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It is important to remember when considering living a zero-waste life that it won’t happen overnight. There are lots of ways you can begin your journey to a zero-waste life, continue reading to find out more.
Reduce your use of single-use plastics
Single use plastics are plastics that are only used once before they get thrown away or are recycled. Single use plastics include plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers and cups, bottles, and food packaging. There has been a push recently by consumers as well as the food and drink industry to reduce the amount of single use plastics. This is because they are a major cause of climate change and pollution in the world.
There are lots of ways to reduce single use plastics. Firstly, choosing to use a reusable bag for your shopping instead of plastic bags is a great step to reducing your plastic waste. Switching to reusable metal or glass straws is another way to reduce single use plastic usage. Also investing in a reusable coffee cup is a great way to reduce plastic waste (coffee cup lids are plastic), in most coffee shops you’ll also pay slightly less for your hot beverage when taking your own plastic cup.
Reduce packaging as much as you can
Whilst supermarkets and grocery stores are taking some measures to reduce the amount of packaging used by manufactures, there is still a lot more work that needs to be done. Many food manufacturers are switching to cardboard packaging instead of plastic which is a great step towards reducing packaging waste. A step you can take is to visit zero-waste shops and grocery stores. Taking your own reusable packaging to fill with rice, pasta and spices will help reduce the amount of packaging you throw away.
Reduce food waste
The list of ways you can reduce your food waste is a long one, so we’ve picked 5 of our top tips:
- Plan your weekly meals
- Freeze your leftovers
- Make soup with veg that is older or soft
- Check the use by dates, these are the dates that matter rather than best-before dates
- Eat seasonally and speak to your local greengrocer to find out what is in season
Recycle as much as possible
A large proportion of the packaging the world produces is now recyclable, yet still much of it ends up in landfill. Although recycling is now a lot easier than it used to be, we can still do more. Ensure you recycle all cardboard, glass and plastics that are suitable for recycling. As well as using the recycling bins at home, there are lots of recycling points around the country you can use. You can also recycle old clothes and shoes that are damaged or not suitable for a charity shop.
Stop buying fast fashion
The fashion industry is a big culprit for waste, and one of the ways you can help reduce the amount of waste reduced by the fashion industry is to stop buying clothes and accessories from fast fashion brands. There are lots of sustainable brands around now that produce clothes from recycled materials, and others that are improving their production methods to reduce their carbon footprint. You can also shop at charity shops to reduce waste.
