Deciding to go Zero Waste

When I lived in Canada I was much more conscious of the environment, I'm pretty sure it was because I had reached a point in my life where my base needs were met and I had scope, time and money to focus on external beliefs (see Maslow's hierarchy of needs for theory on this).

I had started making changes in my buying habits then but didn't know it had a name. I bought reusable produce bags and cloth sandwich baggies, natural make-up, bamboo sheets, milk in glass bottles and meats from the local butcher. Then we decided to move to Ireland.

The move set us back in that I couldn't even apply for a full work visa until I was resident in the state, which meant I didn't get a job for 7 months. Luckily, my now husband, got a job fairly quickly but we were essentially starting over with 1 income and some savings in a lower currency. Suddenly the environment took a back burner. If only I'd known then what I know now - that living zero waste is actually cheaper!

Now that we are more settled and both in good jobs, I am back to a point where I want to do something more for the environment. I started seeing a few posts in my Facebook feed mentioning zero waste. 1 friend was going to a zero waste event and another shared a zero waste shop that opened up in Ottawa. I started investigating the concept and was hooked.

After spending a few hours researching, I broke the news to my husband. He was a bit skeptical as to how doable or sustainable it would be but, like most of my hair brained schemes, he went with the flow.

Now what the heck is this zero-waste thing all about? Check out my next post for an intro.