First Steps to Zero Waste
Are you familiar with the term Zero Waste? If not, the goal is for no trash to be sent to the landfills, the ocean or incinerators. I invite you to take a good look at your life, your kitchen, even your bathroom and take note of all the plastic. Did you know plastic can take up to 1000 years to decompose? I never really considered myself to be wasteful; I recycle, reuse and re-purpose somethings. Then I took a good hard look at my pantry and decided no I’m not doing everything I could for my environment and vowed to make a change.
Take a look at my local refuse company’s reminder infographic, sadly my family uses a ton of the non-recyclables and there for goes straight to the landfill.
I’m doing this for a few reasons; one for the environment and to throw less plastic away, two for simplicity, and three less processed stuff. All things my family could benefit from. We only get one earth and life so why not treat them with respect. Below I’ve taken a picture of my pantry, if you’ll notice there’s a lot of processed foods, and plastic. Those are things I really want to focus on eliminating.
If you’d like to join me in trying to waste less, below you’ll find things to keep in mind.
- It’s a process going waste free! Don’t try going straight to Zero Waste over night by throwing out all your “garbage” that defeats the purpose. Use up all your stuff that you already own, ie. use all your plastic ziplock bags before purchasing reusable ones. Zero Waste is the goal not a hard target.
- Sit down and write out the reason(s) you want to do this, that way when you’re feeling down it’ll hopefully give you a little motivation.
- Join Zero Waste Facebook groups, they have some for beginners. Join your local Buy Nothing Facebook group it’s the perfect group for Zero Waste.
- Do research. Research what can be recycled and what cannot be. Research zero waste alternatives.
- Follow Zero Waste Influencers, don’t get discouraged by them but look to them for motivation. Remember we’re all in this together, literally.
I’ve started out slow and over the past week I’ve made a few more changes to our lifestyle. I do not grocery shop without my reusable grocery bags and produce bags, recycling glass instead of throwing away. I’ve had these glass jars in my pantry that I put to use, after buying lentils from the bulk section and using my reusable produce bags. I was able to score a ton of cloth napkins on my local Buy Nothing group. The next week I plan on purchasing bamboo toothbrushes, re-usable ziplock bags, small and medium cloth bags, finding the best choice for dish soap, and making our own bread.
I’d love for you to follow our journey of going Zero Waste, I’ll share more on my Instagram stories.
Plastic Free July is an exercise — a time to acknowledge just how much plastic waste we’re creating, and do something about it. In honor of the movement, and to be part of the solution to plastic pollution, I’ve put together some easy ways we can all reduce single-use plastic waste at home.