All You Need To Know About The Zero Waste Lifestyle

By Alex Assoune Mar 16, 2021

The zero-waste lifestyle is a way of living that decreases the amount of waste being produced every day on a global scale. It aims to reduce overproduction and overconsumption of unnecessary items across all sectors.

Adopting a zero-waste lifestyle is one of the most sustainable ways of living. It has a tremendous positive impact not only on the environment but also on people and animals.

Zero-waste lifestyle choices influence protect human health, wildlife, and the planet by reducing the amount of pollution in the water, air, soil, and entire food chains.

Developing a zero-waste mindset is crucial to prevent excessive natural resource extraction and reduce the huge amount of waste that ends up in landfills and incinerators every year.

Everyone has a meaningful role to play in overcoming the damages caused by waste generation, transportation, and disposal. Nowadays, it's more relevant than ever to take massive action toward living a zero-waste lifestyle.

As an eco-conscious consumer, you have the power to make a positive impact in the world. You choose the products you buy and who you support with your money.

Thankfully, the zero-waste lifestyle is accessible to everybody. With just a few zero-waste tips, you can start living in a very sustainable way to protect the environment and save money at the same time.

Sharing, reusing, and recycling are all simple steps you can take toward a zero-waste lifestyle. Limiting how much rubbish you put out into the world makes a big difference.

To help you change your consumption habits as a well-informed consumer, here is everything you need to know about living a zero-waste lifestyle.

In this article:

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Why a zero-waste lifestyle matters

Developing Zero Waste in the world is a much-needed endeavor. Cheap synthetic materials that contain plastic, such as polyester, nylon, acrylic, and polyethylene take up to thousands of years to decompose.

They release toxic gases, and potent greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere as they break down.

More than 300 million tons of plastics are produced every year. And 8 million tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean annually. The equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic is leaking into our oceans every minute of every day of the year.

Plastic waste has a disastrous impact not only on the environment but also on people and animals. Plastic microfibers threaten human health, wildlife, and the planet by polluting the air, water, and entire food chains.

People get exposed to harmful pollutants contained in plastic microfibers by drinking polluted water and eating contaminated seafood. Workers in garment factories, wastewater treatment facilities, cruise ships, and fish farming industries are particularly endangered.

Some people are also convinced that living 100% zero-waste is an unachievable goal. However, we can all reduce the amount of waste we produce, even if living a zero-waste lifestyle may seem overwhelming at first.

How to reduce, reuse, recycle

Reduce, reuse, and recycle are the commonly known 3 R of waste management. They help adults and kids deal with the rubbish that goes out into the world.

By reducing, reusing, and recycling, you can protect the environment, support the local community, save money, time, energy, and natural resources.

Global production and consumption keep increasing and cause major disasters. It's time to rethink our habits to prevent irreversible damage to people, animals, and the planet.

A wasteful lifestyle has a negative environmental and climate impact. So more people choose to live a zero-waste lifestyle and reduce what they put out into the world.

The most effective way to reduce waste is to not create it in the first place. Reducing what you consume is the most powerful way you can protect the environment, save money and natural resources.

It's the first and most crucial step to lower the amount of waste that ends up in landfills and incinerators or needs to be recycled.

Reducing, reusing, and recycling limit greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change, prevent pollution, as the need to harvest new raw materials is much lower.

The concept of sustainable and zero-waste living saves time, money, space, people, animals, and the planet.

Thankfully, there are many simple and responsible ways of managing waste to build a more sustainable future. Follow our ultimate guide on how to easily reduce, reuse, and recycle for kids and adults alike.

Easy zero-waste swaps

Single-use plastics have a disastrous impact on ecosystems and human health, but they aren't the only issue. Plastic-free doesn't necessarily mean zero-waste.

Individual efforts to reduce plastic are a good thing but to live a zero-waste lifestyle, considering all types of waste is necessary, not just plastic.

The zero-waste movement seems to be majorly focused on one type of waste, household plastic.

But to reduce strain on the environment, we need to analyze all sources of waste, industrial, commercial, domestic, and agricultural, as well as their nature, such as liquid waste, solid rubbish, organic waste, recyclable rubbish, and hazardous waste.

