to bring more people on board and have fun in the process. However you do it, reducing your waste is an admirable goal.
Audits Aren’t Just for Accountants
One step to reducing your waste is to do an audit of your trash. Either collect it up for a set period of time and sort through it noting what is in there. Or I kept a small notepad next to the bin to track each item we threw away. Knowing what was going in the bin made it a lot easier for us to make plans on how to reduce our waste.
Zero Waste or Low Waste?
One of the things that has put me off Zero Waste is the pressure. Once you start looking at how much waste we produce, the idea of reducing it down to only fill a small jar each year is overwhelming. And if I’m going to tackle a project, I want to succeed. So how to balance making incremental changes with achieving the big goals of such an extreme lifestyle? That's where Low Waste stepped in to fill the void. People have now started to promote that as an alternative to encourage people to begin working towards Zero Waste without being totally overwhelmed and put off.
The Big Wins
The biggest win I have had so far has to be beginning to compost. For one, it takes up a lot of space in your bin. Potato peelings, leftovers that have been unloved in the back of the fridge for far too long, apple cores, avocado stones… By diverting all of this from the landfill where it would have gone to sit and release more methane gas, I’m able to turn it into compost that will help grow the next lot of crops. That’s what a circular economy should look like.
The Other Approach
The next idea for reducing waste is more step-by-step. Take a look at your audit. Is there something in there that comes up frequently, you know could be going somewhere else or could easily be removed from your life? What you’re really looking for are some quick wins. Easy things that will help build momentum. Bread bags? Track down somewhere with soft plastics recycling. Containers from takeaways? Make a commitment to cook at home or eat in more often. Paper towels? Find a reusable option you like.
Progress Over Perfection
Whatever steps you can take towards Zero Waste, make sure you recognise the progress you're making. Don’t feel bad if you don’t live up to the Zero Waste ideal. If you’re sending less to landfill than you were, the earth will thank you for it. Just keep going. Pick another product that you want to look at reducing or removing from your life and take some action today. We need a lot of people doing Zero Waste imperfectly rather than just a few doing it perfectly.
Have you tried to go Zero Waste? What was your biggest learning in the process? What advice would you share with someone just starting out?