Liam and Hannah from the Rubbish Trip: Plastic-Free July and beyond
Plastic Free July is almost over, so what’s next? We interviewed some truly wintered zero-wasters: Hannah and Liam from The Rubbish Trip, to talk Plastic Free July and beyond. What followed was a big passionate discussion, and tips from Liam and Hannah to take you beyond Plastic-Free July.
Plastic Free July is great for creating awareness around zero waste because reducing plastic usage is an entry point for many people into the wider world of waste reduction. Concern about plastic is what got Liam and Hannah through the door of zero waste living almost 7 years ago. “We both came to zero waste because of our concern for plastics in the environment. We thought ‘oh, we better get prepared to avoid plastic’ and went out and bought a giant stack of paper bags in week 1. One week later, a friend told us about the carbon footprint of paper and we realised our first mistake”, laughs Hannah.
“The best way to avoid plastics is actually to focus on reusable alternatives… Anyway, it turns out you can reuse a bag multiple times! We’ve often shown our oldest reused bag at talks: a plastic zip lock bag that has been with us for 5-6 years”, adds Liam. “When you go reusable, you also don’t have to go out and buy a fancy new one. One of our first fabric reusable bags was actually one Liam’s mum made for us out of old curtain netting. You might not have noticed, but I used it for my shop today.”
Even though their efforts to reduce plastics quickly became about trying to reduce all waste streams, not just plastic, Liam says they still get terrified the more they learn about the plastic problem. “It’s not only the waste side, but also the often toxic chemical additives that give plastic its properties, and its impact on climate change, as a petroleum product. However, just because the problem is plastics, doesn’t mean the solution needs to be singularly focused on plastics. We can’t just replace single-use plastics with single-use something else. In a way, single-use plastic is the epitome of consumer culture. The bottom-line issue is consumption - as a species, we are overconsuming all resources. Plastic stands out as a problem because of its visibility and the fact it doesn’t degrade quickly, whereas other more apparently ‘innocent’ types of packaging like paper and cardboard often aren’t on people’s radar as an issue. But they too are made from resources that had to be extracted from the Earth. Furthermore, paper, cardboard and other materials also often have chemical additives when they are made into packaging, which is also bad for the environment.”
“Overconsumption also manifests in ways other than waste. There is mining, chemical pollution, forestry… The impacts of other materials are maybe not as blatantly obvious, but in the supply chain, they are still damaging”, adds Hannah.
In other words, living with less plastics: great. But it’s not the total picture! This is what brought Hannah and Liam to zero waste. But what exactly is zero-waste? Liam explains: “Zero waste is just about striving to chuck less stuff out - trying to avoid being in a position where we have to put something in a rubbish bin, and even in a recycling bin. We follow this thing called the waste hierarchy, which is all about preventing waste in the first place, getting into habits of reuse, and seeing recycling as a last resort.
“When you look at the waste hierarchy, or the 6Rs (Refuse, Replace, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot), you can see, recycling is far down the bottom. This is because recycling still uses a lot of energy, many products aren’t actually recyclable or infinitely recyclable. Other people are tempted to think that compostable packaging is zero waste but again, it is still single-use, requires energy and resources to make, chemical additives, and too often it’s not actually composted,it goes to landfill anyway, where it causes methane in the landfill’s anaerobic conditions..
The waste hierarchy is also encapsulated in the circular economy theory. This theory describes an economy where resources are kept circulating, rather than a linear economy where they end up in landfill. The circular economy aims for a society that uses resources efficiently in small, closed loops, like reuse/refill and repair. The bigger the loop gets, e.g. by recycling, the less efficient the system gets.
People often think that as long as something’s not landfilled, it’s not a linear system, but that is not necessarily true. “The big question for us is how to reduce our population’s raw material consumption. That is what zero waste is really about because the biggest environmental impacts come from extraction of raw materials, and production. Waste is really just a symptom of a broken system fuelled by overconsumption. We often get frustrated with ‘we’ll solve climate change with new inventions, we’ll use more solar panels and drive EV’s..’. But slowing down, using less is hardly ever a part of the conversation. If we want to survive, we have to break the status quo: often the solution isn’t going to lie in innovating to find new materials, but in innovating to improve systems”, says Hannah.
“And we need to start now. Changing the way we live now will be much more painless than trying to change once the shit has already hit the fan. Ultimately, we need to change how we get essential items like groceries to people. Stores like Hopper that are using zero waste packaging models are a good example of that. We are grateful for local initiatives popping up that break the status quo of shopping in the supermarket, and offer an alternative without single-use. These initiatives show that you can function normally in society without producing waste - by getting groceries from stores that offer reuse/refill options, and at the veggie market.”
That is a lot to take in! So what can you do practically? Here are Hannah and Liam’s tips to go plastic free and beyond.
Make a compost! You’ll be surprised how much your waste output will reduce when you compost food scraps and feed it back into the soil. Food waste is not plastic, but it is still important to reduce because when it goes to landfill it releases a lot of methane (another greenhouse gas).
Check our Regional Zero Waste Shopping Guides to locate shops near your that offer zero waste alternatives for everyday essentials.
Make an effort to reduce buying products new. Rather than buying new we ask ourselves if we really need the product in the first place. If we do, then we try to find the thing second-hand alternatives. We also repair things that break, rather than automatically replacing them. With everything you repair, borrow, buy secondhand, or simply decide you don’t need after all, you reduce pressure on the Earth’s resources. Challenge yourself! Can you go one year without buying anything new?
Next time you’re in the shop: think reusable - bring your own bags and containers, and if you forget, go for a reused jar instead of a paper bag!