Zero Waste Week - Do a family waste audit!

September 5, 2021

It’s Zero Waste Week!

Zero Waste Week is all about preserving precious resources and saving money! It’s about making small changes in your consumption and usage, to rethink what is rubbish, where it ends up, and how we can educate ourselves to reduce waste, reuse materials, save money and participate in the circular economy.

So how does this apply to you and your family?….

Do you and your family collectively make a lot of waste? Do you want to make small steps to reduce your waste? Do you want to save money, by reusing rather disposing? Do you want to do your bit for climate change (landfill produces methane, a greenhouse gas) and the plastic pollution crisis, by changing your daily habits in achievable ways?

I know I do! I’m always trying to find ways to reduce my waste, and over the years I’ve picked up some ideas which I thought I’d share with you.

DO A FAMILY WASTE AUDIT!

Why not start on your Zero Waste journey by doing an AUDIT of the waste that your family makes? It’ll be a really great place to start to focus on what you waste a lot of, and what small changes you can make within your budget and your circumstances, toward Zero Wasting.

The Zero Waste Week campaign website offers a really great printable audit tool which is free to download via their website, and can help you honestly appraise what you chuck away, and what your family puts in the bin to go to landfill.

As their website says, “Without knowing what you’re starting with, you can’t measure your progress throughout Zero Waste Week…. For this week then, I want you to live a normal life and jot down every item you put in the bin or discard when out and about. I don’t care whether it’s half a crust of bread, a film lid from a yogurt pot or that annoying piece of packaging that arrived in the post – write everything down. You might be surprised to see what’s being thrown away.”

Here are some things that I regularly used to throw away into landfill (based on the audit printable from Zero Waste Week) … since being a parent, and running Plastic Free Baby, bit by bit I have made positive changes which I can share with you in case they also help you to spark an idea for improving your waste habits. I’m always learning too - I’d love to hear your ideas and tips for improving mine too!

Things that I used to waste...

I hope that this audit of mine is of use to you and your family, to help you focus on some of the waste in your home and small ways to make drastic positive change to your household waste.

Good luck with your audits! Why not get the kids involved? Let me know how you get on!

Best wishes,

Laura - Plastic Free Baby, Founder

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When putting together items for sale in the Plastic Free Baby shop, I always have an eye on what products are plastic-free AND zero waste.

Here are some products which could help you, as they have helped me, to reduce your household waste, by making the most of reusables and using cosmetics without microplastics.