A Journey to Zero Waste...

It started with a nappy….. `

Summer 2017, I sat at a garden party at a friends house. Sitting chatting in the summer sun she mentions to me that a friend of hers uses cloth nappies. I screwed up my face "isn't that a bit gross, what does she do with the poo?!" Well, my friend replies "it goes in the loo I think, she uses a liner and flushes the poo". "Oh" I said, "I guess that doesn't sound to bad then." And so a seed was planted....

It had intrigued me, so one morning I sat in bed with a coffee and researched it. There was talk of how environmentally friendly it was, talk of saving hundreds of pounds, talk of pretty patterns. I was sold. Not yet pregnant but planning on having a baby soon I told my partner Mat that when we had a baby I would like to cloth nappy. To my surprise he said "Okay, I would be fine with that".

Let it snowball...

Fast forward a year, I had a tiny baby asleep in my arms with a colourful cloth bum, scrolling through Facebook, I came across a post from a nappy brand I was following named Baba and Boo. It was captioned "Who knew one nappy could change the world". They were writing about an email they had received thanking them. This particular customer said that they had stumbled across their website and seen their nappies and that was it, it had snowballed from there. From buying one cloth nappy they had started to notice all the other waste they were producing and had from then on started buying more sustainably.

THIS resonated with me so much!! Because this was exactly what happened to me. Once I thought about the amount of nappies going to a landfill, I couldn't help but think about all the other things going landfill. Once you see it you can't un-see it!!

From that day on I would walk into a supermarket and feel sick. I'd see everyone throwing their coffee cups away and shiver.

The plan of action..

At first I thought "well there isn't that many other options is there?" I did what I do best and surfed the internet. I decided to just buy a few things a month so the cost didn't feel to great all at once. And every month I would think of something else I could change or swap. And slowly the packages started arriving. A stainless steel razor, water bottle, straws. A bamboo coffee cup, cloth sanitary products, silicone food covers. Deodorant bars, shampoo and conditioner bars, the good old traditional bar of soap.

I guess sometimes when buying reusables it can feel more expensive but really I didn't feel like any one thing was extortionate and once you buy them that's it. You never have to hand your money over again.

Important to remember.

It is however, important to remember that throwing away everything you own and replacing it with reusables or an eco-friendly alternative is the worse thing you could do. Make sure you use everything you have up first, or until it has no life left in it. There is a danger that the zero waste movement becomes all about the pretty things we can reuse forever, we then forget about the tupperware already in our cupboards that needs to be used many many times more before it goes to landfill. However tempting the stainless steel tiffin box is.

Changing your mindset.

Let everything become habit. Sure in the first few months I left the house without my water bottle a few times but now it's habit, it goes EVERYWHERE with me. And believe me when you have a baby, never having to worry about buying nappies (or forgetting to buy them) is a god send!! No running to the shop at 10 o'clock at night for us.

So there you have it. It started with a nappy. Have a little think. What little thing could you change this month?....

Hannah xx