Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson
Brace yourselves, friends.
Zero Waste Home is one those books I cannot stop talking about.
Zero Waste Home is written by a woman who lives in Northern California with her husband and two teenage boys. Between the four of them, they produce only about ONE QUART of garbage per year.
Our family produces about that per hour.
Bart happened to be with me when I got this book and when I read him the back of the book he said, “Well, they might not have a lot of trash, but they’re probably just recycling like crazy instead.”
Actually, the Johnson family isn’t really thrilled by recycling either (like, I suspect, most people who know much about the recycling process). Instead, their goal is to really keep the waste they produce at a minimum, period. Mainly, this means keeping as much as waste as possible from ever entering their home in the first place.
For instance, at the grocery store, she takes all her own containers and buys only things that don’t come in packaging. (Her only exception is butter – and she composts the wrappers). We’re talking way past bringing a couple of reusable bags here. Check out her (way-better-looking-than-mine) pantry here. I went grocery shopping a couple of days after I started this book and just looking at the conveyor belt made me a little ill because it’s just more and more packaging.
Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson
The book goes room by room, talking about how to reduce waste and all the alternatives to trash-heavy products and practices they’ve developed. She also has sections about eating out, major holidays, and travel, which I loved.
The best part of this book, I thought, is that, while the focus is on waste, that’s really a means to an end, which is a life free from junk, less wasted money, more time with family, and a simplified life. I found the whole thing very inspiring, actually, in terms of taking more ownership of making my life what I want and resisting the urge to buy happiness or doing things just because other people are.
One of the things I love about Zero Waste Home is that she obviously cares deeply about the topic and is willing to live a fairly extreme lifestyle, but I didn’t feel like her book was insane or made me feel really guilty. Instead, it made me realize all the ways I could easily reduce by quite a bit the trash that comes into our house. And that it’d actually make my life happier.
She talks about how people always say they don’t have enough time for this, but she feels like (and after her descriptions in the book, I believe) that she spends the same or less time keeping up with her home, food, and possessions than someone who lives a more typical lifestyle. And, of course, she said she has naysayers on both sides – those who think she’s WAY too extreme, and others who think she isn’t nearly extreme enough (what with still eating meat and flying to France every year to visit her mother and extended family).
I’m not likely to start burning almonds over my stove and using the ashes to make eyeliner (do you think I’m making this up? I’m not), but I’m definitely am going to make some changes. Here are a few that I’m starting with:
Zero Waste Home Changes
- Resisting free things (free t-shirts I’ll never wear, cheap pens, hotel shampoo, food I don’t want)
- Keeping a modest supply of the things I use (I only need about five dishtowels, not forty. I don’t need 50 rubber bands)
- Not bagging my produce at the grocery store
- Reducing my wardrobe to the things I love and wear frequently
- Refilling my peanut butter jar in the bulk section
- Focusing birthday and holiday gifts on experiences, rather than things
- Storing food in reusable containers rather than plastic bags
- Using real dishes rather than disposable ones when we have parties (probably will have to start doing the dishes after parties myself instead of making Bart do them)
- Be realistic about how much clothing my children need (probably not eight drawers full, that’s for sure)
- When I’m buying packaged foods, buying bigger amounts, when possible, to avoid multiple smaller packages
- Buy more things second-hand (toys, furniture, clothing, dishes)
Bart and I spent much of the weekend talking about our long-term plans and how we want our lives (and those of our children) not to be a constant treadmill toward more stuff, stuff, stuff, but instead full of experiences, togetherness, environmental consciousness, and genuine happiness, with our money going toward the things that really bring us happiness.
Who knew I’d find so much cause for self-reflection in a book about trash? (Not me).
P.S. I was talking my mom’s ear off about this the other day and shared with her this article from Sunset about this family – you can see how lovely and simple their home is.
If you like the Zero Waste Home book, you might also enjoy these books:
- 12 books to start a new year off right
- Lunch Wars (A fascinating behind the scenes of school lunches)
- Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity
Grad school poverty has forced me to rethink my consumer life in a lot of ways, and although it's frustrating at times, I also like living with less. I've definitely cut down on my clothing purchases and I also eat a lot less meat, both for budget and environmental reasons. I think stores here in Europe tend to use less packaging, which helps, but it's a good tip to choose products that come with less packaging and/or buy in bulk wherever possible.
Hmm. When I heard this title I thought, "The last thing I need right now is an extensive list of more things I should be doing." But your review is making me reconsider. Maybe I'll give it a read afterall.
Before I read the part about her visiting family in France, I was wondering if she was from Europe. They do a good job (at least I noticed this in Paris) of producing very little garbage.
Hmmm… after taking out the trash this morning (it's garbage day) and seeing how many trips it took the minions to get all the garbage cans this might be very timely.
