We call ourselves reduced wasters. I'm in a small rural town. Our nearest bulk store is 90 minutes away. Hmmm, waste fuel to save waste ... not. I wont travel that far just for our weekly shop but if I'm visiting my elderly mum 2.5 hours away, I will stop in there. We now buy in bulk, where available to reduce waste. We've also gotten rid of single use items where we can. However, having a disabled husband gives us a certain amount of unavoidable medical waste. Over a 14 year process we have reduced our waste by 75%, which we as a family are happy with. We did not tell others what we were doing because everyone has their opinion, which is always different to yours.
I’m about 2 months into sustainable living. I keep watching “videos for new sustainable living” and I love how I keep hearing that I’m not failing by having trash still ❤️
Yes! About 10 years ago I read a book about zero waste, where this family in Cali only had a mason jar every year. She made her own yogurt and grew her own mushroom! I’m like. No way do I want to do that. Plus, I think there a lot more stores on the coast that are bulk. So I just kept on my same path. I still did our local recycling though. This past November I really started using less plastic! I must have stocked up at Costco the week before I decided because I still have things left. Plus, Bath and Body! It is always a slow progress. Because sometimes I just need a Diet Coke from McDonalds! 🥴
I prefer the term minimal waste rather than zero waste, because as you said, it's impossible in this current society to be zero waste. For example when I go to farmer's market, there is all kinds of waste from that because of the rubber bans, twisty ties, plastic containers and plastic bags. Even though I cook everything I eat there's still a certain amount of non biodegradable trash, and then because of the type of apartment I live in which doesn't allow for a composting bin, I have no way of even minimizing my biodegradable trash. On top of that, as conscious a I am about what I buy there are the occasional missteps because of phoney eco-friendly products that I then have to throw out because the product was of a poor quality. This is even more so now because of covid, which now prevents me from being able to donate certain items to Good Will. So the only thing I could say to a person new to the minimal waste lifestyle is for them to there best to be conscious about what they buy. Is the product a free trade, sustainable, eco-friendly with eco-friendly packaging and hope for at least two out of the four of those preferences.
I feel like part of the issue with companies is that yes a group of people may contact a company telling them to stop using single use plastic but it's not everyone. I work as a packaging engineer and let me tell you, if Walmart (which nearly every large CPG company is basically a slave too) doesn't mind single use plastic, companies will still use them. Also just because you can't see something being done to the plastic doesn't mean nothing is. For example, my company is working to increase the post consumer recycled material to 50% of all bottles. The bottle will look the exact same on shelf but the contents are most sustainable/eco friendly that it was 5 years ago
Great video. I'm a single mom so I never aim for 0 waste but I am trying to get my household to have less waste every week. Thanks for sharing your info
Your videos inspire me to continue my zero-waste journey. I resonated with your statement, "using your actions to show demand in the market." Thank you so much!
Yes to number 3! The number of times I saw people on social media saying you have to get rid of what you have ascend replace it with the so-called zero waste options is unbelievable. In the Facebook groups I used to belong to new members were actually encouraged and/or bullied into doing this and anyone who spoke againt it was kicked out, yours truly included.
I’ve been low waist for a few years now I live in a small town so there’s not a lot of options to pick from I think sometimes people overthink things too much we weren’t doing too bad only a couple generations back they stuck to glass and metals there was plastic but not a lot of single use plastics I worked on a trash truck for eight years The only way recycling will work is if you can keep it as simple as possible otherwise people take the easiest path And that doesn’t Fare well for anyone.
Love your content. It is realistic, actionable and not only focused on personal changes (necessary but also insufficient) but also on politics and social pressure.
The editing in this video is so funny and really adds so much! I’ve been trying to live a more sustainable lifestyle for over a year now and I was still able to get things out of this video💕
