Why small changes matters when it comes to a zero-waste lifestyle.

How do you feel about the words “zero-waste” ?

Do they make you feel a bit of anxiety or roll your eyes at the back of your head? Maybe you believe they’re words reserved for hippies and extreme environmentalists.

I feel you.

I do too, sometimes.

The movement around “zero-waste” can create some unease because of the very words it’s made of : ZERO. Using “zero” leaves no room for imperfections, no room for learning and no room for mistakes. It sounds like an all-or-nothing thing. But seriously, in the world we live in, can we really afford to be this harsh?

In reality, zero-waste is a concept. And here’s the definition :

The conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of products, packaging, and materials without burning and with no discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.” – Zero Waste International Alliance.

So, what does this mean?

In simple words, it means that what we take from the Earth, we return to the Earth in a responsible way. In a world where consumption is ruling over our society, it’s quite hard to grasp how this is even possible. Well, I have good news for you.

It doesn’t need to happen over night!

We think that zero-waste means that we need to restrict ourselves. But like everything in life, the more you tell yourself to not do it, the more you want to do it. The more something is taken away from you, the more you want it.

You know, like a diet or something like that. You never what that slice of pizza as musch as when you are on a diet.

So, how about we take that pressure off ourselves?

Let’s start by calling it something else. A waste-less lifestyle, per example. Already sounds better, don’t you think?

So if your goal is to have a waste-less lifestyle, you can start today to embody that with a small change. What ever that is for you, make it easy. My first change ever was the commitment to never purchase packaged vegetables over loose ones if I had the chance.

Am I hearing you think that it doesn’t matter? Let me do some maths with you.

In Australia, we are roughly 27 million people, and every Australian produces in average 2.88T of waste per year. I’ll let you have a sip of water to digest that information.

So, back to the numbers. Of all that waste, construction material is at the top of the list, followed by organics. 15 million tonnes of organic waste is produced every year, and about 75% of that waste comes from households. Not the farms, not the shops but our own households. And then, there’s 3 million tonnes of plastic waste.

So:

• 3 000 000 tonnes of waste ÷ 27 000 000 people = 111 kg of waste per person per year
• 111 kg of waste ÷ 365 days = 304g of plastic waste a day.

It’s a lot of waste. I know. Let’s keep on going, it gets better I promise.

Hypothetically, if 1% of people in Australia decide to go zero waste for a year, cutting 100% of their waste, we get :

• 270 000 people x 0.304kg x 365 day = 29 959 200kg of waste are saved from landfill. That’s awesome!

Now, if 25% of the population cut 1/4 of their plastic waste:

• 0.304 kg x 0.25 = 0.076 kg per day of reduced waste
• 27 000 000 x 0.25 = 6 750 000 people
• 6 750 000 people x 0.076 kg waste x 365 days = 187 245 000kg of waste are saved from landfill. That’s 187 245 tonnes!

Now that’s a decent super effort. But what if 100% of the population cuts 10% of their waste?

• 0.304kg x 0.10 = 0.0304 kg per day of reduced waste
• 27 000 000 x 0.0304 kg x 365 = 299 592 000kg of waste are saved from landfills – Because this number is incredibly long, I’d prefer to say over 299 million kilograms.

Now, for the visuals:

Anne-Marie Bonneau, a model in the zero-waste world (who also inspired me to proceed with this little math session), said : “We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly“.

I could not agree more with that statement.

Which brings me back to saying : Yes – every little bit counts. If you can start thinking about how to reduce your waste from 30.4 grams a day – yes, that’s all it is – you’ll be doing your part. And for the record, an empty packet of chips weights about 5 g.

And believe me, it’s just where it starts. When you start thinking and looking into it all, you’ll get plenty of beautiful ideas about how to do better. And when you do it, you’ll start feeling better. And before you know it, you’ll be doing more than you ever thought you would.

If you feel up for a challenge, collect your soft plastics for a week. When the week is over, weigh them up. When that’s done, do a small inventory, and see if there’s an item or two that you could do without, or substitute for another type of packaging.

And of course, this is why I started The Loop Kitchen. The meals we cook here are designed to be waste-free, from production to your table. By ordering meals from our meal delivery service, you’ll be sure that you’ll be saving those 30g of plastic on the days you’ll be ordering our meals, making your part for the planet without sacrificing convenience.

If you want to know the most simple way to approach a waste-less journey you can start here. And if you’d like to know our 5 favorite practical tips to implement change on your journey, you can have a look at this.

And if you’re up for it, do the challenge and let us know how you go! Did anything surprise you? Did anything stand out and giving you inspiration to change right away? Tell us everything!