Over the past months I’ve shared snippets of my journey towards a lower waste lifestyle. I’ve been toying with minimalist views and ideas for a while, slowly implementing them in my life more and more, and I feel like “zero waste” is a locigal thing to consider within that. Wasting resources, physical or monetary, is something I’ve always disliked very much and that’s in fact one of my biggest struggles with minimalism. I have a hard time throwing anything away that could still potentially serve a purpose at some point, even if it doesn’t necessarily serve me right now. A way I can still easily control my belongings and the waste they produce is by getting a tighter grip on anything new that enters my home. I’ve been working towards building a more sustainable, eco-friendly household for a few months, with the biggest focus being on reducing the amount of single use items we go through.
I’ve shared some of the more sustainable swaps I’ve made around the house in this video and this post, but for the sake of keeping it real, today I wanted to share some things that I struggle with when it comes to reducing waste and single use (plastic) items. My biggest struggle is with grocery shopping: food is by far the biggest waste machine in our home and one that I have trouble slowing down.
The Price
At the supermarket, not only is it hard to find produce that isn’t wrapped in plastic, but the unwrapped products are nearly always pricier than the wrapped ones. You can find unwrapped produce at the greengrocer’s, but where I live the only greengrocers around are luxury specialty stores with much higher price tags than the super market. Luckily, the two biggest super market chains in the Netherlands (which also happen to be the two stores closest to me) have both vowed to make an effort to reduce the amount of plastic that’s used in produce packaging. Hopefully this’ll change for the better soon.
Farmer’s Markets
A fantastic place to buy packaging free produce is a farmer’s market, and this is something I used to do a lot when I had one around the corner. Now however, the closest farmer’s market to me is a 20 minute cycle away, and it’s only open on Friday mornings. If I were to buy all my bread, fruit and veg there, I’d have to buy a week’s worth of food in one go and carry it home on my bike, which I’m sure I could find a way to do. However… Right now I go grocery shopping twice a week to ensure my produce is fresh. We have a small fridge and an even smaller freezer so whenever possible we keep the fruit and veg on the counter, and a lot of it won’t last a whole week. It’s much healthier to eat fruit and veg as soon as possible after harvest anyway, to ensure you get the most out of it. Making food shopping at a market a habit would take a big chunk of time out of my week that I don’t think I can afford to lose right now.
Availability
We don’t really have bulk stores in Amsterdam as far as I’m aware, and the ones we do have are very hip all-organic ones with, once again, rather intimidating price tags. Not to mention they’re located on the other side of town. The zero waste movement isn’t that big over here yet (although it’s definitely upcoming) and given that we’re such a tiny and densely populated country, we’ve never had a need for bulk stores traditionally as grocery shopping frequently isn’t generally a problem. Bulk products are simply really hard to find!
Social Anxiety
Ok, this might seem like the worst excuse ever, but when you want lower waste options, sometimes you have to ask for something modified. You can get unpackaged bread at the super market, but you have to ask the girl behind the counter to put it in your bag for you. You could get take-away food in your own container, but you’d have to ask for something unconventional and you never know how the other person’s going to react. This may not seem like a big deal at all, but to me things like this are terrifying and I can feel my stomach fluttering at just the thought. It’s something I’m working on, but right now this is definitely a barrier for me.
There’s more, of course, such as my unwillingness to DIY some cosmetic products (such as toothpaste, makeup and shampoo), still trying to get the hang of second hand clothing shopping, and probably many more things I haven’t even thought of, but these are the biggest things I struggle with at the moment. I have every intention to keep trying to find solutions to these so hopefully this’ll change over time, but like every major change in life, it’s a process.
I’d love to hear your thoughts! Do you have any low waste struggles, or tips maybe?
You are doing great, Lucy! I love that you pay attention to these kinds of things. I agree about the social barriers and inconveniences. It’s good to discuss and try to solve some of the issues that come up.
Personally don’t like the term “zero waste”…I don’t think it is realistic and puts undue stress on people to strive for perfection that will never happen. Instead focus on “low impact”. Do what you can with what is available and let go of the stress on the rest. Every little bit helps.
I’ve been slowly implementing a lot of small changes that have made a big impact on the amount of waste we produce. My husband on the other hand is oblivious and uninterested in changing…so I do what I can to mitigate our waste and try to offer replacements for his favourite things…it’s a slow progress but at least it’s in the right direction
Couldn’t agree more!
I like to be aware of my waste, but zero-waste seems silly to me. I do what I can, but the people who are really polluting the earth are the CEO’s with their big factories. Zero-waste just brings anxiety.
Definitely. It’s a bit disheartening that the impact you’re actually making as an individual is so small, but on the other hand, every little effort counts :) Doing what you can/feel comfortable with is good enough in my opinion!
Love the ‘keeping it real’ approach. I find ‘zero’ waste a real buzz word but a totally unattainable goal. Less-waste is a much easier goal, and it’s easy to lose sight of the good things you’re doing and just get overwhelming stressed about all the negative impact our lives have on the environment. I know I do ;)
I enjoy all of your tips about reducing waste. Helps me think of new ideas or re-examine what I am doing. I think you are doing a great job! Just being aware of it and trying to do better is great. I feel like it’s not so black and white. There are lots of shades of gray for me regarding waste. I’ve tried to minimize waste since the 90s. I am always looking for even small changes I can make. Some days I am better at waste reduction than others. I have found the biggest obstacle to reducing and controlling waste is having children. It was much easier to control our household and waste environment prior to having a child. Once kiddos are in the picture, life in general changes, and so did our waste production. I feel like it has morphed as our son has gotten older, for example he’s 8 years old and we don’t have things like diapers, but we have a lot more food consumption in the house, therefore a lot more food waste to deal with. The great thing is teaching him about waste and the environment, and teaching him good habits. For example, baby steps and small steps–I have worked hard this year to teach him to use both sides of paper that he is coloring on, because he hates to do that. Kids! :)