When I first heard about the zero waste lifestyle, I was immediately intrigued and wanted to sign up on the spot! Living in a way that creates less trash overall? Yes, please. Then I watched the videos and got even more excited – and overwhelmed. Who knew we produce so much garbage? But also, why is it so much more expensive to buy in bulk or buy without plastic? I quickly realized how difficult going zero waste would be and gave up on the idea. Cut to me a few years later, learning about carbon footprint and ways to live a more eco-friendly life. I decided to give it a try again, this time a bit more slowly and intentionally. I wasn’t necessarily thinking about it in strict terms, more just to live in a way that had a smaller overall negative effect on our planet. What started small a few months ago has now turned into something that genuinely lights my soul on fire. Something that keeps me up at night, researching, reading facts and figures, and finding new inspiration. Each day brings some small reminder that this is what I should be doing both for me and the environment. 

I could write about this for days. Let’s be honest, I probably will. For now, I’ll take you on this journey with me and walk you through the steps I’ve taken and continue to take towards a zero waste life. 

First step towards zero waste: Going Vegan

I know, I know. That sounds intense. Sometimes, it still feels intense. During Spain’s first lockdown in Spring 2020, Veganism began popping up all over my social media. Some YouTubers I followed were vegan, but for some reason it stood out to me more at this time. So I dove deeper, looking into why people choose to live a plant-based lifestyle. Eventually, I decided it was for me and gave it a try. I’d already realized lactose products didn’t sit well with me, so this was the final push to stop eating cheese. From there, I weaned myself off of all meats, eggs and fish and fully leaned in to eating a wholly plant-based diet. Ideally, I’d be living in a co-op somewhere where we raise and farm our own food, in which case I’d go back to eating meat. Since that can’t happen, I’m choosing not to participate in the agriculture industry for meat, dairy and eggs. 

Next step: Actually recycling properly. 

Raise your hand if you grew up in the US and learned all about the three R’s in elementary school. I’m guessing there are lots of hands raised. We learned about reducing, reusing and recycling in theory, but no one ever taught us how to actually recycle. So we just thought, sure, the pizza box is cardboard, recycle. The plastic jar of peanut butter is recyclable, so we threw it in the recycling bin. And on and on we went, “recycling” this way. I didn’t actually know we were doing anything wrong until years ago, when a friend of mine moved to California and was informed by her local recycling company that she was doing it wrong. You can’t recycle food products. We all knew that, but didn’t think about the oil on the pizza box or the tiny bits of PB in the jar. Yup, that stuff makes those otherwise recyclable containers no longer recyclable. 

It took a little Googling and research on my city’s recycling policies, but I’m now recycling properly. In my city, we can recycle items marked #1-7 as long as they’re rinsed and free of food particles. I also know the different guidelines and the list of acceptable items. So now, when I’ve finished the PB, I clean the jar, let it dry and pop it in my recycling bin. I do that for every item I possibly can. So far I’ve been surprised by how much I was throwing in the trash when it could’ve been recycled! (Ultimately the goal is to not use any plastics at all, but for me this was a good first step!)

Step three: Saving reusable items and containers

This is probably one of the more obvious ways to go zero waste. In the past ten years, refillable water bottles have become trendy and cute. I was admittedly a late adopter to this trend, because I was broke at the time and spending $30 on a bottle seemed outrageous. Of course, it made both environmental and financial sense in the long-term, but I was young and dumb. My first purchase ended up being a reusable coffee tumbler, because I needed a way to drink my coffee in the car on the drive to work. I bought a plain, stainless steel Yeti in 2016 that I still use today. I then bought the larger bottle, for water, and continue to use it daily. Yes, I am that person who goes to Starbucks to ask them to fill my Yeti with ice water at the airport. 

It’s more than that though. I also have reusable grocery bags that I take to the store every time. And as much as I love a good tupperware container, I’ve actually gone to reusing glass jars instead. A jar of olives I bought is now the container that I make my overnight oats in. I’ve saved a few other glass jars and use them to store extra food items as well, like when I make a homemade pasta sauce or have extra canned items I need to refrigerate. With each item I reuse, it’s one less item I have to buy and waste. 

Step four: Supporting Sustainable Fashion

Once I began my research into the concept of the carbon footprint, I came across the harrowing information we’ve all seen by now: that the fashion and apparel industry is the industry with the second largest carbon footprint. A deeper dive shows that apparently that may not be true, but it’s still in the top five. This is thanks in large part to fast fashion, creating low-quality pieces in very eco-unfriendly manufacturing processes. So people buy an item and use it for a short time because it’s not made to last and things are so inexpensive that it’s affordable for people to fill their closets with these items. I did it too. 

The first step in correcting my behavior was realizing how much I shopped for things I didn’t need. So I stopped. Then, I sorted my wardrobe, donating what I don’t use and keeping only what I do. Things got tricky from there. I was living in Spain and plus size clothing is practically unheard of there, let alone thrift stores with inclusive sizing, or sustainably made clothes. I did my best to limit my shopping and began my research into sustainable and ethical fashion brands. Now that I’m in the states, I’m beginning to purchase from those companies and thrift for other items. There are still items I’ll likely have to purchase from “regular” stores, but I’m doing what I can to research and find alternatives as much as possible. 

Step five: Composting

The most recent step I’ve taken is composting. Well…almost. Composting is basically the process of combining organic products to create soil. It’s a way to take food scraps and other natural items and repurpose them rather than send them to decompose in a landfill. I won’t lie, composting feels like a ton of work. My first research into it was very overwhelming. It turns out I don’t have the space to compost where I live now, so I can’t quite go all the way. What I can do is donate my food scraps to someone who is composting. So for now, I’ve partnered with a neighbor who has a big compost set up at her house. I collect my items and take them to her once a week so she can use them to create soil for her garden. Win, win! Eventually I do plan to create my own compost pile, but at least for now I’m reducing my waste. 

Next steps to go zero waste

Tackling very obviously wasteful things in the beginning was easy. Recycling, buying reusable water bottles, that was simple. After a few months of developing those habits, it seems like I notice something new each day. I recently moved to bar soap rather than bottled liquid soap, because the bar soap comes in recyclable packaging. I’ve also just purchased a compostable bamboo toothbrush. Now I’m starting to look into other zero waste (or at least lower waste) replacements for things like paper towels, cotton rounds, and q-tips. These things all seem like easy, quick fixes, but it’s all very daunting in the beginning. (And expensive.) I’m also looking into buying from bulk stores where I can take my own containers and only buy refills for cleaning products, grains, oatmeal, coffee and those kinds of things. 

Going from lots of waste to zero waste is definitely not something I could do overnight and has been a challenge for me in many ways. Like all good things, it takes time and work, and quite a bit of research. It’s also very exciting though, because it seems like there are so many companies finding ways to be more sustainable and provide more eco-friendly products. I discover a cool new brand every day, and oftentimes they’re also a more ethical brand. Like I mentioned before, I find a new way to be less wasteful almost daily, and I’m excited to continue sharing this journey here. 

If you have any sustainable, ethical brands to recommend or any tips on living a zero waste lifestyle, let me know!

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