Although putting the kids to work is always a bonus!
Can't wait to read this book! At the beginning of this year I started to adopt a more minimalist approach to the way we run our home. I'm not totally extreme but finding that balance of what works for us. If you're looking for further ideas and examples on the subject check out one of my favorite blogs, The Minimalist Mom.
Interesting. J-Mo and I have started recycling a lot more, and I've shopped at thrift stores forever for a lot of things (ones I can wash/bleach/disinfect). But, the more we do that the more I notice there are ways we can improve. We recycle in the kitchen, but not the bathroom which produces a LOT of recyclable products…but there's no space for a recycle container in the bathroom and I rarely remember to take the empty TP tube to the kitchen instead of just toss it in the bathroom garbage can.
Anyway, lots to think about, adding this to my list.
xox
This book sounds like a great resource-adding it to my Goodreads for sure. One thing I've started doing to minimize is keeping a spreadsheet of my kids' clothing. Because I have strict rules about how much I will spend on clothing for my children ($1 or less for shirts, $3 or less for dresses, $5 or less for shoes and jeans), I often buy up to two sizes too big and store them. My spreadsheet has each item listed its category (i.e. Size 7 shirts) and then how many of that item I still need. Each of my children only gets 8 short sleeve shirts for instance. It saves me so much time and money. I'm excited to read this and get more ideas! Living in a small home helps keep the "stuff" down too!
Just don't drive yourself nuts trying to live up to someone else's standards. Live the way you and your husband want to live. Just my 1/2 cent worth. 🙂
It is REALLY important to me to not have more stuff than necessary. Like, I finally bought a second set of sheets last year and I have to say, it is really nice to have a spare so I don't have to worry about the one set drying all the way RIGHT THAT SECOND. But it IS so nice to just reduce and have less clutter, especially when our place is about the size of a thumbnail. I love this idea and will definitely be adding this book to my list for more tips.
i love this. i LOVE getting rid of stuff. (unfortunately I love shopping for more stuff just as much). Just last week I told Dave that I was going to try and go 6 months without buying my kids ANY clothes. Their closets are PACKED. So why buy more? I might be eating my words in a month or two.. but we'll see 🙂
So how do you not bag your produce? don't you have apples flying all over if they aren't in a bag? teach me 🙂
Not sure what Janssen does about her produce, but I have little net drawstring bags (kind of like what you wash delicates in) that I bring to the store. I got them a long time ago at a dollar store in a pak of three for a dollar. Great buy. I use them every time I go to the store.
You can buy or make reusable bags. I made some out of muslin for Christmas gifts this past year. Great for storing in the fridge as well.
I love your list of things to do to reduce The Stuff. I'm constantly on a quest to do the same, though not always successfully!
I bought some reusable produce bags from Amazon and I'm a big fan of using them instead of the thin filmy ones. These ones: http://www.amazon.com/flip-tumble-Reusable-Produce-Bags/dp/B002UXQ7QQ
That's fascinating. Is it just me, though, or does mailing the adhesive strip back to Netflix feel a bit like cheating? (If this were a competition, which of course it is not.) I'm already looking around trying to decide how many of x we really need. Having a store nearby that sells in bulk (spices and beans and whatnot) is also great for a lot of reasons, this being one.
This sounds like a great book! The book ideas I have gotten from you keep piling up…if the SB library wasn't so disappointing, I might actually be able to read some of them (since I just can't buy every book I want to read). I'm always feeling so antsy about all the crap I consume and have to throw out.
This is a really useful list. I'll have to check that book out.
I put my produce in a reusable bag, then dump it out on the belt when we check out. Or you can buy mesh bags for bagging produce.
This year, I bought pouches to use in kid lunches. One set is sort of plasticky but bpa free and the others are fabric. Etsy has lots of options too. In addition to never running out of sandwich bags, I don't have to feel guilty about all that plastic going into the trash.
We also just got glass containers with snap on lids to use for adults lunches and such, and Pyrex ones for food storage,
We don't have anywhere that sells food in bulk around here though.
As far as paper plates go, if you use the chinet ones, they are chlorine free and can be composted.
I don't know how I'd live with only five dishtowels. I have about 30 and some times they are ALL dirty. And I do laundry pretty much constantly (or did, before my giant life upheaval. Tho we do have clean dish towels now.)
I've followed Bea's blog for several years and always find her writing and what she is doing to reduce her waste inspiring. I don't think I'll ever be as "zero waste" as she is, but she definitely motivates me to continue making improvements :).
That is really interesting. I don't know that I could get to that level of minimalist, but it would be a fun challenge to see just how low-waste you could get without feeling like a crazy person!
I wonder how she buys toilet paper and feminine products without packaging…
Jenny – She probably uses something like a DivaCup. I love mine.