5R's of Zero Waste

All beginnings are difficult. Especially when you feel like you are at the very beginning of a big project. Let's be honest: Zero Waste sounds pretty drastic. From 100 to 0. Zero. That is visionary, radical and cumbersome. After all, you also have a daily life into which the new sustainability has to be integrated. Don't worry: The first step towards a zero waste lifestyle is mainly about prevention and reflection.

In her book “Ohne Wenn Und Abfall”, Milena Glimbovski, founder of Original Unverpackt and pioneer of the Zero Waste movement in Germany, approaches the topic of Zero Waste from her own personal perspective and goes into more detail about the 5R's of Zero Waste, which Bea Johnson established in 2013.

Below you will read an excerpt from the chapter “What is Zero Waste” from Milena’s book :

Refuse

When I'm old, I certainly won't look back and be happy that I bought that one pair of shoes. It will be more the memory of all the places I've walked around in them, and the moments when I got stuck in a manhole cover or drunk and thought I had to prove to a few kids that I could skate. In high heels. The ollies always worked. But the shoes were ruined. I buy things that I wanted but didn't need. It would have been better not to accumulate many of these things in the first place. To focus on what I really need.

If I wear sneakers to work every day and dare to leave the house in high heels once a month, then I don't need any more high heels than sneakers. It's actually a logical calculation. The less I accumulate, the less I'll have to throw away at some point. Here, too, you don't have to be a math genius to understand the logic.

Say no more often. To unnecessary purchases, but also to freebies: the advertising pen at the trade fair or the business card at a business meeting when you already have the contact details. I don't understand this tradition anyway. We're already in contact, so why the business card? Is this a remake of "American Psycho" in which we fight over who has the highest quality card? If so, then I've landed in the wrong film. So: no, thanks.

Reduce

Sorting out, clearing out, reducing: my favorite hobby. The only problem is that there is little left to sort out if you do it regularly. I own less and less as time goes by and so I can't really pursue my hobby as much anymore. It's about limiting yourself to what you really need. All the things that I have lying around that I can't do much with myself could be put to good use by someone else. They wouldn't need to buy new things, or use up new resources, if they could have my old things.

reuse

We have to say goodbye to the term "disposable" and the principle behind it. The times of disposables are over - especially those of disposable coffee cups and plastic cutlery. When did it become hip to use coffee-to-go cups or generally to distribute everything you already have in the form of disposable products? This happens in all areas: from disposable cameras and rain capes to paper and plastic plates and grills. As soon as things cost more, we appreciate them more. We don't throw them away. We sit down in the yard, get out the old tools that the previous tenants left us, look for the right YouTube video and change the flat tire on the bike. You can't just buy a new one! We call the handyman, who comes by late and in a bad mood, but actually fixes the washing machine that was acting up. For the amount of the bill, you could almost have bought a new one and thrown the old one away, but that would have been even more inconvenient. We are not so careful with cheaper things, however: if your trousers have a hole in them, they often go straight into the trash. If the capsule coffee machine stops working, you just buy a new one, it only costs fifty bucks. If your cell phone starts to slow down, it disappears into a drawer and never turns up again. But so many things can simply be repaired. This is not only cheaper, but also more sustainable. It is always better to keep using something old than to buy something new straight away. The feeling of pride that you have when you have repaired something yourself is more than enough to replace the quickly evaporating shopping spree.

recycling

is one of those terms that I would like to recycle. In other words, I would rather throw it away and reinvent it. Recycling is used as an explanation and excuse for so much disposable rubbish: "It's not so bad, it will be recycled after all." It's a bit like waste separation: above all good for your conscience - but in reality it's not the ultimate solution.

A few facts to start with: Yes, metals, glass, certain types of plastic and even paper can be recycled. But very rarely 100 percent. With a high energy expenditure for separation and even higher energy expenditure for the actual recycling, the secondary material (another nice word for waste) is processed in such a way that in the end only a portion is actually reused. This means:

▶ Scrap is recycled at 45 to 50 percent, tin cans can even be recycled at 100 percent

▶ Glass: 85 percent, high energy consumption – every glass consists of 60 percent old glass, with green glass even 90 percent

▶ Plastic: 20 to 50 percent

▶ Paper: 88 percent

However, you have to be careful, for example with glass. Not all glass is the same: lightbulbs, glasses and vases made of lead crystal do not belong in the glass recycling bin as they have different melting points and contain too much lead. Energy-saving lamps and neon tubes belong in hazardous waste as they are melted at 1600 °C and processed into new glass with lime, sand and soda. Paper is also a challenge and can only be recycled about seven times. Each time the fibres become shorter and the paper less tear-resistant, which is why a small amount of fresh fibre is added to recycled paper. Despite all this, it is still more environmentally friendly than paper made exclusively from freshly felled wood.

And the residual waste? That is burned. This is called thermal waste incineration. The following gases escape into the air, depending on the waste present and in what proportion: carbon dioxide, water, carbon monoxide, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid and mercury. Some of these gases (carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides) absorb heat, contribute to global warming and are therefore known as greenhouse gases. But the other gases are not without their problems and can have a negative impact on our health. Waste incineration plants naturally have flue gas cleaning systems that ensure that the pollutants in the gases remain below the legal limits.

Simple household waste landfills have been banned since 2005. The garbage dump concept - "Throw everything there and worry about it later" - is no longer valid. The previous dumping of untreated waste meant that toxic substances could get into drinking water.

So we are learning that recycling alone is not the solution, but it is an important step to ensure that the waste that is produced can be disposed of as environmentally friendly and correctly as possible today. Ideally, however, recycling would not be necessary at all if we could simply do without waste.

Red (composting)

And the best for last: composting. In Germany, this happens on compost heaps, in biogas plants and also in so-called worm boxes. Food and kitchen waste such as eggshells, tea and coffee grounds, bread scraps, spoiled food, fruit and vegetable peels, nut shells, but also garden waste such as weeds, leaves, soil and twigs can be collected on the compost or in the organic waste bin. What we dispose of in the organic waste bin is taken to biogas plants. With the help of microorganisms, carbon dioxide and methane are produced. These are fed into a combined heat and power plant and used to generate electricity and heat. In Berlin, for example, the gas is processed and fed into the city's gas network. Half of the Berlin city cleaning service's garbage truck fleet is fueled with the gas, saving 2.5 million liters of diesel per year.

Bioplastic bags, for example made from corn starch, are not allowed in the organic waste bin, but in principle all plastic bags, regardless of their color and how "organic" and "compostable" they are: they do not decompose and have to be laboriously sorted out. The bags do not dissolve in biogas plants and are not compostable within the plants' usual time frames. Paper bags with a reinforced base or homemade bags made from old newspapers are better, and should normally be free of toxins - of course, the rule here is to empty them more often before the paper gets soggy.

An alternative to organic waste bins and composters doesn't smell, saves time and brings with it small roommates that require little attention: the worm composter for the home. A worm box like this consists of several levels with soil and small worms that eat up your organic waste and turn it into soil and fertilizer. You can order it online or build it yourself inexpensively using one of the numerous instructions.

The book was published on October 5th by Kiwi Verlag.

You can purchase it here in our online shop or of course in our store.