We are passionate about making the world a better place and we hope to inspire you to come on this journey with us to live a healthier life while raising awareness for the necessity to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle for the future of our children and Planet.
There are small things that you can do to reduce the amount of waste that you use that can make such a huge impact to our Environment! We are so fortunate to now live in such a time where there are so many great brands doing great things with reusable solutions for us, replacing thousands of single use products to help lighten our footprint on our Earth.
We have a responsibility to look after the Planet and all of it’s inhabitants, and the time to do it is now.
Contrary to what you may think, plastics don’t get recycled as often as we are led to believe, and despite what you hear, plastics don’t get broken down. In fact, once a plastic item is made, it is here forever! It takes at least 450 years to decompose and up to 1000 years to break down fully. If anything, they just become micro plastics in our ocean wreaking havoc on our eco systems and endangering our wildlife.
The concept of living entirely waste-free takes a bit of getting used to, especially as our modern lifestyles constantly demands that our attention is focused on consuming for the sake of consuming. Just know that it’s not reasonable to expect that you can adopt a totally zero waste free lifestyle overnight. Just implement small maintainable changes over time and know that even the smallest of changes are making a HUGE difference to the future of our Planet.
Before we go any further, if you already have plastic containers for storage, plastic straws, cutlery, serving spoons and the like around your home, don’t throw them out and add to our already overflowing landfill. See if you can reuse it in your home or give it away or donate it. We recommend purchasing zero waste alternatives progressively as your non-zero waste items run out.
Living without waste doesn’t mean you have to live without life’s luxuries. It just means a more conscious approach to your consumer choices. You’ll be doing yourself a favour by saving money on unnecessary purchases and ultimately reducing your own ecological footprint and doing the planet a favour by reducing the amount of waste ending up in landfill.
Going zero waste is a journey. Weigh up all of your options and be a conscious consumer. Reducing your consumption is the most important thing you can do.
1. Ditch plastic bags.. for life
If you do nothing else, start using shopping bags made from mesh, cloth or recycled/recyclable plastic and boycott the bags available at the checkout. Stop using the plastic produce bags available at the supermarket and take your own reusable bags for buying and storing produce. You could also bring reusable containers to the deli counter, allowing those behind the counter to use your own containers rather than plastic that will be thrown away soon after it gets to your home.
2. Ditch disposable straws
It's just a little bit of plastic, right? But those small straws add up! We use more than 500 million plastic straws each day. Straws are too small to be easily recycled, so they become trash, often in the ocean. Invest in a reusable straw and ask for no straw with your drinks.
3. Stop buying bottled water
Whilst it can be tempting to get into the habit of buying bottled water for the convenience, you only have to think about the amount of bottles you are consuming every week, multiply that by the rest of the planet doing it and the reality is quite scary. There are so many great varieties of reusable bottles that you can easily switch to nowadays. There are so many fabulous options for filtering your water if clean water is a necessity for you. If you are caught short and have to buy bottled water elect for the glass bottles over plastic and if you absolutely have to go plastic, reuse it as much as possible instead of throwing it away as soon as its empty.
4. Stop using disposable coffee cups. Invest in a reusable cup
Did you know that your average coffee cup can’t be recycled? There’s a plastic lining in them that often stops them from being processed. Coffee cups are responsible for such a huge volume of rubbish that clogs up landfill, rivers and the ocean that it’s truly shocking. Invest in a reusable cup that you can keep in the car and take with you wherever you go.
5. Only buy food with minimal packaging.
There is nothing worse than supporting these big supermarket chains that wrap a single item such as a sweet potato or cucumber in plastic wrap. Send them a message by not supporting their products regardless of the convenience. Did you know that you actually have the power to vote for the type of world we want to live in by using our dollars? If you don’t want a world littered with rubbish, stop supporting the brands responsible for it and shop elsewhere.
6. Eliminate disposable paper products
Rather than paper towels and napkins, choose reusable cloth versions. You’ll quickly save money over costly disposables.
7. Stop buying single use plastics
Here’s a simple rule for any household trying to go greener and become more sustainable: stop buying any product that’s meant to be used once and then thrown away. That means stuff like yogurt cups and one serve popcorn/chip packets. The answer is to buy larger amounts of stuff in bulk—like a bigger container of yogurt or organic popcorn and dish out portions into reusable containers. If you are fortunate to live in the regions that offer wonderful waste free shopping stores such as The Source Bulkfoods then shop there!
8. Recycle everything you can
Check with your local council to learn what’s accepted and required. Learning more about what you can and can’t recycle easily will likely influence your purchasing decisions.
9. Minimise food wastage
It’s hard to talk about creating a zero waste lifestyle without talking about food.
Food is perishable, which causes more opportunity for waste. That’s why it’s so important to have some standards when buying food to eliminate this daily waste and using all the food that you have purchased. Only buy perishable food that you know you will eat that week to avoid throwing anything out. Freeze left overs, don’t let it go off in your fridge. Invest in a home composter.
Every day we have a choice to make this world a little less wasteful.
What can you do today?