Professional Documents
Culture Documents
HEZE
RO-
WAS
TEL
IFE
STYL
E
THe
Zero-Waste
L i fest y l e
Live Well by
Throwing Away Less
L
A m y Kor st
Acknowledgments vii
Foreword by Bill McKibben ix
Introduction: Trash, Trash, Everywhere 1
Epilogue 241
An A-to-Z Guide to Recycling (Just About) Anything 248
Further Reading 253
Bibliography 255
About the Author 257
Index 258
Everybody has a trash can. In fact, it’s a safe bet that we all have multiple trash
cans crowding our lives—in the bathroom, in the car, under the kitchen sink,
and in the garage.
Before I started living trash free with my husband, Adam, we had all of
the above in our house, for a total of five trash cans at our instant disposal.
One day, while out running errands I counted how many trash cans I came
in contact with in public restrooms, restaurants, movie theaters, and stores:
thirty-two! I couldn’t believe it. Then I heard a statistic that still troubles me:
the average American produces three pounds of landfill-bound garbage each
day. I started seeing trash everywhere, especially in places it doesn’t belong,
like littering the sides of the road and all over the wilderness where we went
hiking and camping. I watched the trash pile up in our five garbage cans, and
I hauled a full 32-gallon can to the curb each week. We tried hard to be green,
so I didn’t understand how we could be responsible for creating so much
trash. Where did it all come from?
I decided to take a closer look at our country’s trash habits, and the more
I dug, the dirtier things appeared to be. Although these piles of trash we each
produce every year are stinky and unsightly, the problem is much worse than
that—for our environment and our health. Trash is intimately connected to
every environmental problem we face today, from climate change and habi-
tat destruction to water pollution and chemical exposure. It’s also intensely
personal and impacts every decision in our daily lives, including everything
from how much money we spend to how much weight we gain.
Getting Started
The first five chapters of the book tell you how to reorganize your life around
the concept of trash-free living. These chapters contain the basics—what you
need to know to successfully pull off a zero-waste lifestyle. You’ll first do a
home-waste audit to find out what’s in your trash. Then you’ll learn about the
3 Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. A fourth R—rot—will help you navigate the
world of composting (it won’t be stinky, I promise!), even if you live in an
apartment or don’t have a garden. You’ll learn how to determine what’s recy-
clable in your area, why the Rs always come in that order, and how recycling
really works. The basic steps of your day-to-day life are also covered, from
grocery shopping to meal planning to remembering your reusable totes.
This section of the book is designed for all readers, no matter your cir-
cumstances. These chapters will help you build a foundation for your waste
reduction. You’ll learn a little about trash production in our country today
as well as the damaging environmental impact trash can have on our planet.
After your home-waste audit, you’ll set a waste-reduction goal and bring the
rest of your family on board. Then you’ll set up efficient systems for sorting
your recyclables and organic wastes from your trash. You’ll learn to love the
Depression-era mantra, “Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without” as
you embrace the “forgotten Rs” of reduce and reuse.
Trash-Free Challenges
Part 2 is designed to cover specialized topics in an in-depth fashion. Here you
may want to read the chapters that specifically relate to your lifestyle. This
section focuses on tricky trash-free areas, like navigating holidays without
creating trash (it can be done, even at Christmas), raising kids without gar-
bage, and eating out in restaurants without creating waste. The goal of garbage-
free living is to maintain as normal a lifestyle as possible; that includes going
to movies, shopping at the mall, eating out in restaurants, and taking family
Next Steps
The final part of the book provides a big-picture look at the world’s trash
problem and looks at global initiatives to curb our wastefulness. In addi-
tion to lightening the load we haul to the curb each week, there are larger
political movements afoot that are working to make companies and govern-
ments more aware of the blight of trash and their contribution to it. Raising
awareness for these initiatives helps more people go trash free and makes the
whole process even easier.
This book is designed for anybody, whether you are interested in begin-
ning, moderate, or advanced trash reduction. Throughout the book, you’ll
also find tips targeted toward your comfort level. The most important thing
is to be aware of your trash and work to reduce it—every little bit helps.
`
What if I told you that you could go from an overflowing can perched on
the curb each week to making less than five pounds of trash in a year? That
taking the trash-free plunge would simplify your life, ease the strain on your
pocketbook, and help the planet, all at the same time?
All this is not only possible, it’s downright easy. And this book will teach
you how to do it. Let’s get started.
`
No matter what you’re celebrating, there is a way to do so without creating
so much waste. What is most important is the opportunity to gather with
close family and friends to celebrate a special occasion. A party filled with
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