What is zero waste?
Updated: 6 days ago
Personally, I don’t really the term zero waste as it feels really drastic and extreme as it literally means send nothing to landfills. However, when you are new to living more sustainably, (first of all, Welcome) you might be put off by the term as it seems like an unachievable goal. When you just starting your journey you find that you create waste literally everywhere making the term zero waste ever more restrictive.
Defining zero waste
According to the the Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA) the definition of zero waste is:
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.
History
Most of us think that the zero waste movement started with Bea Johnson (the founder of zero waste home) in the early 2000’s but the term was first used by Paul Palmer PhD in the 1972. He started a company for the reuse of industrial byproduct chemicals, particularly from the newly growing microelectronics industry. He repurpose