A Guide Towards Zero-Waste Lifestyle
Going zero waste is not an overnight thing. You can’t start changing your lifestyle in a snap because living with zero-waste is a serious commitment. It won’t always be easy, but when you take it step by step, it may take time, but it will surely be worth the effort.
Here we list down some guides that might help you in making your life a zero-waste one:
Take note of your waste
Checking on your trash bin is probably a nasty one, but it will definitely help you get started with living the zero-waste lifestyle. You don’t have to dig up your trash, you can try listing down the things you remember you’ve thrown off and list down those you can easily replace with an alternative.
For the ones you can’t think of an alternative, you can do a little research on the items and try to find an alternative. We promise, even if it feels impossible to find an alternative to your waste, you will always find something useful online.
List down the alternatives
List the alternatives you can buy on the side of the waste. For example, the usual trash in every home—food scraps. There are so many things you can do with your food scraps. You can either make vegetable stock or make it a fertilizer. For paper towels, you can replace it with dishcloths; for plastic or paper straws, you can use those trendy metal straws.
Plastic packaging, on the other hand, is a huge part of our waste and it won’t be easy trimming down the use of it. Well, great news! Some parts of the Philippines are now implementing a no-plastic policy. If you’re doing grocery shopping, you can use eco bags. For meat plastics, you can always use reusable containers to store them. It might not be handy to bring these when going out, but sooner or later when you’ve committed to doing this, you would be surprised that it’s not much of a hassle.
Cut-off your groceries
Yamazaki Japanese Grocery
Cutting off with your groceries is probably one of the hardest things to do, especially when you want to try something new or experiment with old favorites. Starting a zero-waste lifestyle means cutting off your groceries or anything that creates waste.
In order to have a zero-waste lifestyle, you have to lessen the things you buy. It won’t be easy at first, but buying the right amount will mean less waste. Less waste means you’re a step closer towards achieving the zero-waste lifestyle.
Prepare meals once
Why does preparing meals once makes a big difference in achieving the zero-waste lifestyle? Oftentimes, when we prepare meals, there are always leftover ingredients which we think we wouldn’t need anymore. But when you get home at night and start prepping for your dinner, some of the ingredients you’ve thrown away can still be useful for another meal.
So here’s a tip: lay down all your ingredients and think about what you can make with them. If there are leftover ingredients you can make the next meal with, just store them in the fridge. This way, you won’t have to worry about preparing another meal the next day.
Practice the KonMari Method
You may have known this from the Netflix show Tidying Up with Marie Kondo or maybe you’ve just heard it from other people, but there’s a new method of keeping your house clean and free from waste. The KonMari method is basically gathering all your stuff per category and keeping those things which only “sparks joy” for you.
IMAGE / Marie Kondo’s Facebook page
This whole new level of tidying method does not only make your home organized but by simply decluttering, you lessen the waste your house is producing. Remember, fewer things inside your house means less waste.
Start replacing your things
IMAGE / Marie Kondo’s Facebook page
After listing down all the waste you have in your home and the alternatives you can provide, you can now start replacing the things around your home little by little. You can either start with the room which has the most waste—the kitchen—or you can start with your room. Start buying the alternatives or better yet, label your items especially for your pantry, so you won’t have to buy more.
But the most important thing you have to keep in mind is discipline. Before you go to your trash bin and throw away something, stop and think of the things you can still create with those.
Written by Denisse Tenorio
