Have you ever really consciously thought about how much waste you produce? Most people haven’t.
Just take a random thing such as buying mouth wash for instance. You go to the store and buy your Listerine mouthwash today. About two months (or less) later its finished, and you throw the empty bottle in the bin and off to the store you go for another bottle. Do the math and you will see just how many plastic bottles you are throwing out per year, and that’s just you! And surely by now you must know that most waste ends up in land fills or in the ocean where it affects the ecosystem in so many negative ways, since it takes a tremendous amount of time to break down, if it ever does.
Your immediate response, I’m sure would then be, “so, what, you want me to give up Listerine? But my dentist said…” Relax, that’s not what I’m saying, hear me out.
It may seem hard to live a more zero (or less) waste lifestyle; you may know that the lifestyle is great for the world and environment but you just don’t know how to make the transition or you are too used to the current lifestyle that the change can be overwhelming, and for starters you are unsure where to start. I mean how do we solve the Listerine mouthwash problem.
Well one solution to that problem would be to have Listerine makers have stores where you could go and refill your bottles instead of purchasing a new one each time, but that’s for another article.
The thing is, you don’t need to do everything at once and do a complete 180, that will probably never last for most people. No one is perfect, but we can all do a little bit at least, and in turn it all adds up.
The two best things to start with are:
- Just start with something small. Like using your own bottle when getting a smoothie from Kauai for example.
- Be conscious about everything you buy and that way you can make better choices and in turn you start to forge a habit and soon you will do it naturally.
If someone is living a zero waste lifestyle or is pro zero waste (or whatever title or label you want to give it) it doesn’t have to mean that they are totally waste free. It just means they are conscious of their buying habits and they are trying to make a difference no matter how small it is. When you start this way and do something small, often, you slowly form a habit, and then that habit grows.
Thus, soon you will be doing way more than you ever thought you would, and it will just come naturally to you.
One of the best things about living this more conscious lifestyle, is that you realize that you don’t need a lot of stuff that you buy, so you cut down on spending on all that extra unnecessary things.
A few easy and great simple ways to start to reduce waste are:
- Keep shopping bags in the car so you don’t keep picking up new plastic bags from stores.
- If you have coffee or smoothies from places like star bucks or Kauai etc. keep your own cup or shaker to use and avoid the straw, or buy your own metal/bamboo straw to use instead of plastic straws.
- Compost! We should all be composting, you will be surprised how much your trash is reduced just by removing vegetable and and compost waste.
- Choose biodegradable alternatives, such as a bamboo toothbrush that can be found on places like theotherstraw or The Refillery, which are biodegradable.
- Recycle where you can.
Then eventually you can even start doing things like making your own natural lotion, cleaning products, mouth wash and much more!
Check out some great brands and stores that are leading the way in the zero waste life style in South Africa:
Photography credits:
- Photo by Hermes Rivera on Unsplash
- Photo by Denise Johnson on Unsplash
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