Striving Towards a Zero Waste Lifestyle

Zero waste was not really “a thing” for me until recently. I had heard of it but i hadn’t really got what it was all about. I first heard the term zero waste in relation to fashion.

This was when i started researching for my new collection, sometime last year and I came across zero waste designers, such as Julian Roberts, Holly McQuillan and Timo Rissanen.

I have always tried to reduce waste through my collections because it kind of made sense to me and it was sort of a natural thing for me to do but the more i began researching zero waste design techniques, the more I also found out about the zero waste lifestyle and one of the first books that I bought in the subject, was Bea Johnson’s Zero Waste Home.

Very inspirational.

Today, Little Maya and I had the chance to attend one of her talks. It was amazing.

This lady is chic, she is funny and above all, she is kind of just “normal” … apart from that she doesn’t create any trash (almost) and she lives in an extremely tidy house.

So, what did i take away from the talk , apart from a new KeepCup that I bought from Eqoliving ?

Well, that it isn’t all or nothing. you have to kind of figure out a way that is sustainable for you and your family. No point doing too much and exhaust yourself.

Just do what you can and then thrive to keep doing more and that one of the most important lesson we have to learn towards a zero waste lifestyle, is the word NO.

NO to junk mail. NO to (usually badly made) freebies, a big NO to disposables and absolutely NO to plastics.

In fact, the first step to zero waste is to

REFUSE – refuse to buy and receive things things that you don’t need, then you

REDUCE – reduce consumption to what is really essential,

REUSE – reuse what is what is already available,

RECYCLE – recycle what is broken and buy second hand whenever possible and you

ROT – compost what is compostable.

Be conscious of your consumption. Always go for the most sustainable option available, according the 5 Rs.

I am in no way a zero-waster yet but I am definitely striving to become less wasteful everyday and I will continue to learn (and share) more about it each day.

Just by being more aware of our waste in the past year, now when I go to the supermarket, I always try to look for unwrapped options. And just by doing that , I have managed to reduce our waste and recycling quite a bit. I have a very long way to go yet, to live a so called zero-waste lifestyle but I will keep trying.

Apart from consuming less, I also want to simplify our home. Get rid of some clutter. This is going to take a while …. but again, I will keep trying. Husband LOVES having”stuff” everywhere …… (I wish he came with me to the talk today. Maybe it could have helped me help him want to live with less materials things !)

What did Maya feel about the whole Zero waste after the talk ?

She really enjoyed it. She told me that she has heard me talk about zero waste but she didn’t really understand what it was but now she did. She also said that she want to help clean up beaches and not buy more plastic things because she doesn’t want animals to die from eating them.

On the train back home, she asked to use my KeepCup to get a hot chocolate.

Then, when we got home. We had the biggest clear-out in her bedroom that we have EVER had. She sorted out a pile of stuff to sell and a pile of trash and a pile of re-cyclables.

This is totally unheard of, as she normally wants to keep EVERYTHING, everything from old packaging, to random plastic beads that she found, or pieces of fabrics that she picked up from somewhere, candy wrappers, acorns … you name it, she collects it all ! But hopefully no more ….

Her drawers are all tidy, her desk is getting there … next we will tackle her mountain of cuddlies and her exploding wardrobe ( almost entirely pass-me-downs from older cousins and friends … but there is a lot of it). Maya insisted on doing this ! At this rate, she could have a very easy-to-clean room very soon. First step towards her zero waste bedroom.

I strongly believe that we need to teach our next generation the right values at a young age, in order for them to make positive changes in the future that are sustainable, as teaching kids good habits is by far easier than trying to change bad habits later in adults.

So thank you so much Eqoliving for arranging this seminar ! At least now, I have one less person in the house that needs convincing…. just two more to go.

One last thing that resonated very strongly with me at the seminar was this :