What I'm Doing to Minimize Waste

If there’s anything that has been a huge benefit to me when I started minimalism, it would be the amount of waste I’ve cut down on- especially with my wardrobe. Getting into the capsule wardrobe system is something that I’ve found very helpful because it allows you to get maximum wear out of what you already have. At the same time however, one has to be mindful of their shopping habits when bringing new things in. This is one thing that took some time for me to gain control of when I first started out, but I feel like I’m in a better place with this now. One thing that I’d highly advise anyone to do is to sit down and make a list of the essential pieces you need in your wardrobe. There are a lot of great videos on YouTube that can help you get started on this, but I understand that it can be intimidating at first.

The second way I’ve minimized waste is in my work life. Be it, this is a little challenging because not everyone thinks to bring their own reusable bags, but you can do this in thrift stores as well- in fact, I’d say I encourage it. So much plastic and paper is used where I work and in recent weeks, I’ve found myself growing tired of using up so much of that. One of the best ways I’ve found works is if you need to buy clothing or linens as well as some more fragile items like glassware, you can easily wrap up those little (or big) items into that. Another thing I try to do with wrapping paper in particular is to use as little as possible by ripping off bigger sheets instead of smaller sheets.

Food waste is another thing I’ve been trying to cut down on, and one of the best ways to do this is not buy as much processed food. Not only will this be beneficial to your health, but it’ll also help cut down on the amount of materials you need to recycle. One pointer I’d like to mention with this is while I understand that we all have our own strengths and weaknesses on this one topic, I do believe it’d be best to choose more wisely depending on your lifestyle, buy whatever is needed for the week and use up what you already have.

I’d say that using up what you already have is key to minimizing food waste. This can be applied with anything from canned food, condiments, spices and other types of food that are packaged in a box, tin or jar. If you can think of a way to use what’s left in a jar of peanut butter for lunch or dinner, then that’ll be one way to save money on your next grocery bill as well as saving space in your pantry. However, if there’s a certain food that’s biodegradable, then I don’t see any harm in tossing it outside to decompose in the grass. However, this does not equate to just throwing out a bag of McDonald’s leftovers out onto the street. Banana or orange peels, stale bread or expired greens (like spinach or lettuce) are some of the things that can decompose naturally. You’d be surprised how much of this can accumulate if we all just allowed these things to rot in a garbage dump or landfill.

I hope this information is helpful to you in some way. I’ve honestly found this zero waste journey I’ve been on to be quite liberating, but of course, I’m not perfect. Some days I might use plastic cutlery instead of taking my set of bamboo ones, or I might reach for a plastic bag instead of carrying my own lunch box, but I don’t beat myself up over this. In the end, I just do what I can to keep the planet healthy because that’s something I care deeply about.