Going zero-waste — my experiences and some sound advice
By: Anvit Srivastav
Tags: Sustainability, Recycling, Consumerism, Zero Waste Lifestyle, Zero Waste

Lauren has documented her eco-friendly lifestyle, fitting a staggering four years of non-compostable, non-recyclable waste into the nifty little mason jar, that has come to become the unofficial mascot of the movement.

Today, a quick look at the #zerowaste online will tell you there’s a pretty enthusiastic community around it.

It is that very video that would inform my decision to attempt the zero waste lifestyle myself. I was in the middle of a move at that time, but I remember thinking to myself that once I was done moving, and getting settled in Vancouver with a stable place to live, I’d attempt going zero waste myself.

Now, while massive goals certainly make for a glorious vision, unfortunately, they can also overwhelm and deter people from even considering partaking in the movement at all.

While Zero Waste is wonderfully hash-taggable and a catchy title, it is important to address the fact that Zero Waste is ultimately, an ideal.

It’s that let’s-change-the-world sort of warm fuzz that nudges you, in the direction of a lifestyle of awareness around the staggering amounts of waste that this individually-wrapped, pre-washed, ultra sanitized, ready-to-eat, single use, “to go, please” lifestyle generates.

After a year and a half of my zero waste lifestyle attempt, I can say that it has been a real, though rewarding, challenge. As the end of 2019 rolled in, I wanted to write an article about some ideas around living a zero waste lifestyle.

And, when I say zero waste, I just mean, a minimally wasteful life where the amount of waste involved, guides my decisions on the products I buy, the places I buy them at and broadly, the way I live.

The thing is though, that while there is no doubt that reducing waste is a worthy, laudable and urgent cause, there’s an entire ecosystem around waste, that can determine just how far you can realistically get, in adopting this change in your lifestyle.

Access to convenient composting and recycling facilities, depends on the city you live in. Availability of packaging-free groceries, depends on the kind of stores you can realistically get to.

Live in New York City, San Francisco, or Vancouver (Canada)?

You’re going to have access to a lot of good stores that will sell package-free goods and bulk groceries and perhaps, will even accept reusable containers for bulk groceries!

Live in Soda Springs, Idaho? Not so much.

And while the article that was taking form in my head, was about the inherent value of the lifestyle, even if it did fall short and how ultimately, that forces beyond individual choice- corporations and government policies, needed to get involved to drive change at the scale that is so desperately needed, that all changed when I started researching for the article itself.

I re-watched the Vox video, for putting this article together and realized, that the video did, in fact, touch upon every single one of these points. Not only that, Lauren herself emphasizes on some of these ideas in her her own blog² and in her YouTube videos³.

And yet, much like how “the Mitochondria is a powerhouse of the cell” is the only thing I remember from my high school biology class, I found that all I remembered from the video, was that one mason jar.

It’s that clear, simple, sticks-to-your-head image.

That’s what the mason jar became — a symbol- behind which all the messy details and intricacies of the lifestyle, smudged out of my memory.

A few other friends who had also found the video inspiring, had the same takeaway — the jar and little else. As I continued to dig into the messaging in this movement online, particularly here on Medium, I found articles that do talk about the movement itself, conveyed fatigue.

Fatigue from deflated enthusiasm and feeling jaded seeing the very people who once championed the cause, building zero-waste brands, selling zero-waste products and books.

The movement that spoke about the problems with excessive consumerism seems to now have people, encouraging that very behavior. The people who spoke of reduce and reuse, before recycling, are now part of the sway of purchase, before practice.

Between my high-school biology class take-away, from what I consider a pretty content-heavy video, and the jaded articles on Medium, the focus of my unwritten article shifted.

I realized that due to the nature of that narrative, we needed to make it less painful and overwhelming, for people to try a zero-waste lifestyle, starting with realistic expectations, avoiding the usual consumerist pitfalls and handy, meaningful resources for anyone wishing to add reducing waste to their list of 2020 goals.

What does a Zero-waste lifestyle involve

Your goal should be to attempt to substantially reduce the waste you generate.

Getting started is the hardest part — an inexcusable cliché, but it really holds up here.

Honestly, getting to the low-hanging fruit really isn’t that hard. Coffee cups and single-use plastic tableware have fairly straightforward replacements, as do plastic shopping bags.

Once you have covered that easier ground, you’ll need to invest some thought and effort into figuring out packaging-free/zero-waste alternatives for the staples, if you wish to go beyond.

There are some costs associated with this sort of lifestyle.

Yes, the re-usable coffee cup and the vegetable bags and grocery totes are a good investment for most people, but the goal is to zealously avoid the sell-at-all-cost model of the American retail space.

You don’t need a dozen new mason jars, when you can simply re-use old pasta sauce, condiment containers and pickle jars. No need for cute tote bags for grocery shopping, if you have sturdy paper bags or even plastic grocery bags that are almost inevitably, inhabit most dwellings and trunks of cars.