How to Get Started With a Zero-Waste Lifestyle

With plastic pollution and climate change on the rise, figuring out how to reduce waste might be something you’re wondering about. Allow us to introduce you to the zero-waste lifestyle. This practice is all about focusing on the resources you’re using daily to cut down on how much you’re wasting.

As drastic as it sounds, implementing a zero-waste lifestyle isn’t anything hard or overwhelming. You can still go about your daily life as normal with just a few simple tweaks. In this guide, we’re looking at 12 ways you can reduce waste daily to be successful with a zero-waste lifestyle. 

Is a Zero-Waste Lifestyle Actually Achievable?

Let’s cut to the chase: zero-waste isn’t actually possible. After all, there are unavoidable factors like packaging and what items can be recycled or not that contribute to how much waste you create.

When we talk about a zero-waste lifestyle, we’re not saying you shouldn’t have no waste at all. Instead, we’re framing waste as something that’s possible to significantly reduce and even reuse. Now that is possible!

Implementing a zero-waste lifestyle is all about being mindful of daily habits and things you consume from food to water, energy, and more so you can save natural resources. Plus, when you’re more mindful of waste and limit how much of the resources you’re using, you eliminate your carbon footprint by decreasing the level of harmful emissions and pollution that are damaging our planet.  

12 Ways to Practice Zero-Waste Daily

1. Be mindful

The very first step in practicing a zero-waste lifestyle is simple: just be mindful. Sadly, most of the waste that’s filling up our landfills and oceans, or drying up our natural resources, comes from us simply not being as aware as we ought to be. 

Being mindful when it comes to reducing waste means being conscious of several things: what you buy, how much you buy, what you use, how much you use, and what you throw away. Areas where waste and overconsumption happen the most are found the following areas:

• Food
• Electricity and energy
• Water

• Closets 

2. Take short showers

While food is where our minds tend to go first when we think of things wasted the most, it isn’t the only thing that can be overly wasted–water from your baths and showers can be just as wasteful too. Every time you turn on the shower head or faucet, water is being drawn from a nearby source (river or lake). The longer you keep the water flowing, the more water that is being used and depleted.

So, to practice a zero-waste lifestyle when it comes to bathing, the first thing to do is cut out baths. Baths typically use more water than showers to fill the tub, but showers can be just as wasteful. If you’re standing under the stream of water for a long time, this is just as wasteful as taking a bath. So the best way to practice mindfulness in the shower is to make it quick! 

3. Reuse items as much as you can

Single-use items, especially plastic ones, contribute the most to landfills and are the most wasteful. Plastic water bottles, cutlery, bags, and more are getting tossed into landfills and oceans on a regular basis, but thankfully, there are ways to cut down on plastic pollution. One of the most impactful is to switch to reusable water bottles instead of plastic ones.

But this switch can be used in other areas too. Canvas bags can be reused time and time again for shopping instead of plastic bags, silicone drinking draws are the better alternative to single-use straws, reusable coffee filters cut down on how many paper ones are thrown away. 

4. Recycle the right materials

Another great way to practice a zero-waste lifestyle is to avoid the trash can and turn to the recycling bin… with the right materials, of course! Recycling cuts down on waste by taking discarded items and reusing them again for something different whereas items thrown in the trash go to sit in landfills. 

What items are safe to recycle? Any of the following materials can go in the recycling bin instead of the trash can:

• Paper

• Cardboard

• Glass

• Wood

• Steel

• Drink cartons

5. Conserve energy when necessary

Like food and water, energy is another hot area that sees a lot of waste. As you embark on your zero-waste journey, finding ways to conserve energy and electricity is key for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

The more electricity you use, the harder power plants have to work to channel energy into your home. When this happens, power plants have to burn more fossil fuels which then transfers emissions into the air. 

