Why Is Zero Waste Important?

Zero Waste has become the new buzzword in the greener and safer society movement.

Scientists have been warning us about the negative impact of human activities on our environment and how they will make the world unsafe for many decades. Waste in every form has been singled out as one of the most notorious and dangerous products of human activities.

The world’s oceans are being polluted with masses of plastic wastes spanning several kilometres, changing marine life in a negative way by destroying it and depleting our reefs. Therefore, embracing a zero-waste lifestyle will be beneficial for everyone, it will have such a huge impact on our environment because each household then will only buy what they need and recycle what they use. It is simple and straightforward, it just takes the will to make it happen.

What Exactly Is Zero Waste?

The definition of zero waste adopted by the Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWAI) is as follows:

Zero Waste: “The conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of all products, packaging, and materials, without burning them, and without discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health”

Zero waste is focused on completely eliminating the waste that is generated in the household, in other words, the zero-waste movement wants you to send zero wastes to the dumpsites. A family can reduce their waste generation to a smaller size or reduce waste to as low as zero.

What Are The Principles Guiding Zero Waste?

Popular zero waste guru, Bea Johnson, best captured the guidelines of zero waste in her book titled Zero Waste Home by proposing the 5 R’s: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot

Refuse

Fight junk mail. It’s not just a waste of resources, but also of time. Refuse plastic packaging from the store already, if you don’t want it, eventually, they won’t want it, so they will stop using it!

Reduce

Declutter your home, and donate to your local thrift shop. You’ll lighten your load, the less you bring home, the less waste you’ll have to deal with.

Reuse

Swap disposables for reusables such as refillable bottles, shopping totes, metal straws, bamboo toothbrushes, cloth napkins, rags, etc.). You might find that you don’t miss your paper towels, but rather enjoy the savings.

Recycle

Know your city’s recycling policies and locations—but think of recycling as a last resort. Have you refused, reduced or reused first?

Rot

Find a compost system that works for your home and get to know what it will digest (dryer lint, hair, and nails are all compostable).

The philosophy on which zero waste is built is one that encourages the redesigning of the resource life cycle such that all products can be reused. In simpler terms, it is basically recycling focused. The goal is to prevent our trash from finding its way into the oceans and landfills.

Leaf Juice is 100% in support of zero waste, that’s why we ensure that our production processes are structured to reduce waste, and by manufacturing products that encourage and make it easier for our customers to imbibe the zero-waste lifestyle.

Biodegradable toothbrushes, metal straws, shampoo bars that save many plastic bottles, reef-friendly sunblock helps protect coral reefs from bleaching, reusable produce bags. For more zero waste messages watch here.