Welcome!

Welcome to the Zero Waste Experiment!

My name is Nina, and I’m going to be using this blog to document my experience going “zero waste” or producing as little waste as I can. Zero waste living has become very trendy- gaining popularity online through modes of social media, YouTube videos, and blogs.

I was introduced to the idea of zero waste living through watching a YouTube video that was interviewing Lauren Singer of Trash is for Tossers. She was showing the interviewer a mason jar that she had filled with all of her trash from the past four years. Everything in the mason jar was plastic that was not recyclable where she lives. Singer described how she recycles everything that she can, she composts food scraps, and reuses items such as plastic bags and water bottles.

Watching this video, I thought to myself “I could never do that.” I try to recycle as much as I can, I use a reusable water bottle, and sure, I watch a ton of climate change documentaries on the side as well. I’ve heard about islands of trash floating in the middle of the ocean, I once attended a campus cleanup at my school, and although all these things are positive- being aware of what is going on and doing something about it- reading more and more facts and statistics made me realize that what I’m doing just isn’t good enough. What I was doing, and what so many I know are doing, was being passive in my efforts to help the environment. I did just enough to have a clean conscience in what I was doing, but I wasn’t going far enough to see what I was doing impacting others. I’ve decided that my quest towards becoming more environmentally friendly (for a lack of a better word) will start with experimenting with zero waste living.

On this blog I will document my experience with zero waste living, my preparation leading up to it, and how I feel about it. I will discuss the difficulty, cost-effectiveness, effort, and sustainability of zero waste living. I will also discuss the social aspect and externalities associated with zero waste living, that I may not be able to prevent. I will document all 14 days of my experiment, starting June 1, 2017, and at the end of the 14 days have a final verdict on if the zero waste lifestyle really is effective and if it is easy. The problem with why so many people still aren’t doing things for our environment is because it isn’t as readily available as they would like. For example, going vegan is humane and greatly reduces an individual’s environmental impact, but it is expensive, it is hard nutrition-wise, and it is difficult to go out for dinner in public or even go to events such as barbeques, etc. I will be assessing whether going zero waste is easy and effective, because if it is, this trend could catch on and forever change our society.

You can find more information on zero waste living and facts about waste and why this is necessary in the pages bar.

Thank you for joining me on this environmental journey!

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“It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” – Eleanor Roosevelt.