Reviewed by Valerie Garforth, FAUSA
Zero Waste Home is the story of one family’s transition from conspicuous consumption to a zero-waste lifestyle. In this book, Bea Johnson relates how her family simplified their lives by reducing their possessions, their waste and their spending by 40 percent per year, while finding more time to enjoy family life. For anyone starting out on this journey, Zero Waste Home provides a road map with lots of helpful suggestions. For those of us who are already embarked on the process, it provides a checklist and many useful tips.
One of the new ideas proposed in Zero Waste Home is the addition of two “Rs” to the well-known mantra of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle – which becomes “Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rot (compost).” Long-time composters well understand the concept of “Rot,” but I was intrigued by the concept of “Refuse.” This is where we consumers can exert our influence by refusing plastic bags, single use plastic of all types, hotel toiletries, unneeded packaging, conference giveaways and other freebies. When we do this we send a strong message to manufacturers, hotels, shops and organizations. We also reduce the amount of clutter we bring into our homes and by the same token, the amount of trash we create and our burden on the planet.
Zero Waste Home explains that recycling is not the answer either, as a pitifully small percentage of what ostensibly goes into recycling containers is actually recycled. While it may not be possible to reduce one’s waste to absolute zero, the goal is to reduce it to a bare minimum, while transitioning into a lifestyle which is low carbon impact and environmentally considerate. This very readable book is a practical guide for doing just that. (Book cover courtesy of Scribner Book Company.)
