What’s the Fuss with Zero Waste?

After a rather long break (sorry for that), I’d like to literally touch base with all of you:

Since both authors of this blog decided to write about topics related to the zero waste movement, I figured that you might be interested in what the movement actually is… So in this post, I’d like to give you some more insights on the concept behind zero waste, who takes part in the respective movement and where I see myself with my lifestyle changes and blog posts within the movement.




What does zero waste actually mean?


When you type the words into your search engine of preference (I recommend Ecosia, an engine that plants trees with its revenues - while using a Google platform to write this.) you’ll find a Wikipedia site that tells you that zero waste is not only about individual lifestyle changes. It’s actually a whole philosophy that defines a clear goal: changing the whole waste system from production to use to disposal, so that no “discharges to land, water or air that are a threat to planetary, human, animal or plant health” ( Definition by Zero Waste International Alliance taken from this site) are left.

You may notice, that it’s in fact impossible to reach this goal by (only) avoiding plastic packaging when buying shampoo. But this kind of behavior may contribute to some kind of change that could motivate other stakeholders, like packaging firms or municipalities to reconsider their strategies concerning waste treatment. From what I’ve been told in university, a lot of countries already try to follow the 3 R strategy: Reduce, reuse, recycle. But even if a lot of politicians show good intentions, it seems to me that the bigger part of the world’s population is not yet there, neither in practice, nor in their minds. I don’t have any scientific proof for this feeling though.

Wikipedia tells us also that zero waste is a “whole system approach”. This means that the idea takes into account what kind of material enters our society, how it is used and what happens to it when we’re done using it. Unlike the concept of waste management, it includes the starting point of the process as well as the actual process of using something in addition to the discarding process. Also, zero waste provokes those who promote it to think about how the used material can serve as input for production of yet another or the same kind of material.

For example, if plastic bottle no. 1 would be reused completely after it has been discarded without leaving anything of its old bottle no. 1 body in the environment - not one tiny bit of plastic scrap - this would be a perfect example of a zero waste process. But Wikipedia tells us, too that “zero waste is never achieved”. So actually there’s always something left of a product after using and, as often pointed out by critics of the movement, its name, “zero waste” is not 100% accurate.

This may be why recycling does not seem to be enough for those engaging in the zero waste movement. We additionally try to refuse things we don’t need, not only reduce and reuse all products that could result in some kind of wasteful influence on our environment. Like that, I use a hard plastic bottle as a drinking bottle (not the best choice, I know..) instead of returnable PET bottles. So, if many people start to refuse those PET bottles, the bottles’ impact on the environment will become lesser and lesser. Letting oneself be idealistic and dreamy, one could also hope to create some kind of pressure on PET bottle producers to quit their business completely and make eco-friendly drinking containers instead. By now, you may have noticed, that joining the zero waste movement is all about idealism. Let’s see who dares to be a zero waste idealist these days… (If you’d like to get a more detailed and comprehensive perspective on zero waste, check out the site of the Zero Waste International Alliance.)

 

Who’s part of the movement and why?


Zero waste is an idea that emerged in the 1970s already, but the movement as we experience it today with more and more zero-packaging stores opening up and blogs like this one becoming popular is a quite new one. Bea Johnson, the creator of the blog Zero Waste Home and author of the same-titled book is known to be the founder of the current zero waste movement. After recognizing that she wanted to simplify her life and moved to a smaller home, she went one step further and began to avoid all kinds of waste as a strategy to lessen her impact on the environment as well as the influence of her husband and two sons. Her blog and her book give all kinds of advice about how to simplify your life. These ideas must have hit some people’s nerve, judging from the huge popularity of blog as well as book. She changed the 3 R strategy into a 5 R one: Refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and rot. (Rotting refers to composting organic garbage. I’ll tell you about my approach to this R in another blog post.)

Lauren Singer could be described as a follower of Johnson. Her blog Trash is for Tossers, filled with stories from her zero waste life in New York City has become quite big as well. She was an Environmental Studies major and looking for ways to live her own values (sounds familiar, huh? ;) ), as proposed by one of her professors. When she learned about the zero waste lifestyle of the Johnson Family living in California, she decided to give it a try.


My favorite german-(and english-) speaking blog about zero waste is called Wasteland Rebel and written by Shia from Bochum. She had been reflecting on her behavior and its influence on the environment quite extensively already when she heard about Bea Johnson’s way of life - and decided to give it a try as well. Shia also compiled a list of zero waste blogs from all around the world.

The motivation to change their habits of these three women was quite similar in a way: they were concerned about their own influence on the environment. A lot of zero wasters also describe how engaging in the movement helped them to simplify their lives and let go of unnecessary stuff that was tearing them down in one way or another. That’s probably why most people claiming to live a zero waste life would describe themselves as minimalists, too.

If you’d like to get more details on how waste is connected to the environment and how it effects the system, we’re living in, this video will give you some more insight:






 

Where do I see myself within the movement?


I’m really new to the whole thing and I hadn’t really heard about the Johnson Family before writing this post. It seems as if I’m a kind of second generation follower of the movement already, due to the fact that the zero-packaging stores opening up as a result of the movement were my inspiration to join.

Yet, judging from the conversations I’ve had concerning my blog posts, a lot of people still can’t imagine how such a zero waste life could be possible. And with my efforts and with writing about it, I hope to show even more people how fun, interesting, challenging, paradox or nice it can be to go zero waste.




What do I want you to remember from this post?


The last thing that I want is that you think that your efforts for the environment are worthless. There are lots of ways to contribute to positive change. Every effort counts and you certainly shouldn’t get intimidated by “radicals” like me and my fellow zero wasters.

On the other hand, I’d like you to stay realistic and notice that In the end it’s about changing the system, not about changing the habits of some few which requires a lot more than engaging in an alternative way of life. Becoming active in associations, organizations and creating awareness-rising projects is one possibility to create a possibly bigger impact, for example.

So, in the end, I’d like you remember this:

“It’s not all up to you. We need to change the systems around us to prevent waste and protect our natural resources.” (http://ecocycle.org/ZeroWaste/)

Thanks for reading and for your support!!
Big hugs from Leipzig,

Hanna

Comments

  1. Very inspiration, in the fact that you hightlight that it is noy up yo us alone. It is about everyone making at least little chabges together. Thank you for sharing !

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