If you are interested in making a more zero waste lifestyle (like me!) I’m sure you’ve seen those videos with titles like: How To Become Zero Waste!, Top 5 Zero Waste Essentials!, How to Have a Zero Waste lifestyle!, and many more! But, most of these videos focus on one thing.
Buying. New. Stuff.
Many people will say that to start your “zero waste” lifestyle there’s a few things you should do, like: buy metal straws, buy reusable bags, buy a reusable water bottle, and many more. Here’s why that’s not always the case.
Look, buying a reusable water bottle, and bringing reusable bags to the grocery store is great, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, but what I don’t think is necessary, is buying new versions of these things. I know that when we start a sustainable lifestyle we are tempted to buy those cute water bottles, and that cute cutlery set we saw promoted to us on Pinterest, because we want to live the most “aesthetic” zero waste lifestyle that we can.
Because wouldn’t it be such a great instagram post, to post a picture of me sipping a drink with a reusable straw in it, with the #zero waste in the bio?
Here’s the problem with promoting stuff like this in the zero waste community. The term zero waste was originally a term that was supposed to be used for large corporations and big business, but ended up becoming a lifestyle and honestly… and instagram aesthetic. The zero waste community has such great intentions, but (in my opinion) promoting people to buy new items so that they can become more zero waste, is against everything that the zero waste community
Here’s why I think this:
I think that It is completely hypocritical to tell people that if they want to be “zero waste,” that they have to buy new stuff, because what happens is when people hear this, they throw out all there plastic items (plastic toothbrush, plastic water bottle, etc…) and then buy the reusable or more sustainable alternative, instead of what you should ALWAYS do… which is, use up all your plastic items until you can”t use them again, then (AND ONLY THEN) should you buy the zero waste alternative.
Next, you should never buy things new if you don’t absolutely need to. You can find so many things at the thrift store, so definitely check that out when you want to buy something. If you can’t buy it from a thrift store, look online to see if anyone is selling (the item you want to buy) second - hand, or ask your friends and family if they have it! But if you cannot find it thrifted or second - hand, my first place to look would be Earth Hero if you need to buy something new. Earth Hero is a very sustainable, and carbon neutral brand. Check out my blog post on:
to learn more about them, and some of their products.
Next, to go zero waste something that many people don’t talk about is reusing.
Everones always talking about recycling, but what about reusing? I love reusing stuff, and it’s a much cheaper way to start a sustainable lifestyle, rather than buying very expensive zero waste swaps but, there are so many ways to reuse things, and they have the same impact as using the zero waste swap version.
I hope you like this post, and stay tuned for Monday where I will be posting about different ways to reuse stuff around your house!
You hit the nail on the head with this article! It really worries me that so many voices within the sustainability movement are preaching what is essentially 'buying new stuff'. We should always use what we have first! Great blog - keep up the good work!