Beginner Zero Waste Mistakes You're Probably Making
Photo by Tierra Hatami
When first starting off your zero waste lifestyle, you’re bound to make mistakes as you navigate the onerous journey that is zero waste. This is because no one is perfect and changing habits that you have created over a lifetime is hard and takes time. I’m here to say, mistakes are okay!! It’s just important to know which mistakes to try and avoid in order to ensure you have a successful transition to a zero-waste lifestyle. Everyone writes about what you should be doing, but it was hard to find information on what I shouldn’t be doing. So here you go!
Thinking You Need to Buy Every Sustainable Product.
When I was first starting out zero waste (& I am by no means perfect now) I was swamped with all of the different lifestyle changes that I needed to make in order to lower my environmental footprint. The hardest part was feeling like I needed to purchase all of these different sustainable product alternatives in order to fulfill my goal of becoming zero waste. Every time I used my plastic sponge to wash a pan, I would feel ashamed that I didn’t have a compostable walnut hull sponge instead; when I used my plastic Venus razor in the shower, all I could think of was how wasteful the replaceable heads were. This caused me to research product alternatives for every plastic item in my house and realized that replacing everything at once was WAY out of my budget.
Then I came across an Instagram post talking about how no matter what you are buying (whether sustainable or not) there is some negative impact on the Earth regardless, so it is actually better to finish using your non-sustainable products until they are gone or need to be replaced. The carbon emissions, resources, and energy that went into making the products you currently have were already used up. If you simply get rid of perfectly usable plastic items, all of that time and those resources are completely wasted.
It is important to remember that Zero Waste is NOT just about buying sustainable products, it’s about using what you already have until it can’t be used anymore. Zero Waste is, at its absolute core, attempting to create as little waste as possible and have the smallest environmental footprint. You can’t simply buy your way to a sustainable lifestyle by purchasing eco-friendly products. This is not to say that what you buy doesn't matter, because it does a whole lot! It’s just important to wait to buy sustainable product alternatives until you actually need them.
Before you buy something, really think about what you already have and make an effort to use up the resources you have already paid for. I bet you have excess toiletries under your sink, so use those up before switching to shampoo and conditioner bars! Or you may have bought a bulk package of disposable razor heads; use them before buying a sustainable safety razor!
2. Viewing Zero Waste as All-or-Nothing
Let’s clear this up right now: Zero Waste living is not all-or-nothing! Believe it or not, you can practice zero waste living even if you don’t do everything that sustainability gurus suggest. Success looks different for everyone, so don’t compare your journey to some Instagram personality who is 100% Vegan, makes their own almond milk, produces no trash, and always remembers their reusable food storage containers when they eat out. These people are fantastic, but their lifestyles aren’t realistic for most of us. These people have probably been living sustainably for years and went through the same struggles and mistakes as you when they first began!
Remember that zero waste living is a journey, meaning it will take time, there will be obstacles to overcome, and there will be days where you feel like a failure, but through it all, you will become a more cognizant, caring, and intentional person. When you get rid of the all-or-nothing attitude, you can celebrate each little success. Know that every time you accomplish another zero waste lifestyle change, that is a habit that will reduce your environmental footprint for the rest of your life! That’s a big deal!
3. Trying to Change Everything at Once
There are so many different ways in which you can lower your environmental footprint! This is a great thing because it means there are many things you can choose from, but it also means that you won’t be able to do EVERYTHING, especially not all at once, and that’s okay. When you try to do too many things simultaneously, it can be defeating. If you try to completely overhaul your life with zero-waste lifestyle changes you will have a very hard time sticking with all of these new changes. Instead, focus on one change at a time. Once you have successfully mastered that first change, then add another one and another one until you have completely transformed your life to be as eco-friendly as it can be (for you).
Another thing to remember is that the same zero waste options are not always available to everyone equally. Living in a city may provide you with more sustainable alternatives than if you live in a suburb or the countryside. Many parts of the country don’t yet have all of the zero waste options that some people are lucky to have access to in their hometowns. I am privileged to live in Boulder, Colorado where zero waste living is popular, so I have more options than most people. This is not the case for everyone; if you don’t have access to zero waste alternatives in your area, it is okay! You can’t control that, so don’t blame yourself when product alternatives aren’t available. Just do your best with what you have available, and purchase select sustainable items you can’t get at a brick and mortar store from sustainable online retailers like EarthHero!
4. Making Everything Yourself
Making DIY products is certainly a fantastic way to lower your environmental impact, but it is time-consuming and can be hard to learn. If you’re like me, you love DIY-ing because it is fun and a great way to let out your creative energy while also being productive. In reality, unless you have loads of time on your hands, it is unrealistic to think you can continually make DIY products. Making a simple face toner out of witch hazel, rose water, and apple cider vinegar is one thing, but attempting to make all your house cleaners, your toothpaste, your lotion/body butter, etc. every month might be sustainable for the Earth but its not sustainable for YOU! And if it’s not sustainable for you, then you won’t stick with it anyway! It is better to think about which products you use that would be easy to make yourself and just choose a couple of things you want to make yourself, rather than trying to become a DIY expert!
5. Becoming Obsessed with Plastic Packaging
It is easy to see plastic packaging as one of the biggest problems when first starting out a zero-waste lifestyle. This is because plastic is super bad for the environment and it is easy for us to identify in products, making it seem easy to avoid. Once you start paying attention to products at your local supermarkets, you start to realize that almost everything has some sort of plastic packaging involved. When I first started my zero waste journey, I tried to avoid all products that had plastic packaging. This is super hard and stressful because I often couldn't find products that were plastic-free, like strawberries and raspberries! Usually, berries are packaged in plastic containers and there is no other way to buy them. Instead of forgoing these berries, it is okay to buy them!
The reason that avoiding plastic packaging is not the super simple way to limit your environmental footprint, is because zero waste applies to wasted resources and energy as well. Here's an example for you to think of:
If you go to the butcher at the supermarket with your own reusable, plastic-free packaging to put your ground beef in, you might feel great that you avoided plastic packaging. In reality, the amount of land, water, and energy used to produce that beef are far more detrimental to the environment than buying a vegan patty packaged in plastic film and a recyclable plastic tray. The takeaway from this example is that it is important to think about the natural resources and energy that was used to make a product and not just focus on one singular way to reduce your waste.
6. Setting a Finish Line
Don’t set yourself a finish line or an end goal that, once you achieve it, you have accomplished zero waste living perfectly! It is important to have a clear vision of what you are trying to achieve and the steps you must take to do it. When you set a finish line, it can take away from the greater goal of zero waste living and cause you to over obsess about getting to the finish line.
Rather, I like to think of zero waste living as a constant journey of self-improvement in honor of the Earth! Zero waste living is a journey because you are never truly done. There will always be new information that arises about how you can make an even bigger positive impact, so why limit yourself to one goal and stop there? Not only does having a finish line distract you from the multitude of possible ways you could be practicing zero waste living, but it also implies that you can reach a perfect goal and then no longer have to improve. Neither of these side effects of having a finish line is going to help you reduce your harm to the planet.
A typical goal that people might set for themselves is to only produce a finite amount of trash each year, the classic goal being to fit it all into one jar. This is so hard to do! If you set goals that are simply unattainable, especially when first starting out, you are only going to feel discouraged. Maybe save fitting all your yearly waste into a jar in a couple of years, when you are actually prepared to do that! Be realistic and understand what limitations will be in your way before you dedicate yourself to an outlandish zero-waste goal.