If you’re curious about living a more sustainable lifestyle and want to minimise your environmental footprint, you might want to adopt the low-impact 'zero waste' lifestyle by reducing the waste you produce, switching to reusable alternatives to single-use items, and making chances to where you shop and what you eat.
The following sustainable habits will help you on your way to achieving a low waste lifestyle. If you're at the very beginning of your journey to living more sustainably, the following articles and suggestions below will help you to get started.
· A Zero Waste Challenge
· A Beginner's Guide To Zero Waste
· Living Life With More Compassion
Continue reading more about zero waste living.
Focus On Impact, Not Plastic
We need to stop obsessing over plastic and the waste caused by our daily habits, and instead focus on the bigger, more important reasons why our planet is struggling: we're buying too much stuff we don't need, we're eating foods that are unsustainable, and we're taking too many non-essential flights. While simple habit shifts like switching to reusables and avoiding plastic packaging are a good place to start, they’re not going to change the world.
The biggest causes of waste and environmental destruction is invisible and not caused (or prevented) by individual actions. 71% of global emissions are caused by only 100 companies so you avoiding plastic packaging at the supermarket (which actually reduces food waste, a far greater issue than plastic) doesn't really help much. However, you can hold those companies accountable while also taking responsibility for your own wasteful habits by making better choices.
Small changes, like giving up straws and using a reusable coffee cup, are a quick and easy way to make ourselves feel better about our habits, but unfortunately they don't make a huge difference in terms of reducing our carbon footprint. Putting your effort into making these low impact habit shifts by changing how much you buy, what you eat, and how you travel is a much more effective way to live sustainably. These aren't quick changes and you won't necessarily see any visible positive results. However, if you make these changes you'll have a much greater impact.
Continue reading about the low waste habits that will dramatically reduce your environmental impact.
Create A Zero Waste Kit
A lot of our wasteful habits are created from convenience. It's easier to use the plastic carrier bags at the supermarket and accept the disposable coffee cups because they're already there. It requires zero effort. Making a change, even one as simple are remembering to bring your own tote bags for shopping or taking a clean reusable cup to the coffee shop, is a barrier that takes a while to overcome.
A really simple way to eliminate the unnecessary and avoidable waste in your life is to make it as easy as possible not to create it in the first place. Putting together a zero waste kit of reusable items you'd use on a daily basis will help you to avoid single-use plastics and disposables, and help you live a more sustainable lifestyle. While it might only be a teeny tiny change that has minimal environmental impact, the feel-good factor is huge. It's a habit shift that has visible results and will encourage you to continue making sustainable changes.
This is my zero waste kit, including a reusable cup, tote bag, lunchbox, cutlery, and napkin, with some tips on reducing waste when you're 'on the go.' Try to use what you already have, like reusing containers and taking cutlery from your kitchen drawer, instead of buying anything new.
Switch To Sustainable Products
The most sustainable option is the one you already have, even if that means using stained plastic Tupperware until it falls apart. I totally understand the compulsion to get rid of every plastic thing you own but resist the urge to throw things away just to replace them with fancy zero waste reusables, that's literally the opposite of sustainable living and you probably don't even need them.
Use what you already have, buy second-hand if you can find what you need, and when something is used up or worn out, make the switch to a sustainable alternative purchased from an ethical business. There are plenty of affordable options for your daily essential products, from natural skincare to ethical makeup, right through the eco-friendly laundry detergent and other cleaning products.
I have a where to shop page with directories for sustainably-made clothing, ethical beauty, and homewares so you know where to go when you need to replace something. My daily zero waste habits might help you to see what switches you can make.
