Low/Zero Waste in a Nutshell
Goodday Steemit Universe and welcome to my first "real" post! On my introduceyourself post, some of you told me you are interested in the concept of low or zero waste. If you are one of them, I have some exciting news: I am here to share some of my tips! Putting a little disclaimer here: I am still learning myself and by no means am I perfect in the way I try to live.
But before we get into that, I thought it would be a good idea to tell you more about the concept of low/zero waste.
What does "Zero Waste" mean?
According to Wikipedia, a short definition of zero waste entails something along the lines of "a goal that no trash is to be sent into landfill. It's a philosophy that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused."
I know that sounds like quite something it is not as daunting as it seems. The very first step, is to become aware of the trash you (and we as a species) are producing. We have to realize that much of what we produce is actually very hard, if not completely impossible, to recycle; or to recycle multiple times. Zero waste, to me, often aims to use products you already have before buying new (or used). This way, there is less new input in the consumption cycle meaning your part in the chain is decreasing.
For me, it started when I joined several groups on FB. It opened my eyes to how many things we use in our daily lives are actually made of plastic. And most of these things are things we don't even need on a daily basis!
And now, to bore you with some numbers/statistics:
- 500 million straws are wasted DAILY in the USA alone (http://bit.ly/2qXh68y)
- the demand for plastic bottles has risen to 20,000 bottles being sold per second worldwide
(http://bit.ly/2t0AH4W ) - Almost all starbucks cups are lined with plastic, meaning they are not able to fully break down!
Crazy, right?! I found this document in case you were interested in more of these saddening details http://bit.ly/2plFc7l
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The Zero Waste International Alliance defines Zero Waste thusly:
“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.”
http://zwia.org/standards/