Zero Waste is a life philosophy proposed by the French Bea Johnson. In the beginning, it was a way of life for his family live without generating garbage. Then he wanted to take his message to more and more people. Thus, he began his crusade through a blog called Zero Waste Home.
Later, he wrote a book of the same name, translated into 11 languages and that has allowed make your idea known all over the world. His latest proposal has been Bulk, an app in which he indicates places of bulk purchases to eliminate the use of disposable containers.
Contents
Zero Waste Lifestyle: another way of living
As a young woman, Bea moved to live in the United States where she met her husband. He quickly adopted the american lifestyle, tremendously consumerist Y waste producer. However, in a short time, he realized that it did not bring him happiness.
The couple decided, then, to move from San Francisco to a quieter place nearby. All the setbacks they had to go through during the move allowed them to recognize that they could live comfortably with the bare minimum. Thus the idea of Zero Waste Lifestyle arose.
The rules of Zero Waste
The first rule, to refuse. It is the main thing. Y reduce the superfluous. Later, re-use. Recycling should be the last option, as it does not in itself reduce waste production. Waste is reduced only when consumption is reduced. It is what is called «circular economy».
In short, the Zero Waste philosophy is about carrying a organized life, in which only buy “what is just and necessary”. Some ideas that she proposes and puts into practice in her day to day ?:
- To buy everything at bulk and in the sufficient quantity, but not more.
- Use cloth bags Y washable wipes instead of cotton.
- Buy from second hand. In his house, half of the furniture, decorations and clothes are second-hand.
- Reject the single use plastics, print advertising, promotional gifts and unsustainable products.
- Take advantage of organic waste to compost.
- Use alone glass containers, even for meat, fish, cold cuts or cheese.
Some interesting numbers
- The promotion of philosophy Zero Waste has led Johnson to more than 350K followers on social media.
- Currently, his book has already been translated into more than 25 languages.
- Has dictated talks on the subject in more than 65 countries, more than 100 television appearances.
- … And in your house only one quart (about a liter) waste per year!
Why is it necessary to lead a Zero Waste lifestyle?
The normal thing today is «Use and throw»Indiscriminately, without reusing, and many times without even recycling. Clothes, furniture, computers, mobile phones, everything is thrown away and changed with astonishing ease. Many times we are not aware of the environmental problem that we are creating and that we will live by not stopping the exaggerated consumerism of today’s society.
Each person is capable of producing, on average, more than 1kg of garbage per day. That amount becomes almost 10 billion tons of urban waste worldwide. And the biggest problem is that, of that amount of waste, only 14% is recycled. The rest remains in the environment with all its impacts on health and the economy. That is why Zero Waste seeks to give you priority being over having, living in harmony with nature and reducing attachment for material things.
Zero Waste in commerce: close examples
Skunkfunk, responsible fashion
It was born with the firm intention of following the principles of Zero Waste in all the stages of creating your products. Your work begins with the search for natural materials, free of toxic, organic and following the principles of fair trade. In addition, they use Lenzing® lyocell, a fiber obtained from sustainable eucalyptus forests. But his interest goes further. Make the most of fabrics, taking into account the entire width from the moment of design.
To create your new clothing collections, they also use recycled materials Y second hand garments. With the polyester that recovers from plastic bottles create jackets high quality, warm and smooth in texture. With the nylon of the fishing nets, one of the main elements of pollution in the sea, design handbags Y accessories trendy.
His motto is Cam / bio, it’s time to change. For this they have adopted the slow trend, producing only two collections a year. On your website it is possible to make a CO2 footprint calculation that leaves the manufacture of each of its garments. And they keep their connection to its origins, without despising globalization; are already present in 38 countries.