While enjoying an extravagant meal on your dining table, you probably don’t even think where your food packages and leftovers will end up. Any rubbish we produce, unfortunately, starts to fill up every corner of sanitary landfills. Much worse, thrown debris might end up in your footpath and outdoor spaces.
In only two years, Australians generated a whopping 67 million tonnes of wastes in 2016-2017. The escalation of rubbish significantly pollutes our clean air, water and natural environment rapidly. Do we even stand a chance to reduce such environmental issues?
Don’t fret because the zero waste movement has become popular over the last few years. With such a course of action, little by little, we can start a positive change for our planet. Challenging yourself to adopt a zero-waste lifestyle is another way of gearing one’s self towards a sustainable and greener environment.
On that, here’s the checklist you can follow to kickstart your zero waste journey:
Start Zero Waste Challenge On Your Own Pace
Embracing a zero-waste lifestyle is never an overnight task. It is a step by step process that requires discipline, strong dedication and commitment. Whether you’ll eliminate plastic straws or single-use plastics, you must have daily concrete plans on what items to reduce or remove permanently in your daily routines.
But binging on your daily goals is an unhealthy way of coping with a zero-waste lifestyle. Start the challenge on your pacing and capacity. Don’t focus on how much rubbish you produce in the first week of the challenge, but more on how you slowly adapt to it as a life-long practice.
Zero-Waste: It’s the Small Action That Counts
The core idea of the zero-waste challenge is to remove or eliminate all rubbish in your home. It means no wasted resources and the least trash produced as possible. But these things won’t go a hundred per cent on the way you want it to happen. Thus it’s crucial to practice it step by step.
Aside from food packages, the zero-waste challenge involves all your rubbish — from the general refusal of consumption in certain products to opting for sustainable products. You can start by eliminating single-use plastic as the first line of action or purchasing items in the zero waste shop. Zero-waste practices should begin with your simple daily actions.
Start A Trash Auditing
After you establish the right mindset, the next thing you need to do is trash auditing. Trash auditing sheds light on what rubbish and unwanted items you’re throwing in your bins. It can help you reduce or limit other unwanted junk next, be it your coffee cups, tissues, food packaging and daily rubbish, among others.
Assess Your Ecological Footprint
Every person has an ecological footprint— that is the holistic outlook on your resources usage. It can determine how many earths it requires if all people on the planet live like you. Assessing your ecological footage can then help you reduce your demands, use of certain products and limit household consumption.
The value of your ecological footprint can help you succeed in the zero-waste challenge. It’s another way to assess if you’re changing you’re lifestyle for the better. There are many factors to consider when you wanted to calculate your ecological footprint.
Plastic-Free Kitchen Spaces
As you prepare food every day, expect to have more food packages, wrappers, plastic jars and other unwanted items from your kitchen. Opting for reusable and recyclable items can never be more advantageous in a zero-waste lifestyle. Among the things you should use are:
- Metal lunch boxes or silicon zip-locks for lunches and leftovers
- Reusable water bottle, plastic shopping bags
- Bamboo straws/reusable straws
- Glass jars for food, nuts and condiments storage
- Reusable utensils and other materials in your kitchen
Create A Zero-Waste Kit for Travels
Attaining a zero-waste lifestyle is quite a handful task, particularly if you’re travelling. That’s why it’s essential to create a zero-waste kit as you kickstart your zero waste journey. You can opt for an eco-bag tote, stainless steel straw and other items you need as an alternative to single-use plastics. Preparing such a kit can help you prevent pitfalls and stay on track for a zero-waste lifestyle anywhere you go.
Embrace a Zero Waste Meal Plan
Excessive food leftovers take a significant portion of household rubbish. That’s why it’s crucial to make a zero-waste meal preparation to end such rubbish issues in your home. But what do you mean by a zero-waste meal? It simply means buying or cooking enough food for your family, ensuring that nothing goes to waste.
Aside from that, you can also go to local shops to find zero waste products or avoid any food packaging and plastic wrappers. There are many cookbooks and recipes online to guide you on how to prepare a zero-waste meal like a pro. You only need ample time to scan some ideas on the internet to make it happen.
Prepare for Any Composting Options
Sending your waste to landfills increases the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. But you can take a reroute from the common endpoint of your organic and green rubbish. You have many composting options regardless of your home’s size — you can create a worm bin, compost heap or seek a composting pick-up service.
Utilising your compost can add nutrients to your garden. Doing sustainable gardening in your backyards can give you fresh produce that requires no packaging and plastic wrappers. There are countless ways to stay on track with your zero-waste challenge.
In a Nutshell
Attaining a zero-waste lifestyle seems impossible if you don’t have the right attitude, discipline and commitment. Such a challenge can significantly preserve the depleting natural resources and mitigate the effects of climate change. It is a call not only for many individuals but for businesses and the government to embrace sustainable ways to let our future children enjoy the beauty of our planet.
At Paul’s Rubbish Removal, we are in one team towards the zero-waste movement. When it’s impossible to reuse your worn-out appliances, or you need to eliminate your organic wastes, we have highly efficient removers to sort all that out. We have over ten years of industry experience in providing comprehensive and eco-friendly rubbish removal services across Sydney.
We got the best team in helping you achieve a zero-waste lifestyle as your lifelong goal. Contact our expert staff at 0407 125 25 as we provide you with our top-notch, eco-friendly rubbish removal services.