Book of the Week: Zero Waste Home
17 Sep 2016
This week I read Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson, because one day I hope to be rich enough to afford to be zero waste. This book has some tinges of the philosophy found in The Life Changing of Magic of Tidying Up, but it feels like Bea’s feelings of focus and uncluttering was a byproduct of her trying to achieve zero waste. This book is more about the tips to replace makeup, household cleaning supplies, grocery shopping, etc. Some are practical, some I find too extreme. I’m not going to bring jars to the fish counter, but I might try some of her vinegar based cleaning solutions. I learned that going commando is wasteful, because you need to wash your clothes more, so I should wear underwear and you should too. Bea admits her methods were a little extreme, like making her own butter, but even she had to relent on having video games in the home, because her children were spending more time at their friend’s place. The 5 Rs A zero waste lifestyle involves applying the 5 Rs to all aspects of your life.
- Refuse - Don’t bring home crap that will take up space that you need to throw away later. How many free pens do you need?
- Reduce - Decrease consumption
- Reuse - Use reusable containers. Try the ancient Japanese art of Furoshiki to wrap presents with cloth.
- Recycle - Municipal transforming of old material into new material
- Rot - Compost
People lived a zero waste lifestyle back in the days. We only became wasteful as we opted for more conveniences in life. I think it is good to look at the trash we throw away and see how we might mitigate that. I don’t aim for zero waste, but I aim for focus and clarity in life. If reducing waste helps you in that respect, go for it.