What is Zero Waste, and How to Get Started!
This post is written by my wonderful friend, Nicole Ellement from @azerowastejourney, who has challenged herself to live a zero waste life. She shares her top 5 tips, as well as 10 simple swaps to help make small, but impactful changes, that make a huge difference to the environment and our planet. As you may have heard, scientists predict that we only have 12 years left before we are no longer able to reverse the damage we’ve done to this planet, with pollution and wastefulness - which obviously has a HUGE impact on our health. Nicole has inspired me to start getting serious about reducing my own waste, and I LOVE following along with her journey and learning about simple things I can do, in order to make a big difference.
In the most simple terms;
ZERO WASTE is exactly what it sounds like: A lifestyle in which one produces zero waste. On a more complex level, zero waste is about fundamentally overhauling the system in which we live, in order to move towards a circular economy in which waste doesn’t exist.
Although it’s becoming more common, I think two things keep people away from zero waste. One, the concept that it’s too hard and two that it doesn’t make a difference. I want to dispel that because really, it’s not hard and it does make a huge difference. In fact, I’m willing to bet money that most people have dipped their toes in zero waste but they just don’t know it yet or they aren’t realizing the impact of small actions. When you bring a travel mug to the coffee shop or you use a tupperware container instead of a plastic bag, to me, that’s base-line, step one, basic zero waste. So, if you have a travel mug or tupperware containers, congratulations, you’re actually well on your way to zero waste. Those small actions add up! Personally, coffee is the best example. I probably drink three cups of a coffee a day. By using a reusable mug every time I get a coffee, I’ve just diverted over a thousand coffee cups from the landfill in one year! That’s not an insignificant number! So if you like the idea and you want to jump on in, I’ve got five tips to get you started and ten easy switches for you to make to start your very own zero waste journey!
TIPS
DON’T throw everything plastic or disposable out immediately. I’m in love with the concept of having the perfect zero waste kitchen and how good that would look on instagram, but, if I throw out everything disposable in my kitchen I’ve actually just created a lot of waste, which is not how zero waste is supposed to work at all. Use up (or donate!) the disposables that you have currently before buying everything beautiful, compostable, and zero waste.
DO pick an area of your life that you can commit to making zero waste. For me, that was my bathroom routine. I live at home, so asking my dad to up and completely change our lifestyle would have been a really huge first step. Instead, I started by changing things that were completely my own. My bathroom is still probably the “most” zero waste area of my life.
DON’T get discouraged when you do create waste. The term zero waste can be frightening because it sounds like you can never create waste ever again and if you do, you’re not zero waste. That’s garbage (pun intended). It’s so important to remember that zero waste is a concept, in our current system, zero waste cannot be a reality, the world is not set up for zero waste. Every single time you limit waste, that’s beneficial, that’s a positive impact. There’s a great quote “We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly, we need millions of people doing it imperfectly” -Anne Marie Bonneau.
DO research on how to limit waste when zero waste isn’t possible. I’ve been attempting zero waste for five months and I still can’t find zero waste spaghettini anywhere. So spaghettini in a cardboard box that I can recycle is a close second. Or, dried chickpeas are the bain of my existence, so canned chickpeas in an aluminum can (that can be almost endlessly recycled) is the next best thing. My personal scale looks like:
Waste free > glass (because I can reuse) > cans (because it’s so easy to recycle) > cardboard/paper (recycling) > plastic (my arch nemesis)DO talk to people about it! Chatting with other people about it not only encourages others to do the same, but can also help you get helpful tips and tricks from other people!
SWAPS
Swap out your single use coffee cup for a reusable mug. Roughly 4.9 billion cups of coffee are consumed on the go in Canada every year. By using a mug for your morning coffee, you can personally divert 365 coffee cups from the landfill. And as a bonus, most places will offer a discount for bringing your own mug (7/11 offers 50 cent coffee refills, Starbucks offers a 10 cent discount, Regal Cat Cafe offers a 15 cent discount, and at Bumpy’s Cafe, refill any size mug for the price of a small coffee).