There are several ways you can reduce the amount of energy you consume daily with eco-friendly technology such as:

• Installing solar panels for electricity

• Switching bulbs in light fixtures to LED

• Use natural light as much as possible

• Only run appliances when necessary

• Air drying clothes and dishes

• Unplug electronics or appliances when not in use

• Don’t leave lights on for longer than you need them

6. Shop at thrift stores

Similar to power plants, clothes are notorious for using fossil fuels in the production process. Clothes are very wasteful considering the amount of resources it takes to make and how clothes are often overproduced. Clothes are incredibly problematic since “fast fashion” is another culprit for overflowing landfills. However, you can cut down on the amount of waste that comes from clothes by shopping at thrift stores and thrifting clothes you no longer need. This keeps clothes from winding up in landfills and gives other pieces another chance to be used. 

7. Meal plan 

Throwing out a lot of leftovers by the end of every week? Meal planning can drastically cut down on this waste. By planning your meals at the start of every week, you’ll not only shop smarter for the right portions, but you’ll also have your meals ready for the week ahead. This strategy also prevents stopping for takeout or drive through meals that contribute to greenhouse gasses from food production and transportation, especially if you shop locally at farmer’s markets.

8. Compost what you don’t eat

Speaking of food waste, if you happen to not finish all of your dinner, you might be able to get a second use out of it. Composting acceptable kitchen scraps is an easy way to keep landfills from overflowing while turning what you discard into a beneficial matter. Food that’s composted turns into a natural matter that then is used to improve the soil around your home, like the soil your garden is using. 

Plus, it’s super easy to get started with composting. You can sit a countertop composting bin like this one on your countertop to hold acceptable kitchen scraps that you’ll later transport to your composting pile. Scraps that are safe to go in the composting bin can be any of the following:  

• Fruit & veggies scraps/peels

• Eggshells

• Coffee grounds & filters

• Teabags

9. Go digital with your documents

You might not be thinking about the stack of paper documents you have stowed away as “waste,” but there’s an easier way to organize these. While paper can be recycled, there are certain types of paper – like receipt paper – that’s been found to contain BPA or BPS, both of which negatively impact your personal health.

Thank goodness technology has come a long way to make it possible to digitize your important documents. Not only does this reduce the amount of clutter you have in your home and promote better organization, it also removes being exposed to harmful chemicals. 

10. Switch to eco-friendly technology for appliances

When you start to live a zero-waste lifestyle, you don’t have to do it on your own. There are modern appliances and fixtures made to help you be more environmentally conscious and cut down on waste. 

Other than solar panels and LED lightbulbs, items like sustainable kitchen faucets, energy-efficient refrigerators and washing machines all help you conserve more water and energy to prevent overconsumption.

11. Make cleaning products at home

Part of having a sparkling clean home is having a properly sanitized one, but you don’t need the chemical cleaners to get the job done. Commercial cleaners with chemicals harm the environment by seeping into waterways and other systems that pollute the environment they end up in. Not to mention, most of these products are made with non-biodegrable packaging. 

Making your own household cleaner is great for the environment, your health, and for a zero-waste lifestyle. Homemade cleaners are usually made with natural ingredients you likely already have at home that don't harm the environment when discarded. It also uses products you already have in your cabinets so you aren’t buying something from the store that adds to environmental threats. 

12. Ditch plastic bags for canvas totes

While you might save those plastic bags from the grocery store to reuse as trash can liners, they’re still bad for the environment when you throw them away. And since they’re made of plastic, the decomposition process is horrendous in landfills. 

Switching to canvas totes for grocery shopping reduces the waste of plastic piling in our landfills and oceans, but also gives you something to reuse. Canvas totes can be used over and over again as you shop, which also gets rid of the single-use threat plastic poses to the environment.

Start Reducing Waste In The Kitchen Today

Whether it’s water to wash the dishes, expired leftovers, or discarded packaging, the kitchen is a very prominent space for waste. Luckily, you can do your part to reduce waste in the kitchen and other areas of life with these 12 ideas to live a zero-waste lifestyle. 

But, other than practicing zero-waste, there are more ways to live green. Check out our guide for 10 ways to live sustainably this year.