BOOK REVIEW: ZERO WASTE HOME
If you saw my Instagram story recently, you would know that I have a serious addiction to buying and reading books! I love learning new things and letting my mind escape in new stories so I always have a balance of fiction and non-fiction books on the go. My passion for reading came from when my sister and I were little - every night our mum would read us a story and as I have gotten older, thanks to mum, I have never stopped reading!
Because I read a lot of books that I become very passionate about I thought that I would share a few of my favourites here on the blog so that you can read them too!
Today, in keeping with the zero waste theme I have going at the moment, I am showcasing the book Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson.
Why I bought this book/why YOU should buy this book:
I bought Zero Waste Home a few years ago when I needed help in actually going zero waste. The idea in my head of what a waste-free lifestyle would be like seemed nice, but working out which steps to actually take to get there were very unclear. I researched the best zero waste books at the time and Bea's came up with great reviews. I since learnt that Bea is one of the first 'influencers' who really made zero waste living a popular and mainstream thing in our modern world. Now there are a lot of minimalism and zero-waste books out there but this is by far the best one I have read.
If you need some direction and help with going zero waste this is a must-read book!
Why I liked it:
Zero Waste Home is FANTASTIC at systematically going through each area of your home and providing very specific steps/actions to help you analyse your current situation, get rid of waste in each area and to then swap your habits and products to waste-free ones. This book is well laid out, very easy to read and very easy to apply AND it doesn't make going zero waste sound negative or overwhelming at all.
Bea talks about her own personal life, explaining that she used to live the way a lot of westerners do and how she went from this consumeristic lifestyle to a carefully considered waste-free one. Bea mentions quite a few times, "when you throw something away, where exactly is away?" Nothing disappears, it just gets relocated to another place on our planet. I think this is something a lot of us are only just waking up to. We are starting to realise we need to take responsibility otherwise our 'waste' ends up in our drinking water, contaminating our soil, killing precious sea life etc
The other thing I really liked is that this book also made me consider areas of my life that I hadn't even thought of when it came to going waste-free.
Some examples of this are:
I keep trying baking soda as a toothpaste and I still really don't like it! I'm still yet to find a waste-free solution for toothpaste that I enjoy.
I don't think my wardrobe as a 25 item capsule would ever work considering the nature of my work as a personal trainer, but this suggestion did help me to cut out items that I just never wore and then has influenced me to buy more neutral and timeless op shop items that I knew would go with most of what I wore when I needed to buy new clothes (which has probably only been 2-3 times in the last 3 years!).
I could never live without a vacuum! I vacuum my room DAILY because we have so many animals and I can never live without the animals, so the fur stays, and therefore the vacuum stays!
Of course, we don't have to be exactly like Bea so really, there's not much I didn't like about this book!
My big take-homes:
I highly recommend this book for the complete beginner to someone who already thinks they are quite good at being zero waste - there is something in this for everyone! If you have read this book or read it down the track, I would love to know what you think of it!
Love,
Liza
Because I read a lot of books that I become very passionate about I thought that I would share a few of my favourites here on the blog so that you can read them too!
Today, in keeping with the zero waste theme I have going at the moment, I am showcasing the book Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson.
Why I bought this book/why YOU should buy this book:
I bought Zero Waste Home a few years ago when I needed help in actually going zero waste. The idea in my head of what a waste-free lifestyle would be like seemed nice, but working out which steps to actually take to get there were very unclear. I researched the best zero waste books at the time and Bea's came up with great reviews. I since learnt that Bea is one of the first 'influencers' who really made zero waste living a popular and mainstream thing in our modern world. Now there are a lot of minimalism and zero-waste books out there but this is by far the best one I have read.
If you need some direction and help with going zero waste this is a must-read book!
Why I liked it:
Zero Waste Home is FANTASTIC at systematically going through each area of your home and providing very specific steps/actions to help you analyse your current situation, get rid of waste in each area and to then swap your habits and products to waste-free ones. This book is well laid out, very easy to read and very easy to apply AND it doesn't make going zero waste sound negative or overwhelming at all.
Bea talks about her own personal life, explaining that she used to live the way a lot of westerners do and how she went from this consumeristic lifestyle to a carefully considered waste-free one. Bea mentions quite a few times, "when you throw something away, where exactly is away?" Nothing disappears, it just gets relocated to another place on our planet. I think this is something a lot of us are only just waking up to. We are starting to realise we need to take responsibility otherwise our 'waste' ends up in our drinking water, contaminating our soil, killing precious sea life etc
The other thing I really liked is that this book also made me consider areas of my life that I hadn't even thought of when it came to going waste-free.
Some examples of this are:
- When a child does a craft project, what happens to it after they're done? Can it be composted or is it made of materials that will go to landfill? (we can't realistically keep every single thing they make!)
- Cloth or compostable nappies are really important - think of all the plastic nappies hitting landfill this very second!
- What happens to your clothes after you are done with them? Are they cotton and can be composted or are they synthetic and have to go to landfill?
I keep trying baking soda as a toothpaste and I still really don't like it! I'm still yet to find a waste-free solution for toothpaste that I enjoy.
I don't think my wardrobe as a 25 item capsule would ever work considering the nature of my work as a personal trainer, but this suggestion did help me to cut out items that I just never wore and then has influenced me to buy more neutral and timeless op shop items that I knew would go with most of what I wore when I needed to buy new clothes (which has probably only been 2-3 times in the last 3 years!).
I could never live without a vacuum! I vacuum my room DAILY because we have so many animals and I can never live without the animals, so the fur stays, and therefore the vacuum stays!
Of course, we don't have to be exactly like Bea so really, there's not much I didn't like about this book!
My big take-homes:
- The 5 R's of zero waste living in order are: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot. Thinking of all the things/habits in your life in this sequence will help you to go zero waste really easily!
- Tackle one section of your life at a time, and even then, just break it down into one habit/item at a time within each section - this is the easiest and most stress-free way of implementing the zero waste lifestyle!
Bea Johnson's website for those interested: https://zerowastehome.com
I highly recommend this book for the complete beginner to someone who already thinks they are quite good at being zero waste - there is something in this for everyone! If you have read this book or read it down the track, I would love to know what you think of it!
Love,
Liza
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