This post is part of the Closed-Loop Zero Waste series.
Following the Closed-Loop Rs in order (see diagram at the end of this post) creates more awareness and intentionality with the items and materials I bring into my life and inspires me to take responsibility for them. This motivates me to bring in less, so I have less to find sustainable solutions for, and therefore less I am responsible for.
Picture for a moment how the earth is currently taking the responsibility and burden of your trash and recycling. Let’s consider single-use packaging as an example. First, resources have been pulled from the earth to create and ship the materials. Once used and ready to be disposed of, these materials are either trucked to a recycling facility or landfill using gas, oil, and other resources required for transportation. The landfill gets filled over time with (often unnecessary) materials and must close when full. When items are recycled, they go through a system that uses energy and resources to transform the materials into other products for re-use.
Single-use packaging, for example, is advertised to be more convenient for our fast-paced lifestyles, but when you look at it with this perspective, it is not convenient for the whole system or planet. There are ways to acquire items without using unnecessary materials, and we need to start asking ourselves if we can refuse or reduce first: “Do I really need that item or its packaging?” See my previous post about how we can be inspired by nature and manage the materials we bring into our lives more slowly and intentionally.
Living this way helps me feel the weight of what I take from the environment and what I put in it. You may not feel the full weight of the impact you have on the environment when the landfill and recycling system is used so often. I challenge you to focus on that weight one item at a time. When I must buy an item in packaging, I often find myself gravitating toward a type of packaging that is easier to reuse or repurpose in my home when I can no longer use it for its original purpose.
Did you know the average American creates 4.4 pounds of trash per day? Imagine trying to reuse, repair and repurpose that much material. It will feel like a lot, so it is imperative to make refuse and reduce a priority over the rest of the steps. Start with those steps as you are beginning to reduce the amount of trash and recycling you create.
For a visual of how much trash a typical American generates in 30 days, check out Rob Greenfield’s Trash Me project. He wanted to “create a visual that would help people understand just how much trash they create and inspire them to make positive changes.” Rob lived like the average American for 30 days and wore every piece of trash he created. Now that is what I call feeling the weight of your consumption.
Feeling the weight of your consumption is to feel, at least partly, the burden placed on the earth when using and disposing of resources. To feel the weight of our consumption, we first need to be aware of how much we are consuming and throwing away. You do not have to do a Trash Me project to develop awareness; you could do a simple trash audit. A trash audit is where you take an account of what you throw away in a set period of time; it could be a day, week, month or longer.
To do this, sort through your trash to see what and how much you throw away. You could mentally take note of the items and the quantity of each type, or you could graph the amounts each time you do a trash audit to document your progress in reducing waste. By taking account of what is typically discarded, you start to see how you can reduce the weight and burden of your consumption on the earth. To start reducing your consumption, pick one item in your trash and find a more sustainable alternative for it that you can use instead. For an example, watch this video of Rob and I explaining how to conduct a trash audit with a couple days’ worth of trash.
While reducing unnecessary use of materials, it was important for me to focus on reducing just one at a time. I started by reducing my use of disposable plastic chip bags. My Closed-Loop Zero Waste solution was, first and foremost, to avoid the plastic bag and preferably acquire organic potatoes, to be more in alignment with nature. My solution was to grow or buy unbagged potatoes and make my own chips. I would have been overwhelmed if I had tried reducing my use of chip bags as well as other common trash materials in my home all at the same time. The overwhelm could have easily turned into discouragement. I recommend this process for you as well: stay motivated and find a Closed-Loop alternative for one item at a time.
Even though this may seem like an extreme way of living, it is only because it is compared to the opposite extreme our society is living in today that promotes convenient waste. These posts are intended to empower and inspire others to start thinking about their use of resources and to start making small changes in their own lives. Small steps together lead to big change. After implementing these changes, you will look back on your life a year from now and see how different it is just by taking one small step at a time.
A HUGE thank you to my talented cousin, Aili Juusola at Design by Aili Juusola, who helped me make this Closed-Loop Zero Waste diagram look cohesive and engaging!