Use real cutlery! Every year, 6 million tons of non-durable plastic like plastic cutlery are discarded. Bring real cutlery with you instead of resorting to plastic cutlery! You don’t need to automatically go buy some beautiful bamboo cutlery either, scour your utensil drawer and find some old cutlery that you’re okay lugging around with you!
Bring all your own bags to the grocery store. Canadians use 2.86 billion plastic bags a year! On top of that, plastic bags never truly biodegrade and are really hard to recycle! Limit your plastic bag use by not only bringing reusable bags to carry your groceries out of the store, but also bring reusable produce bags! Buy your produce loose and bring a small, light bag to keep them all together if you don’t want them roaming free if your cart. More and more grocery stores are charging for plastic bags now anyway, so save yourself a couple cents and save the environment a lot of grief.
Buy what food you can in bulk. Bulk is the best. Buying in bulk is like my valentine. I literally get giddy when I know I can buy in bulk. But it can also feel really intimidating. So here’s the steps! First, gather up your containers. I find making a grocery list for what I want from the bulk store makes it easier because then I know how many containers I need in advance. Additionally, use whatever containers you have. My favourite containers are literally old salsa jars that my dad buys. I remove the label, wash them, let them sit in the sun for ten minutes (to get rid of any lingering scent) and then I immediately fill them with something from the bulk store. Second, go to your bulk store of choice. My top three right now are Bulk Barn, Community Natural Foods, and Blush Lane. Three, when you get there, have them weigh (tare) your containers so that you’re only paying for the weight of your bulk goods. Four, fill up with all of the bulky goodness!! Five, pay (of course). Then six, go home and be super satisfied with a zero waste job well done.
Use bars of soap! To me, bars of soap are the pinnacle of how zero waste is really just like living in the past. Growing up, all my family used was bars of a soap and then somewhere along the way, we all started using liquid soap in plastic bottles? But the great news is, bars of soap are back and they are genuinely better than ever. There are bars of soap for EVERY type of soap you need and I’m going to break down my favourite for you. For just your average soap bar for the shower, or for your hands in the bathroom, I’m in love with Rocky Mountain Soap Company (in fact I’m just plain in love with them, not soap bars specific). They have an expansive choice of scents, they are all natural, toxin free, and local! I also recommend them for my next soap swap suggestion, shampoo and conditioner! Another great shampoo and conditioner option is Lush which is cruelty free and has the bonus of offering tons of vegan options. You can also swap to dish soap bars, although blocks might be a better word. Savon de Marseille is the premiere dish soap block, get it at Canary Goods in Kensington!
Use a safety razor! Full disclosure, if you’ve never used one, this is a little scary! But with a safety razor, you only ever replace the blade and the blades are super easy to recycle! Get one at Kent of Inglewood, the Apothecary in Inglewood, or Canary Goods!
Use cloth napkins! You know when you go to a nicer, sit down restaurant and they actually offer cloth napkins instead of paper ones? That can be your every day life. Bring a cloth napkin with you so you can refuse paper napkins and save those trees!
Use a bamboo toothbrush! Those plastic toothbrushes are super super hard to dispose of, instead, opt for a bamboo toothbrush that you can compost when it’s reached the end of its lifecycle!
Find refillable options! One of the first swaps I made was refillable toothpaste in a glass jar. I got a jar of Nelson Naturals toothpaste from the Apothecary in Inglewood. When I finish, I just clean out the jar, take it back to the Apothecary and their beautiful Refillery and refill it. I now have refillable deodorant, liquid shampoo, and conditioner. But they have so much more to offer! They also refill hairspray, essential oils, liquid dish soap, laundry soap, vinegar, and so much more.
Shop at thrift stores! If everyone in the United States replaced one clothing item with a used clothing item rather than brand new, it would save nearly 6 billion lbs of carbon emissions! Not to mention that it takes 2720 litres of water to make a single t-shirt (roughly equivalent to what we drink in three years!) Thrifting is good for your wallet and good for the planet!
So, there you have it, 10 simple zero waste swaps! Start with one, or start with all 10, just start somewhere! The planet, it’s inhabitants, and all future generations will thank you!
AUTHOR: Nicole Ellement
INSTAGRAM: @azerowastejourney
Nicole began her zero waste journey
January 2019. Follow along as she shares
information, tips and tricks!