By Lakshay Paruthi
In the words of Lady Bird Johnson,
“The environment is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share.”
In recent times the environment has degraded at a very rapid speed. Natural resources have been depleted and the pollution has increased quickly resulting to unforeseen climate changes and global warming. Under to these circumstances, a zero-waste lifestyle comes in handy.
Zero waste lifestyle is a method of minimizing the use of resources that are non-renewable in nature and preserving them for future generations and minimizing the negative impact on the environment, reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills, and encouraging to live a sustainable & healthy living. The concept goes way beyond just recycling and reusing the product. The Zero Waste International Alliance was established in 2002 to guide the concept of zero waste in the world.
The goal of the zero-waste community is to emphasize a system that will deal with systemically avoiding and eliminating the toxicity and volume of harmful materials before releasing them into the environment. The movement toward creating a self-sustainable system of production and consumption which will make efforts to minimize Solid waste to nothing by using the advanced techniques of recycling and composting. A step to be taken towards an eco-friendly lifestyle.
The change and shift to zero-waste living is not an easy step that can happen overnight, it will take time and effort by the communities to be able to adapt to this type of living. Some of the way to start a zero waste lifestyle are: reducing the use of single-use items like paper and plastic goods which according to current data is one of the biggest contributors to pollution; making sure to divide waste into two categories: recyclable and non-recyclable items; using resources in groups like car-pooling that will save both non-renewable fuels and will result in less carbon-emission; doing activities like that of composting that will turn food waste into pure organic manure which then can be used to enrich the soil resulting in more productivity/yield of crops; taking part in movements relating to cleaning nature; helping in collecting garbage scattered in the cities, working towards keeping the cities clean and connecting with communities relating to zero-waste living.
The goal of attaining zero-waste living will take time and participation from us all. It can not be achieved by the efforts of an individual but will require help from all the communities. It has become a necessity in recent times as the health of nature has fallen below a dangerous level. We have to make changes now so that we can create a healthier world for future generations.