Living Zero Waste means that you aim to minimize the amount of garbage you send to the landfill through mindful shopping habits and careful waste disposal. It is a gateway to a healthier, simplified lifestyle that saves you time and money and is better for the planet. Can you see why it’s easy to get hooked?
Some Zero Waste bloggers claim to throw out just a quart jar of trash every year. This may seem like an impossible goal for your own household. Certainly, a quart jar of trash per week let alone per year seems daunting – but drastically shrinking your trash bag is actually more doable than you might think.
The ultimate goal of Zero Waste is to divert all trash from the landfill through following the five Rs, in this order:
- Refuse single use plastic, disposables, packaging, cheap plastic toys, etc.
- Reduce consumption and purge belongings you don’t need by donating/selling
- Reuse or Repair whenever possible
- Recycle when something has reached the end of its useful life
- Rot or compost the rest
Tossing something in the trash should be the last resort! The idea is to reduce consumption and lessen our impact on the environment by mindfully moving away from a throw-away culture to a sustainable closed loop system in which everything manufactured can be recycled or reused again and again.
Recent headlines that China will no longer accept plastic bags from Nova Scotia and images of plastic covered beaches and endangered animals have set off alarm bells. The frightening truth about plastic is that it never actually disappears and it is becoming harder for us to look away.
I know it has me asking more questions about what happens to our garbage and recycling after it leaves the curb.
Nova Scotia has been a leader in its recycling and composting programs – we can recycle most plastics curbside and even if you don’t have a backyard compost, every household has green bin pick up service. This positions us well to divert most of our trash from the landfill, yet nearly half of the trash we send to the landfill could have been recycled or composted. It takes a little extra effort, but many things can be diverted with just a bit of a mental shift and a good household waste sorting system.
Careful waste sorting is one piece of the puzzle and a great place to start.
Your setup may look a bit different, but my Zero Waste sorting system looks like this:
- Only one small trash can in the kitchen
- Two paper bags in a bin in the bathroom for compost and paper
- A closed container by the cat litter box. Cat waste goes in the trash (though this is debatable).
- Two recycling bins in the kitchen for paper and plastic/glass/cans
- Three recycling bins for refundables, metal, and wood (for Spring & Fall pick up)
- A small container for expired or leftover medicine to return to the pharmacy
- A jar in the laundry room for dryer lint, which can be composted
- Three bins in the kitchen for chicken food, garden compost, and green bin compost
This set up makes it easy for me to dispose of things correctly and not take the lazy way out and toss things in the trash mindlessly. Sometimes a bag or jar just needs to be cleaned properly or an item taken apart so that some components can be recycled. Before anything goes into the garbage can, I make sure that it is true trash.
If you aren’t sure of local disposal guidelines, refer to the Municipal waste website or visit Divert NS. They have helpful waste sorting guides and if you have any questions, you can contact them.
Like I did, you might learn that you have been blue bagging things that are destined for the landfill, like chip bags. (Can someone please tell me of a potato chip brand that uses recyclable packaging? Chips are my weakness!)
I like to think of the Zero Waste lifestyle as one that includes as many Zero Waste actions and habits as possible. It is not all or nothing and there is no wrong way to begin. My lifestyle looks like this, but yours will look different. Plus, a few changes implemented over time are more likely to become long-term habits than a furious rush towards perfection.
Through this monthly series, I invite you to try out some new Zero Waste Habits and rethink some of your purchases. I will debunk some of the myths that surround Zero Waste living and offer practical tips, local information and resources that will help you reduce trash, and highlight local businesses that are embracing this shift and can help you along the way.
When you look in your household trash can, what do you notice? Where is most of your daily waste coming from? Are you tossing things in there that could be recycled or composted? Or maybe refused in the first place? Before you throw something away, consider the 5 Rs and ask if it could be diverted from the landfill. You might be amazed by how much a bit of mindfulness can shrink your trash bag!
Margaret Hoegg is a Simple Local Life Contributor. She is also a writer, entrepreneur, and sustainability advocate on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Margaret writes about local food, gardening, sustainability, and wellness at Living Locavore and can be found on Instagram @living.locavore.
*This post has been sponsored by the Clean Foundation. The Clean Foundation provides individuals and communities with the means, knowledge, and opportunity to make responsible environmental choices through innovative, effective and educational programs that result in positive environmental change. The Clean Foundation has several programs that help reduce the amount of waste we produce and prevent it from accumulating in our communities and in natural areas.
Hi Jen,
Great post. I have a few thoughts comparing compost and recycling where I live to NS.
