What is Zero-Waste?
Zero-waste is a set of principles focused on waste prevention with a goal of no trash having to be sent to landfills, incinerators or the ocean. While this might seem like an impossible target in truth we can all drastically reduce the amount of waste we produce. Zero-waste is the next step for many households as they continue to seek more environmental and healthier ways to live their day to day lives.
Why is Zero-Waste a Big Deal?
Did you know that collectively 253 million tons of trash is produced by Americans each year which boils down to 2,072 pounds of trash per person per year that needs to be dealt with. Sadly often much of our waste never is properly disposed of. Even if we just are looking at something like plastic it turns out that all this trash means that it is estimated that every year, 8 million metric tons of plastics enter our ocean on top of the estimated 150 million metric tons that currently circulate our marine environments. Since plastic takes centuries to break down if it breaks down at all this means the amount of plastic in our oceans will keep increasing which will continue to have a major impact on numerous ecosystems.
What is a Zero-Waste Store?
Zero-waste stores typically are both packaging-free and support a holistic, sustainable lifestyle concept offering local and organic products. The challenge is while this makes zero-waste shops unique, it has historically kept them at a niche level. The great news is now with zero-waste online stores we all have greater access to such stores and these stores are able to take their ideas to scale. You do not have to happen to have a zero-waste store in your particular community but can access zero-waste products no matter where you live. In addition since online stores can scale up their production this means the cost of these zero-waste products will continually go down over time.
How does a store work towards going zero-waste?
Plastic-free packaging:
One way for a store to go “zero waste” is to focus on the packaging of both the products the store brings in and the packaging that the store sells things in. One common method is to go plastic free since plastic takes up so much of the waste stream and does not break down meaning it lingers in our communities, in our landfills, and in our oceans. Sometimes going plastic free means using recycled cardboard containers, sometimes it means using glass which can be recycled, sometimes it mean offering products in forms that need less packaging ex a bar of soap can be mailed in a box all by itself while liquid products might need to be placed in an additional container
Plastic-free products:
There is a wide range of plastic free products that are offered by zero-waste online stores. It comes down to simply doing some research to find out which products might be helpful for you and what stores offer those products. There are some zero-waste stores which focus on particular products while others provide anything you might need all in one place.
Some examples include:
Dish Soap which is sometimes sold in forms such as a zero-waste dishwashing block which is made with all-natural ingredients, comes in plastic free packaging, and lasts much longer than traditional dish soap. Such zero-waste dish soap can be used for dishes, cleaning sinks, cleaning floors, and even taking stains out of clothes or carpet.
Shampoo and Conditioner bars which help move us towards zero-waste by removing all the numerous plastic bottles that typically clutter up our bathrooms. Or you might try natural laundry detergents which arrive in compostable packaging and in biodegradable pods instead of traditional clunky plastic bottles.
Bamboo sheets which have a lower impact on the environment since they use dramatically less water than cotton sheets and don’t need pesticides and fertilizers to grow. Bamboo sheets also are extremely soft and comfortable, wick water away better than traditional cotton sheets, and even are naturally microbial. Bamboo sheets help move towards zero-waste by impacting a wide range of locations in the production cycle.
Or maybe what you need is plastic-free/zero-waste products such as bamboo toothbrushes (charcoal toothbrushes too!), vegan silk floss and charcoal floss which are packaged in glass containers, or tooth powder, tooth tablets, or charcoal powder toothpaste as alternatives to traditional toothpaste. These are all ways to take your oral health routine to the next level and move towards having a zero-waste home.
Seek Bamboo:
Seek Bamboo is a zero-waste online store that offers a wide variety of plastic-free alternatives at affordable prices. How to go plastic free you ask? Start with Seek Bamboo! The sustainable lifestyle blog has tons of content about plastic-free living and the products are competitively priced.
Seek Bamboo also offers zero-waste kits which will curb plastic use from twice-daily brushing routines to eliminating the need for plastic in the shower. Let Seek Bamboo be your go to zero-waste online store!
