Three (3) Simple Suggestions

Q: Pretend I’m brand new to the zero waste movement and want to get started. What are the top 3 easy things you can recommend? Like, beginner level? What would come across as a simple way for me to begin my journey?

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A: Everything is situational, so it’s hard to give a blanket suggestion that anyone can do to start making more sustainable choices and changes in ones life. From my experiences (mostly failing) this is what I’d suggest, at this moment in time, for 3 simple places for beginners to start.

First, I’d suggest that before you start making any changes and choices, you make the decision to be a more sustainable person who aims to live a more low waste and sustainable life. This means changing your thought process, your identity, or belief structure to mirror what you want to become. 

Example: go from “I’m a person wants to live a low waste life” ..to… “I’m a person who lives a more zero waste and sustainable life”. 

You are telling yourself who you are and want you want to be. And in your daily life you can ask yourself something to the effect of: “Would a zero waste/sustainable person do this? …purchase that?” Thus, you’re creating a mindset that everything else is built upon. Once you have the mind set in a direction where you want to go, and who you want to be, then the decisions will feel more inline to your identity. 

If you don’t change who you are, your beliefs, your systems of thought (etc), then any amount of suggestions that I tell you will never stick if you don’t believe you are that person who is making those decisions and changes. 

The second thing I would suggest is take everything one tiny incremental step at a time. Don’t concern yourself with any sort of ultimate goal. Don’t over do it to the point of burnout. Don’t take more than you can eat. Focus on the one tiny step in front of you. 

It might seem like your tiny step will not make any difference to your situation (or the worlds), but I kid you not; all of those tiny minuscule steps will add up to big changes. 

The third thing I will suggest is to research. Research. RESEARCH! But again, in tiny increments so you do not get burned out or overwhelmed and quit. 

I say research as my third suggestion as that is how you will find what you need. You want more sustainable (insert anything here)? Look it up. Look it up some more. And then repeat the process and compare what you found previously. Look at as many different places, sites, blogs, articles, stores, reviews, science, etc. Look at all aspects of the item or service in question: origin, ingredients, cost, how it was made, who made it, travel distance to you, are they not being transparent, do they have good customer service, how are their items packaged, etc. 

It’s a lot to do. But it is all worth it to avoid making bad choices. I do this for everything in my personal life, and for everything that happens at my shop (Zieros) in Dormont (Pittsburgh, PA). 

But I’ve been doing this for over 17 years now, so it’s common place for me. It’s part of my daily habits. If you are just starting out, take is slow, small, tiny steps, and do not over do it. Break your research down into small increments if you need to. Do it at certain points in the day that fits best with your schedule. And eventually it will become a habit where you “want” to do it, and/or its automatic. 

So! There you go. Those are three things I’d suggest when you are first starting out so that when you do want to make a change, you have a solid core to start with. 

Remember: 1 small tiny step, 1 item or practice at a time.

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