Two things I have been researching and learning more about are living with zero waste and minimalism. They are quite self-explanatory, however they can also be interpreted in a few different ways.
Being zero waste, at least through my view, is striving to produce as little that will be sent to a landfill as possible. This means that you can compost, recycle, and upcycle as much as you want, but you are consciously choosing to buy items that will not end up in a landfill, that being the item itself or its packaging. This means buying in bulk, buying local, and buying high quality items of natural materials that can breakdown naturally, or be converted into some else. Anything that is purchased prepackaged, should be contained in something that can be recycled. It isn't hard to do, so long as you do it consciously and say no to things that don't fit into the zero waste criteria.
Now minimalism, I believe is a much more broad term. There are people that are minimal with their clothing, or food, or expenses. It is very easy to apply minimalism to anything in your life. I'm working toward becoming more minimal with the clothing, material objects, and purchases, however I love to craft and therefore I don't think I will be cleaning out my craft supplies any time soon. Apply minimalism to what is important to you.
I would like to start doing more posts on these two 'lifestyles' in the future. I put lifestyles in quotes because anyone can apply these concepts to any aspect of life, and there is no right or wrong way to practice really. One thing many people do on the path to zero waste is cut out plastic, however I have a lot of plastic tupperware which I use instead of plastic wrap or bags. Now some people may toss all of those out and purchase glass or stainless steel containers, but to me that is just as wasteful. Use the items you have until they don't work for you anymore, and then replace them with better items. That's at least what I plan on doing.
I hope that this and future posts may encourage someone to give these ideas a try, and hopefully they will stick! I don't think anyone would suffer from striving to consume less, even in the age of more, more, more. Do any of you already practice these methods in your home or life?
Being zero waste, at least through my view, is striving to produce as little that will be sent to a landfill as possible. This means that you can compost, recycle, and upcycle as much as you want, but you are consciously choosing to buy items that will not end up in a landfill, that being the item itself or its packaging. This means buying in bulk, buying local, and buying high quality items of natural materials that can breakdown naturally, or be converted into some else. Anything that is purchased prepackaged, should be contained in something that can be recycled. It isn't hard to do, so long as you do it consciously and say no to things that don't fit into the zero waste criteria.
Now minimalism, I believe is a much more broad term. There are people that are minimal with their clothing, or food, or expenses. It is very easy to apply minimalism to anything in your life. I'm working toward becoming more minimal with the clothing, material objects, and purchases, however I love to craft and therefore I don't think I will be cleaning out my craft supplies any time soon. Apply minimalism to what is important to you.
I would like to start doing more posts on these two 'lifestyles' in the future. I put lifestyles in quotes because anyone can apply these concepts to any aspect of life, and there is no right or wrong way to practice really. One thing many people do on the path to zero waste is cut out plastic, however I have a lot of plastic tupperware which I use instead of plastic wrap or bags. Now some people may toss all of those out and purchase glass or stainless steel containers, but to me that is just as wasteful. Use the items you have until they don't work for you anymore, and then replace them with better items. That's at least what I plan on doing.
I hope that this and future posts may encourage someone to give these ideas a try, and hopefully they will stick! I don't think anyone would suffer from striving to consume less, even in the age of more, more, more. Do any of you already practice these methods in your home or life?
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