Maybe you’ve seen that Buzzfeed video of the 30-Day Zero Waste Challenge or a more contemporary take on it (i.e. zero waste in a pandemic). Or, perhaps you’ve seen its trademark symbol – the simple mason jar –floating on the internet that encapsulates a year’s worth of trash (refer to background image, minus the year’s worth part) but the movement has had it roots over a decade earlier, from an organisation in New Zealand called the Zero Waste International Alliance. Popularised in the US by activists Bea Johnson and Lauren Singer, the zero waste lifestyle has become a fashionable greener alternative to our current overconsumption of single-use goods.
So, what is Zero Waste? What about the Zero Waste Movement? And more importantly, does it really have an impact or is it just another green fad that’ll fizzle out in the next decade or so?