This is a repost. A sliver of history. Statements made in this post do not necessarily reflect my current understandings of the topics discussed.
“The conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of products, packaging, and materials without burning and with no discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health" (SWIA, 2018).
Zero Waste is a waste movement aiming to reduce as much waste from a person's lifestyle as reasonable, with the goal of reaching a circular economy and "zero" waste. It builds on the 7 R's of Sustainability to do so: Refuse, Reduce, Repurpose, Reuse, Recycle, Rot, and Rethink. We're currently dealing with a linear economic system, meaning that items are produced to be wasted in the end. Zero Waste is originally an industrial term aimed at large corporations but started taking hold as an individual movement a few years ago.
Zero Waste is a way of returning value to all the things we consume. Zero Waste is a way of being attentive to how we spend our resources and of the toll of using and consuming them leaves. It's also a relatively whitewashed, elitist, and aesthetically driven movement on social media. The popular media consider it a trend, but zero waste is not another consumer lifestyle. You can't consume yourself into a sustainable lifestyle when the bottom line is that we're already consuming too much. That's why the first rule of zero waste is to use what you already own. When it is empty you can buy something new, and when you do, choose better based on the sustainable principles above.
Zero Waste, being a waste movement, does not have an incredibly high impact on climate breakdown on its own. Most of the people that regularly are speaking up about zero waste are doing other measures to limit their personal greenhouse gas emissions in other parts of their life as well. For many reducing their impact has meant going vegan or vegetarian, using collective transportation, thrifting, not buying things you don't need, source your purchases to local, ethical and sustainable businesses and brands, composting, and more. Others speak up about issues of injustice and environmentalism. It is important to vote people that care for the environment into positions of power, protesting against both environmental and social injustice (as there is no environmental justice without social justice), and boycotting unethical and unsustainable brands of all sorts - fashion, makeup, drinks\food, and so on.
Only 100 fossil fuel-producing corporations in the world were responsible for 71% of the world's greenhouse-gas emissions in a number of major sectors, e.g. energy, transportation, and food, between 1988 and 2015 (Griffin, 2017). This means, that what we do as individuals are small victories. We have a necessity for big corporations to take actions to reduce their own impact and treat workers equally and fairly. Some of that we can do by spending our money wisely and putting public pressure on them to change through petitions, protests, and social media call-outs and spreading information about the murkier sides of the industries.
Zero is an unattainable standard as we are working within the frameworks of a system that does not support these values. That's one of the reasons why many have gone from the term "zero waste" to terms like "low impact" and "low waste." It's simply more inclusive and respects the process of taking steps into a new lifestyle as a marathon, not a race nor something that any of us are likely to perfect. Neither do Zero Waste have to mean plastic-free, and so on. However, many who go zero waste also aim to go as plastic-free as possible.
It is important to underline what sustainability looks like online vs. what it is perceived and sold as online. Many stores and brands that aim to care for the environment have taken up zero waste items, or zero waste stores have come up with ridiculous items and more or less turned into the paradox of "consuming yourself into sustainability." As well, does social media paint it as an aesthetically pleasing movement, mainly carrying one pristine and calming expression. The truth is that Zero Waste looks different to everyone, and most of the time it doesn't look like staged photos online featuring products from "sustainable brands." Even sustainable brands are pushing new products to an already overflowing market, which makes thrifting the most sustainable solution out there.
This post was originally written in 2020.
Bibliography
⋆ SWIA (2018). Definition of Zero Waste. http://zwia.org/zero-waste-definition/
⋆ Griffin, Paul (2017). Carbon Majors Report. https://climateaccountability.org/pdf/CarbonMajorsRpt2017%20Jul17.pdf
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