From a young age I've been the model empath, always caring about others' wellbeing and hating injustice and misfortunes. I've also had excellent role models, as my family always preached kindness, and some of my earliest memories of my father involved him feeding all the local stray cats. So it wasn't really a shocker when at the ripe age of 13 I delved into vegetarianism, and albeit the road was long and bumpy and I fell off track a handful of times, eventually I committed to the compassion extremity of veganism. So, there I was, choosing this heroic lifestyle, proud of myself for doing the ultimate good and saving the world, until recently...
See, recently I realised that just being vegan wasn't really enough, that I had a ways to go before taking on my final form as the ultimate flower child. Veganism started hitting the mainstream around the beginning of last year I'd say, but the whole zero waste movement wasn't in the spotlight until earlier this year. I had given some thought to my wasteful habits before - I mean I've always carried reusable shopping bags with anti-plastic slogans plastered all over them, and last summer I swapped over to bamboo toothbrushes - but I've never fully thought about the consequences of my tendencies to gravitate towards the more convenient, single use options. I figured that as long as I don't litter, and recycle for the most part, I'm not contributing to the overwhelming plastic problem our planet is currently cursed by, our oceans in particular. I would get livid at news of the Great Barrier coral reef dying, at videos of sea turtles injured by plastic cotton bud stems and at over fishing. I mean hey, I don't eat seafood and whenever I'm at the beach I take my rubbish to the nearest bin, so how am I contributing to the issue, amiright? But while ignorance is bliss as fuck, the popularity of the minimalist rubbish-free lifestyle definitely added fuel to the thoughts sparking at the back of my head. So, I decided to start taking steps to becoming less shitty. Here are some of the steps I took this year:
- I bought a pack of 4 stainless steel straws that came with a cleaning brush. They arrived individually packaged in plastic, and I'm pretty sure the bristles on the brush are plastic. But hey, I'm not buying plastic or any other single use straws for my smoothies. Win?
- Paper stem cotton buds. The ones I've found still come in a plastic pot AND they're the dreaded J&J, but at least I can go to sleep at night knowing no sea turtle will get hurt by my cotton buds?
- I got one of these ramie shower puffs to replace my bright pink plastic one. It was great until it got wet, which made it really heavy and awkward and I couldn't clean myself with it, and eventually it went really smelly and I had to chuck it out. Now I just use my hands. Hygienic? Probably more than a smelly shower puff.
- I replaced my facial wash and shower gel with soap bars. No fails or faults there, I even got a metal wall-suction holder for them that I've stuck in the shower. There are also a lot of awesome, affordable and all natural soaps out there, that don't dry your skin to a crisp. Haven't quite made it to the solid hair products yet though.
- I got a cheap 5-pack of loofah sponges off eBay, that came from China in a plastic envelope bag. I am trialling using them for washing dishes instead of the standard brightly coloured sponges from Home Bargains. It works pretty well, I just need to find the best way to cut them up for this purpose. Small, thin rings don't work so well.
- Reusable period stuff. I've actually been part of the MoonCup cult for around 4 or 5 years now, so it wasn't too difficult to cut the rest of the single use shit out. It's also far more comfortable, and I don't spend money on every single period. Win.
- Cleaning products. I started buying laundry powder in a cardboard box exclusively now, as opposed to the bottled liquid. I should probably look into more environmentally friendly solutions, but all in due time. I got washing up liquid, fabric softener and toilet cleaner from Tesco's eco line, they're all cruelty free and vegan (as far as I know), come in bottles made from recycled plastic (yay for demand) and don't contain shitty chemicals which are shitty for the waterways and our health. I made a vinegar and essential oil multi purpose cleaning spray. It drove my partner crazy. I swapped for a big bottle of Method anti-bac cleaner that smells like rhubarb. Now I'm hearing conflicting things on their cruelty free status.
