If 2020 has shown us anything, it is that the world as we know it can disappear in the blink of an eye (or rather, in just a few months). The crisis we’re going through right now has made it all the more important to conserve our environment and make an even more significant effort toward saving energy and producing less waste.
The problem? Most people believe that practicing a more eco-conscious lifestyle or even going full-on zero waste means they’ll be spending a lot more money in the long run, not to mention that they’ll have to give up on things they love.
The concept behind a zero-waste lifestyle goes beyond that and the results it brings both for our mindset and for the environment are bigger than just a habit. By zero-waste, we mean changing your one-time use cotton pad to a reusable one, your daily plastic lunch plate into reusable dinnerware made from organic materials, or your daily plastic bottle into one made from glass. The point is to go one thing at a time, little by little, and stick to the big idea.
We’re here to tell you that taking it one step at a time is the right approach. Don’t feel obliged to put so much pressure on yourself. Instead, relish the fact you can change the course of your life (and the planet’s) by implementing a few tiny changes.
Going Zero Waste One Step at a Time
Writing waste out of our existence may not be possible at this point; after all, our landfills are already full, and there will always be someone who doesn’t want to help the planet.
Does that mean we should settle for the life we know now? Of course not!
Most of the following tips are an excellent place to start if we’re looking to adopt a zero-waste lifestyle, as they all tie into one crucial idea: reducing waste is the key to helping our environment. And fortunately, there are many tiny adjustments to our everyday lives we could do that complete that idea and make us a valuable piece of the puzzle.
Pace Yourself: Top 5 Eco-Conscious Tips to Try Out Today
1. Start Conserving Energy Whenever You Can
High carbon footprints aren’t that easy to fight, but we can do just a bit more each day by making sure we’re not needlessly wasting energy.
Electricals, for instance, consume so much more energy than we might think, and most of the time, we’re not even using them — they’re wasting this valuable resource while on standby.
To combat that, all we should do is try to remember to turn off appliances when we don’t need them. If we can, we can also wash dishes by hand more often (and not turn on the dishwasher for a half-load) and hang-dry clothes.
It’s the little things that count when it comes to conserving energy, so we can always make different eco-conscious goals and work toward them. There’s no need to switch out perfectly good light bulbs right now, for example. Once they’re out, we can replace them with energy-efficient alternatives (like LEDs).
After making a few good eco-conscious choices, we can also consider:
- Reducing our water heating expenses
- Sealing air leaks inside our homes to reduce heating and cooling expenses
- Opting for energy-efficient appliances whenever possible
- Investing in high-quality insulation and energy-efficient windows
2. Make Less Food to Avoid Leftovers (or Use Up What You Have)
The easiest way to avoid wasting food is to engage in some light meal prep whenever we can, ensuring that we use up all the ingredients (and buy only what we need for the dishes). Alternatively, we can make fewer (or smaller) meals, especially if we know we won’t eat it all.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with leftovers, but how often do we actually like eating them? If they rarely end up on our plates afterward, it’s a total waste both in terms of nutrition and money.
But even if we’ve got some ingredients or dishes that cannot be eaten now, we can always start a compost pile or bin. The important thing is to keep using the perishables as much as possible. By creating a compost pile, we can actually prolong the use of waste and get something useful from it, like fertilizer. On top of that, we won’t be filling the landfills or causing methane gas buildup since food wouldn’t break down anaerobically in a compost pile (without oxygen, which happens in landfills).
3. Try Using Less Plastic and Paper
Our world is full of plastic as is, but it seems we still aren’t ready to give it up completely. What we can do instead, as individuals, is to cut our plastic use beginning in our bathrooms, kitchens and our homes by opting for simple alternatives.
It’s as effortless as:
- switching out bought water bottles for a reusable one
- using canvas bags in stores
- reusing plastic bags whenever we can.
Another thing to keep in mind is how much paper we waste each day. Of course, some jobs require us to continue using paper despite all the technological advances. But that doesn’t mean we have to live with guilt! The paper we use can be recycled and thus given a new life. And the difference is staggering since we typically need less energy to create recycled paper (in comparison to virgin paper). If every household did this, we’d see lots of improvement in the reduction of solid waste, which often consists of paper and paper products.
Once Your Confidence Grows, You Can Also Try…
4. Changing Your Buying Habits and Borrowing Stuff
Secondhand goods are actually hidden gems that some of us weren’t aware of before the advent of movements like zero waste and the idea of eco-conscious living. And really, one of the best ways of reducing waste and reusing stuff is to change our shopping habits. Fast-fashion is convenient, that’s for sure, but it has a short lifespan and then ends up in landfills. Opting to buy high-quality clothing and items or venture out to secondhand stores would pay off in the long term, both in terms of money and saving the planet.
Another thing to keep in mind is that we don’t necessarily have to buy everything. The world has been taken over by consumerism, and inevitably, we’ve become a part of it. But we can fight it by opting to borrow things rather than buy them all the time. For example, we could borrow books from libraries and thus avoid adding to the waste the paper industry contributes to. Even better, we could switch to Kindle when we’re ready to leave our physical copies behind and embrace technology!
5. Cutting Back on Meat
Finally, once we’re ready to go a step further, we can try to cut back on eating meat. Though it may seem a bit controversial, we don’t actually need meat to survive. But this isn’t about going vegetarian or vegan; all we should do is try to cut it back a little bit.
Even just a small step in the right direction could inspire a great change in the world. After all, the livestock sector takes up a huge part of the Earth’s surface. Even worse, it contributes significantly to the emission of Global Warming Potential (GWP) gases. But by cutting back on our meat consumption, we could better the health of our environment and our collective health, freeing up land and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And really, it all starts with just one person — you.
Final Thoughts
The zero-waste movement won’t make us cut down on luxuries and prevent us from living life to the fullest. Instead, consider the implications of using disposables and adding to the stomach-turning problem of landfills our world faces right now. Essentially, living without waste would let us get a new lease on life on our planet, as we could reduce our impact on the air we breathe, the ground we walk on, and the water we drink.
Luckily, even just a little bit goes a long way when it comes to eco-conscious living. There’s no need to go full-on-eco-friendly right away or even feel bad about not doing enough. Taking it one step at a time is the right approach — it’ll ensure we stick with it until the changes we’ve inspired become truly evident.
Bethany Kreiter says
I’m almost done completing my Masters in Sustainable Management, so I really appreciate this post. I think education on most of these topics is truly key in order to start being sustainable.