Can You Live a Zero Waste Lifestyle?
You might be wondering what all the hype surrounding a Zero Waste lifestyle is all about. It’s more than a trendy phase that fizzles out over time. It’s a lifelong commitment to producing less waste, consuming better-made products, and helping the planet. You don’t have to go far to hear someone talking about Zero Waste, but how you apply the principles of the movement is entirely up to you. After all, you want to develop habits that stick and make sense to you, not ones that cause a great deal of stress and have you forgetting about them in no time.
A Commitment That You Can Ease Into
A Zero Waste lifestyle is a commitment but something you can ease into gently. Start by phasing out disposable bottles, cups, plates, and cutlery from your home and workplace. Replace the one-time-use items with permanent, reusable solutions. A refillable water bottle reduces the need for single-serve plastic bottles of water over the course of days, weeks, months, and even years. It’s the perfect way to start exploring the benefits of the Zero Waste movement while encouraging yourself to stay hydrated.
Ditch the Plastic Shopping Bags Once and For All
If your state hasn’t already banned plastic shopping bags, acquire a few canvas or nylon ones for cheap and make sure to carry them with you wherever you go. Let others know that you came prepared by handing over the reusable bags to them while they bag up your groceries or thrift store purchases. Buying items secondhand when you really need them is another way to be a better informed, more conscientious consumer.
Find Ways to Use Less Paper and Create Fewer Sheets of Paper Waste
Once you’ve gotten rid of the plastics, work on reducing the amount of paper waste you create. Write on erasable memo boards instead of paper memo pads, send digital documents that can be signed electronically, switch to ebooks rather than hardbacks and paperbacks, and use shredded magazines as filler for the boxes you send. Tackle each area of your life carefully and do what you can to reduce or eliminate the amount of waste you create this year.
Any Effort You Make to Produce Less Waste Helps the Planet Tremendously
You may not be an extremist by any estimation and only create enough waste to fill a small jar like some people. What you will accomplish throughout your journey, however, is a greater understanding of your consumer habits as well as the manufacturing processes of the different companies you shop at. You’ll learn quickly how to reduce unnecessary waste and develop healthier habits for the greater good of your home, community, and the planet as a whole.
Any effort you make to improve your consumer habits is commendable. So many people don’t realize how they contribute to the waste problem plaguing the planet. They see past the oceans, streams, and rivers filled with litter. They don’t yet understand how drinking plastic bottled water contributes to environmental destruction by filling landfills, causing unnecessary carbon emissions due to transporting packages of bottled water to supermarkets and littering our parks and beaches where the trash that is left behind harms wildlife.
- Tags: eco-friendly, environment, lifestyle
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