the desire to live waste free for me, came from the Waste Free July challenge. I wanted to try to reduce my waste, and started binging ont documentaries and blog articles to learn about all the ways to cut back on plastic. This lead me down the rabbit hole of finding ways around plastic straws, take away containers and coffee cups, bags etc.

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Let me tell you that living with less waste does not mean depriving yourself of a good time - at all. It means coming prepared. It means learning how to make the things that come highly packaged yourself, finding alternatives to what you normally use to make it plastic free. I'll give you the old example of a lunch with friends. If you eat in but the restaurant offers everything in to-go containers to avoid washing up dishes (yup, tat happens a lot), you can whip out your reusable container and cup and ask to be served in there instead. The whole point is, you just saved a full set of plastic items to end up in landfills or the sea. And the more people doing the same thing, the more chances we have to see cafes offering compostable silverware. 

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#2 LIVE IT OUT

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Reducing waste also means fighting off our initial urge to get rid of every plastic item in the house, including Tupperwares, plastic makeup boxes, and any other item you might have in your home. Let them finish their lives, use them up until they outlive their intended use. Throwing things out is no way to start a waste free life ! Then little by little, when things need to be replaced, you can pick sturdier, stronger items of good quality, avoiding them an early trip to the local landfill.

#3 CUT YOURSELF SOME SLACK

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When I started out my low waste journey, I felt like every time I was handed a drink with a plastic straw, or forgot my coffee cup at home, I had failed. Instead of focusing on your slip ups, think of all the ways you are still minimising your impact. The most important thing is to do your best and be conscious. Oh and remember that a Mason jar goes a long way - it can be used as a water bottle, a coffee cup, a Tupperware or a low waste shopping aid. That's always great to carry around !

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#4 SHARE AND SHARE SOME MORE

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Low waste is now a fashionable thing to do, most shops sell reusable straws, less baristas flinch when you give them your own cup and you can spot people in the streets with reusable bags more often. We have to capitalise on this being a trend, to share the word with more and more people, showing them how easy and doable low waste is, how important it is to be conscious, how life changing it is to be part of the solution. Let's inspire more and more people to do the same thing, to care for our planet and for each other, because ultimately, living waste free is showing love and care for everything and everyone we meet. 

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