As a pre-teen, I never thought about the zero-waste lifestyle and didn’t bother much about what was happening around me and what was happening in the environment. My journey toward sustainability started when I became in charge of a plantation activity in my neighborhood during my schooling. Initially, I didn’t want to do it. However, it was part of my extracurriculars, so I had to do it.
So, from here, I learned to embrace the beauty of nature. I saw those plants growing and thought that they’d give us shade and make our surroundings more beautiful when they were fully grown. I may sound selfish now, but this wasn’t true. As I planted those plants and cared for them, I got attached to them naturally. Here, I realized that people throw their litter here and there, especially the plastic materials and thousands of vehicles that run on the road that leave harmful smoke behind, which can affect my plants and our environment.
My journey started from here when I embraced a zero-waste lifestyle. I realized the freaking beauty of the earth, and I have no right to ruin it, and so do others. I began my journey toward sustainable living by observing small things around me.
Here, I remember that I read about the concept of the four R’s—Reuse, Reduce, Refuse, and Recycle—in my social studies classes, and it helped me a lot. How?
Firstly, I started to use things that can be reused. Instead of using disposable napkins to clean surfaces or my hands, I began to use cotton clothing. Cotton clothes are more comfortable than napkins, they don’t harm skin, and if used as a cleanser, they are easily washable.
Next, if I go on vacations or anywhere out, I purchase water bottles to drink water and dispose of them in trash cans, and I realized how wrong they were, as they increased plastic waste. So, instead of buying plastic water bottles, I started to use reusable bottles, like Stainless Steel Water Bottles, that can be filled again for reuse.
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byu/EmuLongjumping6485 from discussion
inZeroWaste
Another R taught me the concept of reducing. I often buy a lot of things that I don’t know if I’ll use or will throw them off. So, to produce less garbage, I began to reduce buying everything, whether clothes or any other stuff, reducing wasted food, and cooking or buying only as much as needed so the rest wouldn’t go to waste. I made the proper use of whatever I bought and then made sure to buy a sustainable, eco-friendly product.
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byu/EmuLongjumping6485 from discussion
inZeroWaste
Also, reducing buying and reusing things to the fullest saves me a lot of money. So, I guess it’s a win-win situation for everyone, whoever follows it.
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byu/EmuLongjumping6485 from discussion
inZeroWaste
However, there is a contribution of refusing to reduce. The third R, which stands for refuse, teaches us to refuse unnecessary stuff from buying. I refuse to purchase food that I won’t eat at home and refuse to buy unwanted or extra products that will eventually go into the garbage.
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byu/jcarunningman from discussion
inZeroWaste
Now, the last thing is recycling. I cannot do much here because recycling is a vast industrialization process. But it’s a more region- and government-dependent process, and to do this, you need to first ensure that a recycling facility is available in your locality. It is available in mine, so I put garbage like glass, plastic, or aluminum in a separate recycling bin.
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byu/RevolutionaryName228 from discussion
inZeroWaste
So, recycling is the last option. However, if I follow the 3 R’s mentioned above correctly, I usually have fewer things to recycle.
Last Updated on by Janhavi Ramesh Kowligi