An
average Pole produces about 270 kilograms of waste annually according
to the
Central
Statistical Office. More and more people try to reduce their waste
production and pay more attention to what products they buy and
consume. Zero Waste Lifestyle is a cleaner, balanced and more
eco-friendly way of living - it's goal is to reduce one's waste
production to as little as one jar a year. Zero Waste is known as a
philosophy, which aims
at reusing things.
 |
| SOURCE |
Zero
Waste is a goal that is ethical, economical, efficient and visionary,
to guide people in changing their lifestyles and practices to emulate
sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are
designed to become resources for others to use.
Zero Waste means designing and
managing products and processes to systematically avoid and eliminate
the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover
all resources, and not burn or bury them.
Implementing
Zero Waste will eliminate all discharges to land, water or air that
are a threat to planetary, human, animal or plant health - Zero Waste International Alliance (SOURCE)
My
inspiration for this presentation came from an article about a family
from California that has produced almost no waste since 2008.
Bea
Johnson wrote a book Zero
Waste Home.
She writes a blog where she shared
her experiences and knowledge. She became an expert on Zero Waste for
many companies such as IKEA or General Electrics. The
Johnsons
use only reusable items, don't buy plastic products, only second hand
clothes and get new shoes when the old ones are
worn out.
Bea
explains that we, consumers,
are responsible for what is available on the market. Every purchase
we make becomes a vote. Every time we buy tomatoes in plastic
packaging we show the supplier that this is the plastic convenience
we want and expect.
Bea
said that we still concentrate on what we
should
do with all the waste, instead of thinking about how to reduce or
even stop its
production. A huge part of the waste management system is based on
incineration. City authorities make deals with specialized companies
to deliver specific amounts of waste (amounts that grow even bigger
every year). Big part of that waste is biodegradable material that
could be turned into compost and used to fertilize the land.
Incinerated waste
is fuel for pollution. All you have to do is pay more attention to
proper segregation and make compost
available to people.
Of
course I understand that most of you think
it is weird,
I don't follow those rules myself, but maybe it will inspire someone
to introduce
even
the slightest change in their life.
Here are a few ways we can reduce
waste production in our environment:
-
don't use plastic bags at stores, fruits and vegetables can be packed
in reusable cloth bags and you can pack all your products into bigger
eco -friendly bags.
- stop using plastic straws, you can
drink without them or buy a few stainless steel straws for your home
- don't buy bottled water, you can
get a special bottle for filtering tap water
- swap your plastic toothbrush for a
bamboo one
- look for cosmetics with recyclable
packaging; some people make their own cosmetics for home use
- there are many natural
alternatives for detergents and cleaning products, you can use baking
soda and vinegar
- make
your own compost
- don't buy single use batteries and
invest in rechargeable ones
I
think that going Zero Waste might be really difficult and requires
a lot of time, knowledge and preparation but it's a noble cause.
Reading about
this topic on the Internet I learned that living by Zero Waste in
Poland might be especially hard, stores are not particularly friendly
towards such clients. Apparently in Germany and France there are
composts available to people and a number of shops where you can buy
things without packaging.
Write
what you think about it? Maybe you want to try changing at least a small
part of your life to produce less waste?
SOURCES:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_waste
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYDQcBQUDpw
Comments
Now people don't have place to do it. It will be long time before situation changes in Poland. Not everybody lives in a house. I can't agree that producers change product because we want it for example tomates in plastick boxes. If they want us to be eco they should start with these boxes. When they remove them we will have to get tomatoes in a diffrent way. This is my opinion.
PS. I like recipe for organic toothpaste, I must try it!
And where I could buy bamboo toothbrush?
I also do not use plastic bags at shop, I carry with me my material bag. Ridiculously, now even after they've made plastic bags paid, still a lot of people buy it on daily basis.
1. Buy e-books instead of paper books, unless it is a reference book you will need if the power goes out. Organize your e-books for easy browsing and searching with this free software. Use the library for books you don’t want or need to own.
2. Use both sides of a piece of paper before recycling it or making it into up-cycled crafts.
3. Don’t buy anything disposable. Look for durable goods instead or borrow what you need. Paying a little more up front often means things will last much longer for you.
4. Give your old clothes to charities or others who can use them.
5. Buy your honey, pickled veggies, maple syrup, nut butters, and other wet foods in jars you can reuse or return to the merchant.
But I still believe that our consumer choices are very important. The are big changes we can see in clothing industry, more and more people look for better quality and natural fabrics. Until recently we didn't have shelves with eco friendly products in markets.
I know that it's hard to be eco-friendly in Poland but I hope it will change and we will take an example from Germany. I too think that some products are too expensive. I try not to buy processed food (cakes, snacks) and spend more money on things like avocado or nuts. Groats and most vegetables are pretty cheap. Home cleaners and detergents are quite expensive so I want to try out baking soda with vinegar.
http://www.filtry-do-wody.info/
Here you can a bamboo toothbrush:
http://ecobamboo.pl/pl/ (with a panda logo!)
or here:
https://www.domowystomatolog.pl/product-pol-554-Ecobamboo-Ekologiczna-szczoteczka-bambusowa-MIEKKA.html
Living zero waste seems awesome but I think that it would be really hard living that way, especially if you live in big city.
If you live in apartment building, you can’t really make your own compost, because lack of proper space.
I completely agree about plastic straws, and I think that they should be completely banned. Recently I’ve seen a video with a turtle with plastic straw stuck in its nostril. They are completely unnecessary, and its sole purpose is to…. I don’t really know why to use them.. Looking cute when we drink something maybe.. I just think that plastic straws are stupid
The other thing that makes me indifferent is segreation. I wonder why we do that, because all rubbish are thrown to single garbage truck.
- using reusable cloth bags (have many of them in my car but they are also usable only for some time - the also break),
- bottled water - I can use osmosis filters but there is still need of getting sparkling water, you will need also sparkler for that,
- buying rechargeable batteries instead of singe.
One thing that bothers me - I am still generating waste.
Filters are getting changed, bags are getting used, batteries are used in time - of course less than usual but still.
The things that this girls is doing on that list is just common sense - it is nothing new.
What is reckless for me:
- using soda and cockonut as a toothpaste - that will not keep your teeth healthy - especially that amount of soda is way too much for daily use,
- toothbrush also gets used overtime and you should buy new,
- make your own compost, in a flat in a block - that would be enjoyable for neighbors, lets leave it like that.
To sum up - good concept but she went to far with it.
'It's a teeth cleaning twig made from the Salvadora persica tree (known as arak in Arabic). A traditional and natural alternative to the modern toothbrush' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miswak)
My friend, who used it, said it tastes a bit like horseradish.
But I don't understand how cotton bags can be worse for the environment than plastic ones.
Sometimes it's very difficult for me to find good quality stuff that wouldn't break after a year or two.
The washing machine magically breaks a few months after the warranty, my phone starts to behave strangely after a year or two, the laptop needs to be replaced every four years, good jeans sometimes last less than two years :(
But zero-waste lifestyle may be too extreme for most of the society. What we should do is to educate people on how to produce as little waste as possible or to segregate it.
We should think about We what buy and what we later do with trashes but buying second hand clothes or bamboo toothbrush is too much for me :)