The leading sustainable waste management company FCC Environment categorizes waste into 12 types, that involve more than only plastic:

Clothing
Compost
Ferrous metal
Glass
Mineral oil
Non-ferrous metal
Organic fat
Organic solvent
Paper, carton, cardboard
Plastic
Refuse Derived Fuels (RDF)
Wood

Thankfully, there are many simple zero-waste swaps you can adopt to save money and the planet, such as refusing straws at restaurants, avoiding samples, bringing a reusable shopping bag, and more.

Low-waste vs zero-waste

Living with less waste is entirely possible. But it requires a lot of knowledge, education, and discipline to follow it through every day. Otherwise, lasting and sustainable change won't happen.

Avoiding food packaging is a major step toward the zero-waste lifestyle but we need to make many more efforts to change our behavior and limit some of the most destructive consumption habits, such as a shopping addiction or overeating meat.

With rising environmental awareness, more and more people choose a low-waste lifestyle. Going low-waste means limiting how much rubbish you put out in the world.

Many people believe in reducing plastic and lowering the amount of waste they produce. But they also admit that a zero-waste lifestyle is not for them.

Low-waste is a more relaxed approach to the zero-waste movement. Especially to newcomers to the zero-waste lifestyle, it takes the pressure off a little and conveys that it is possible to change your lifestyle by gradually producing less waste.

In the low-waste movement, everything you do to avoid waste is a step in the right direction and helps. And you don't have to feel guilty at all when you don't.

A low-waste lifestyle doesn't put you under pressure and lets you make mistakes, similarly to what being plant-based allows in comparison to living a fully vegan lifestyle.

It doesn't matter that you do everything perfectly. If you are looking for tips to go low waste, you already are on the right way to creating a more sustainable future.

Zero-waste fashion

A commonly overlooked but hugely important element of the zero-lifestyle is zero-waste fashion.

The clothing industry has a catastrophic impact on the environment. It's time to rethink how we produce and consume clothes to prevent irreversible damage to people, animals, and the planet.

Unfortunately, zero-waste clothing is challenging to create for fashion brands and hard to find for eco-conscious consumers.

But reducing waste generated by garment manufacturing and distribution is necessary to make the whole fashion industry more sustainable.

Thankfully, many clothing brands and designers are starting to implement sustainability practices to send less textile waste to landfills. Some maintain a waste-free supply chain through mindful design and production.

Others use a circular business model to decrease the impacts of their clothes. They recover, repair, and resell pre-loved garments or recycle them to create fibers and other raw materials for new products.

Many clothing, footwear, accessory, and jewelry brands offer repurposed fashion items that require almost no additional resources to produce and reduce all kinds of waste going out into the world.

To help you make mindful purchasing decisions as a well-informed consumer, we've selected some of the most ethical, sustainable, affordable, and zero-waste clothing brands you need to know.

Where to find zero-waste goods

The best stores offer affordable and eco-friendly products for people like you who want to be mindful of their environmental impact and start living a zero-waste lifestyle.

It makes sense to look for eco-friendly products as sustainable alternatives to conventional commodities that are considered polluting, wasteful, and disposable.

But there are so many green claims on new products now that it can be overwhelming to recognize which ones are truly eco-friendly. How do you tell if they contain organic or recycled materials and were produced ethically?

If you are trying to live a zero-waste lifestyle, buy from stores that make consistent efforts to offer cheap and eco-friendly essentials for all your eco-living needs.

Whether you are looking for clothing, coffee cups, homeware, kitchen utensils, travel equipment, jewelry, accessories, shoes, bags, luggage, sports apparel, organic bedding, or upholstery, you can buy from this list of affordable and sustainable stores.

Closing thoughts

It's entirely possible to live a zero-waste lifestyle with a few easy tips and reduce the amount of waste you produce. We all have a responsibility to manage our waste sustainably.

Refusing single-use plastic, straws at restaurants, perfume and shampoo samples, plastic bags, litter, napkins, and water bottles are simple and very effective steps to reduce waste and its negative impacts.

Remember to avoid feeling guilty about it. Nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes. Especially if you are just starting a new lifestyle on your zero-waste journey, take it one step at a time.

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About the Author: Alex Assoune

Alex Assoune (MS) is a global health and environmental advocate. He founded Panaprium to inspire others with conscious living, ethical, and sustainable fashion. Alex has worked in many countries to address social and environmental issues. He speaks three languages and holds two Master of Science degrees in Engineering from SIGMA and IFPEN schools.