- I bought an all natural deodorant in cardboard packaging - a gimmicky tube contraption where you push the stick out and use similarly to a traditional deodorant. It worked great, despite the tube getting groggy, since after all it was made of paper. It was also quite pricey for a deodorant, as I had to buy it online from one specific health store in London that imported said deodorant from Germany or the Netherlands or somewhere. When I ran out I whipped up my own deodorant with similar ingredients and it has been working like a charm.
- I have started fruit and veg shopping at the local green grocers as opposed to Aldi - there are more options for loose produce, and it's also cheaper and tastes like actual real fruit and veg. They even don't mind when I bring my mushrooms up loose because I forgot an extra reusable bag for them.
- My most recent change, a small glass water bottle to fill up and take with me, instead of buying plastic bottles of various drinks that aren't water, because I'm not going to pay for a bottle of water, but I still want a drink with me. I was eyeing up the inexplicably overpriced stainless steel ones with cool patterns and doodles on them, but was more than happy to find said glass bottle for £1.50 at Home Bargains. They also had stainless steel ones for a fiver but they were too big for my liking.
As you can tell, trying to be more conscious comes with a heaping serving of trial and error - and that's okay, it's difficult to unlearn habits we've formed over our entire lives. I would go as far as saying that going vegan is much less challenging than going "zero waste". But that's just me. It's also easy to feel discouraged when we see the perfect zero waste pioneers, with their mason jars full of the rubbish they've accumulated over the course of the year, while we struggle to figure this shit out on a budget, especially when other issues we care about often clash. I mean, practically all vegan substitute options available on the mainstream are drowning in plastic packaging.
Which brings me to what I consider my afterthought on zero waste. When I first began dabbling in the idea of ditching plastic, I threw myself full force into a sea of resources, I joined all the Facebook groups, I watched all the YouTube videos, followed the right Instagram accounts for inspiration. And it has all been fabulously helpful, don't get me wrong, but I also started seeing something I have also noticed in all the exclusively vegan communities - a consciousness divide. I've found that just like a lot of vegans who focus only on not consuming any animal products and don't give a second thought to all of the other issues that affect wildlife and our environment, a lot of zero wasters were concerned solely on not producing personal plastic waste. Which in itself is fantastic effort, however it's not the recipe for the most ethical lifestyle, since there are so many other factors that need to be considered when trying to cause the least harm possible to the planet, its people and its animals, simultaneously.
There are so many other factors that must be considered when making an ethical consumer choice, such as; who made this product? Were they paid fairly? Were the ingredients fairly and sustainably sourced? Where did it travel from so you could purchase it locally? Who is making a profit from this item? How much waste is involved in the production of this item? Is the company itself ethical? Will this item release harmful chemicals? Will this item last you several years of solid use? And my personal favourite, do you need this item or is it just another gimmick? Obviously this is just the tip of the iceberg, but you get the idea. But this nicely wraps up why I will never consider myself "zero waste", and instead am more focused on finding ways to lower my overall impact on this planet. I mean yeah, plastic is pretty shitty for us and the environment, but if I had to choose between purchasing, let's say, a t-shirt that comes in a plastic bag but has been produced locally, using organic cotton, without the use of toxic dyes, with the workers being paid a legit living wage vs. a t-shirt from a multi-billion $$$ fast fashion company, that at the time that I purchase it won't be in a plastic bag (but, newsflash, was probably in a plastic bag within another plastic bag in an even bigger plastic bag during transportation to the store you bought it in), I will always choose the former. I mean, I'd probably go to a second hand or charity store because that's ethical too, just a lot more budget friendly, but you get the point I'm trying to make.
If we're going to create some real, meaningful change and challenge the status quo, it's going to take more than isolating specific issues and ignoring all else, but instead will have to be a collective effort of trying to make the best possible choices for the greater good. I'd love to hear what you all think about this topic as well, I'm definitely always open for a healthy, civilised debate. I'm also keen to take you all on this adventure with me, where I try and figure out my way in this crazy world, causing the least harm possible.
Stay in school,
K.
Photocredit: Pixabay.com, with my fantastic editing on Gimp.
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