#9 Zero Waste State of Mind
Podcast
In this episode, Sofia and Michelle caught up with the inspiring and charismatic Bea Johnson at an event hosted by Bring Your Own Long Beach. Known as ‘the mother of the zero waste lifestyle’, Bea and her family have exemplified what it means to be zero waste for over a decade. Her journey began when during a move she realized that her family seemed to be happier surrounded by less stuff. She began to examine how they consumed and what it would mean to live with ‘less’. Not long after her journey began, she wrote ‘Zero Waste Home’, a book which details how a zero waste lifestyle should simplify your life, not complicate it, and how most of us already have what we need to reduce our waste within our homes.
Bea has traveled the world sharing her lifestyle along with these tips and tricks on how to reduce your waste and lead a more meaningful life. She continues to learn from other cultures on the journey and has enjoyed seeing zero waste and bulk stores opening around the world. To make locating these stores easier, Bea created the Bulk Finder App, a crowdsourced tool to find bulk stores around the world. How neat!
Bea truly lives by (embodies?) the 5 R's: REFUSE what you don't need, REDUCE what you do actually need, REUSE by swapping disposables for reusables and buying secondhand if you do need something, RECYCLE what can't be refused, reduced or reused, and ROT (compost) what's left. You can hear more of her story by listening to this inspirational episode of the podcast or visiting zerowastehome.com.
Blog Post
Hello, Natalie here, I am thrilled to be writing this blog post on the zero waste state of mind! Ihave worked with Zero Waste Company in the past and am quite passionate about zero-waste lifestyles! I first began working with Sofia 2 years ago when I heard of a rad company wanting to reduce the amount of waste produced at The Taste in Orange County. This was the inaugural food festival hosted in Orange County by the Los Angeles Times. Sofia was hiring staff to assist with waste diversion and I jumped at the opportunity. From that first event, I realized just how massive the mass consumption issue is in the US. Every event since, I have been amazed at how many resources we can rescue from the landfill; food that we can donate to shelters, clocks and binder holders that go to schools, and my favorite, waste that was never generated in the first place because of careful planning.
We work for companies that are passionate about the environment and specifically bring us on to help make their event more socially and environmentally responsible. But when you really think about it,working towards zero waste should be part of EVERY event's plan. Unfortunately we know too well that is not always the case. During an event we're not just there to make sure everything gets recycled or that excess food gets donated to a local shelter, which we do, but also to educate and inspire others about relevant environmental topics and how they tie into social issues. It is one thing to ask people to sort their waste into a three bin system or use real plates, cups, and utensils, it's another to be able to connect how these actions can help fight climate change by reducing GHG or prevent pollution from disproportionately impacting people of color. This is why I'm crazy excited about being a part of a company that is holding other companies accountable while walking the walk.
Yes, companies should be responsible for the waste they generate, but so should we, the individual! I first heard about Bea years ago in a Recycling and Resource Management class at Santa Monica College. This woman blew my mind. I mean a whole year of trash for a family of four, in one mason jar?! Wild! She was a superhero in my eyes. Though what I really took away from that first introduction was this: we can all reduce our waste. Can we all ditch disposable utensils and only use real ones? Yes - most of the time. Can we all stop purchasing things we don't need and start buying second hand whenever possible? It may take a few steps but yes. Will this journey look different for everyone? Absolutely. And isn't that wonderful? When I ask the zero waste community a question or share something I am struggling with, I immediately get ten different approaches to my inquiry. Then I pick the one that I think will work best for me and voila! There is no such thing as one size fits all when on this journey to live more sustainably.
For many of us zero waste is more than just less trash in a landfill. It's also less destruction of delicate ecosystems, the preservation of natural resources, less wars being waged to quench our undying thirst for fossil fuels used for plastics or packaging. It's less exploitation of people across the world working to provide us with more stuff earning low wages with a high human cost. It's being happier with less stuff, less clutter. After listening to Bea, I started to live more. I began cooking more because I was buying whole foods instead of packaged foods. I unlocked a bit of creativity as I learned to make my own toothpaste or turned an old t-shirt into a bag. I connected more with my community as I started looking for local products such as soap or engaging in a buy nothing group.
We can all learn to live more, in our own way. It would be great to hear how you are fighting to reduce waste and live your life more fully! Share your ideas with us by joining the community #zerowastelifehacks #zerowastelifehacker