In NS:
– Can you put pet waste in your green bin? (It is accepted in AB)
– Can you compile your paper receipts and shred them for recycling? (In a clear bag – also accepted in AB)
– Can you recycle you batteries at a hardware or electronic store? (Home Hardware/Home Depot, Staples and Best Buy have programs in AB. I keep my used batteries, plus light bulbs, in a Ziplock box and recycle at one of these stores when it’s full).
Hopefully you have the same options and can recycle even more of your trash items!
Great questions Kristi! The only one I am sure of is the battery recycling…apparently Staples has a program. I’ll see if Margaret has some more info.
Hi Jen,
I did some Googling and this website will also show additional places in NS that recycles batteries. There is a section on the website that asks if a business wants to participate in their battery recycling program. It’s small enough countertop packaging.
https://www.call2recycle.org/
Perhaps ask your sponsored friends at GOW’s if they’re interested in participating in a battery recycling program?! 🙂
Great idea! Thanks so much Kristi!
Great questions! Re pet waste, some counties allow it in the green bin (Colchester County, Pictou County, and most recently the Valley) and some don’t. Divert NS Research & Development has funded pet waste research in the past (Full 2010 Report: http://divertns.ca/assets/files/CLDF-REPORT.pdf)
To clarify – that’s actually only cat litter waste. As far as we know, no Nova Scotia green bins allow dog waste.
Good to know! But have u used this compost on ur gardens? It’s nasty! I disagree with this waste going in our compost bins, for that simple reason. We tried on our gardens & the smell was very unpleasant through our whole back yard. Not sure I’d want to eat what’s grown in it.
Great post! We just started reducing our household waste and being mindful when shopping for food, always opting for vegetables not wrapped in plastic and such. Looking forward to hearing more about Zero Waste living, so we can get new ideas and keep improving in our goal to become a more sustainable household.
Thanks Carmen…glad you are following along! This seems like a perfect fit with your future tiny adventure. 🙂
I love your blog. I started following when we lived in Sk and knew we were moving to the South Shore. Thanks for all the ideas and I fo you share.
Hi Melissa….so great to have you following along! I appreciate you reading. Have a great weekend! 🙂
I moved from NS to NB in July – but – Hebbville Academy has a battery recycling program … I’m sure other places do also. I am pretty sure you can eliminate those from your garbage picture 🙂
Oh that’s great…I didn’t realize Hebbville had that program. Someone else mentioned Staples does as well. 🙂
I’m excited about this new series as we try to further reduce our waste. Any ideas for chicken feed bags? I currently have them piling up in the barn. (Oooh, maybe I’ll make them into a bed for our barn cats!) Also, batteries are collected for recycling/disposal at different places around here – we take ours to Staples. I’m looking forward to further posts! 🙂
Thanks Sherri…a lot of people seem to be interested and paying attention to our trash/waste issues. I’m looking forward to making changes and learning too. 🙂
Great post! So scary how much plastic is polluting the earth, we certainly need to find ways to reduce waste.
Yes…it’s time to start addressing this. Well…its past time really.
Me again. Lol
As far as your chip addiction and guilt of a non recyclable snack bag, there is one option… change your brand of chip and ship the clean empty bags to Terracycle.
I’m conflicted, as you are able to recycle these bags, but you increase a carbon footprint by shipping.
It’s a toss up between a carbon footprint or a forever footprint I guess!
Ponder over some Terra chips and keep me posted!
https://www.terracycle.ca/en-CA/brigades/terra-sensible-portions-and-garden-of-eatin
Such great feedback! I didn’t know about the Staples or Hebbville Academy battery recycling programs, but it seems lots of you do, which is fantastic. The Municipal waste calendar includes non-rechargeable batteries under garbage, but there are many other recycling programs out there. My hope is we can share these with each other in this community.
I have heard of Terracycle, but haven’t looked into as an option. It seems like a good option if you have a like-minded group to share costs with. 😉
Sherrie – feed bags stump me as well, and they really pile up. I’ve used them to insulate the coop and I’ve had ppl who sell firewood approach me to use them for selling kindling. You can make your feed go longer by fermenting it or making your own. Please share if you come up with more ideas.
This post has really got me thinking (Obviously!).
I didn’t realize dryer lint could be composted, and I will now take it from it’s laundry room shelf holding container and compost vs trash. Hooray!
Then it got me thinking some more about household cleaning… I have a Dyson vacuum which is bagless and has a canister that collects the whirling dirt.
Could you compost that too?
Just Us coffee bags can be returned to a just us shop for recycling. No other collection options that I know of.
Thank you David for letting us know…very helpful!