Na ou tofotofoina mo oe: 'zero waste' ma le aiga

The click: 390 kilos of waste

I attend a conference given in my town by Emily Barsanti, from the ecological association ‘Green’houilles’. She explains that we produce 390 kilos of waste on average per French person per year. Or around 260 bins. Or 1,5 kg of waste per day and per person. Of this waste, only 21% is recycled and 14% goes to compost (if people have one). The rest, 29% go directly to the incinerator and 36% to landfills (often landfills) *. 390 kilos! The figure makes me aware of our individual responsibility in this situation. It’s time to act.

First experience, first failure

« Berrrk… it’s gross », My children say, brushing their teeth with the toothpaste I just made. I took baking soda, white clay, and two or three drops of orange essential oil. My husband also twists his nose while brushing his teeth. The fiasco is complete. I do not give up in front of this first discomfiture… but I buy toothpaste in a tube, to the delight of everyone, the time to find another solution. When it comes to makeup, I change my makeup removal cottons for their fleece and fabric counterparts. I remove make-up with almond oil that I buy in a glass bottle (which can be recycled endlessly). For hair, the whole family switches to solid shampoo, which is suitable for all of us.

Turning peelings into “green gold”

Some organic waste, like peelings, eggshells or coffee grounds have nothing to do in the regular trash because they can be turned into compost (or anti-waste cooking recipes). When we lived in an apartment, we had obtained (free of charge) from our department a collective ‘vermicomposter’ for the whole building. Now that we live in a house, I set up an individual compost in a corner of the garden. I add wood ashes, cardboard (especially egg packaging), and dead leaves. The soil obtained (after several months) will be reused in the garden. What a pleasure: the trash can already halved!

Refuse packaging

Going to ‘zero waste’ means spending your time refusing. Refuse the paper from the bread that surrounds the baguette. Refuse the receipt or request it by email. With a smile, refuse the plastic bag that is handed to us. It feels a bit weird at first, especially since at first, I often forget to carry fabric bags with me. Result: I come home with 10 chouquettes stuck in the crook of my arms. Ridiculous.

Go back to ‘home made’

No longer (almost) buying packaged products, that means no more prepared meals. Suddenly, we do more home cooking. The children are delighted, the husband too. For example, we made the decision to no longer buy packaged industrial biscuits. Result: every weekend, it takes about an hour to cook a batch of cookies, homemade compote or “home made” cereal bars.. My 8-year-old daughter is becoming the star of the schoolyard: her friends are crazy about her homemade cookies and she is very proud to have made them from A to Z. A good point for ecology… and for her autonomy!

The hypermarket is not ready for zero waste

Almost impossible to do zero waste shopping at the supermarket. Even in the catering department, they refuse to serve me in my glass Tupperware. It’s a “question of hygiene” answers an employee. A second whispers to me: ” If you pass with me there will be no problem “. I decide to give it a go at the market. The cheese maker to whom I ask to serve me the cheeses directly in my Tupperware gives me a big smile: “ No problem, I’ll do the “tare” for you (reset the balance to zero) and that’s it ”. Him, he won a client. For the rest, I buy products in bulk at the organic store: rice, pasta, whole almonds, children’s cereals, fruits and vegetables in compostable or fabric bags, and glass bottles (oils, juices)

Wash your house (almost) without packaging

I make our dishwasher product. The first cycle is a disaster: over 30 minutes, the dishes are dirtier than when they were put in, because the Marseille soap has stuck to the surfaces. Second test: start a long cycle (1 hour 30 minutes) and the dishes are perfect. I also add white vinegar to replace the rinse aid. For laundry, I use the zero waste family recipe *, and I add a few drops of Tea trea essential oil to my laundry. The laundry comes out perfectly scrubbed, with a delicate smell. And it’s also more economical! Over a year, that’s about thirty euros saved rather than buying barrels of laundry!

Conclusion: we managed to reduce!

Assessment of these few months of drastic reduction of waste in the house? The trash has reduced considerably, although of course we do not come to zero. Above all, it opened us to a new consciousness: we can no longer pretend that it is none of our business. One of my pride? The day before last night, when the lady in the pizza truck, to whom I gave back its empty packaging from last time to put a pizza back in it, and who instead of taking me for a weirdo, congratulated me: ” If everyone did like you, maybe the world would be a little better “. It’s silly, but it touched me.

* source: the zero waste family

** detergent: 1 liter of water, 1 tablespoon of soda crystals, 20 g of Marseille soap flakes, 20 g of liquid black soap, a few drops of lavender essential oil. In a casserole dish, put all the ingredients except the essential oil and bring to a boil. Pour the lukewarm preparation into an empty barrel. Shake before each use and add the essential oil.