Let’s Save Our Environment!

Zero Waste is known as a new movement for decreasing a large number of environmental crisis by natural disasters and tragedies and help the people embark on their own environmental protection journey. As one of the most sustainable lifestyles for the environment, Zero Waste is mentioned as a minimalistic movement by reducing the amount of waste one consumes to zero. The major purpose of Zero waste is trying to eliminate as many wastes from your life as possible, especially non-biodegradable and non-recycling trash as plastics as well as provide the most sustainable methods which make a meaningful life for you.

It is an undeniable fact that the environment is at an alarming level by a huge quantity of trash every single day which consumes from us. In addition, another issue from the wastes that we should be concerned about is that the incinerator, landfill, place for disposing of and recycling of rubbish is overloaded and become an inextricable matter for many places. According to the Science Advances peer-reviewed journal in 2017, about 91% of the plastic isn't recycled all around the world, and around 79% is discharged to landfills and our environment. If we keep living in the way of using more plastic, according to the guesstimate of the researchers, there are around 12,000 metric tons of plastic waste will be inundated the landfills in 2050. It is estimated that every minute, we poured 1 truck of plastic into the ocean. By the year 2050, it finds plastic easier than fish in our ocean.

So, we have to create a difference to contribute to keeping the environment clean as well as to decrease the considerable number of plastic bags. Now, we will do the action to prioritize environmental sustainability and commence on our own zero-waste habits from the usual daily activities. Challenge yourself to adopt some interesting ideas below for a green day.

Some tips in the kitchen

1. The 5Rs

The "5R" of waste management is "refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, rot". This principle aims to reduce waste disposed of in landfills and the negative impact on the environment as well as save energy and natural resources for our planet.

Refuse what you do not need. The best effective way of eliminating waste in your life is by refusing products that can harm you and the environment, especially plastic or nylon bags. We should use a paper or cloth bag with high quality which is used for a long time instead of using plastic bags.

Reduce is one of the most effective ways to reduce waste and help our environment by not creating it from the start. This method means getting clear about what you do want and what you actually need. We need to cut back on which making purchases for unnecessary products and things that you don’t really need especially plastic items. By applying this method, you can save natural resources, protect the environment, and save money.

There are a large number of daily products that are thrown away to the environment. Their cycle will start from our unconscious habits, and be buried forever in landfills. In recent years, the amount of landfills due to these wastes has grown in the case of an emergency. Therefore, reuse waste that you consume contributes to reducing the impact on the environment and saves energy as well as resources. Saving water bottles, glass bottles, mugs, wrapping paper, boxes, printer cartridges, and envelopes to use again or buying second hand, or making it yourself are some effective options for the reuse method.

Being considered as one of the important solutions to reduce waste reduction after having explored all of the refused, reduced, and reused techniques, recycle is referred to as a method of reprocessing of resources from waste to create another product which is reused instead of filling the landfills. Some main products that can be recycled are glass and beverage containers, cardboard and magazines, plastics, aluminum, and steel cans and etc.

As one of the 5 “R’s” of zero waste to reduce the wastes as the food scraps, Rot is the method related to the act of composting. Some types of food, food scraps, leaves, flowers, weeds, and eggie scraps, non-citrus fruit peels and seeds, nutshells, as well as eggshells, coffee grinds, loose tea, brown paper, hair can be composted. Applying this method, you will save a large number of wastes, create rich nutritious soil for your plant, and have a simpler and more sustainable lifestyle.

2. Eliminate plastic from your life

Eco-friendly bags are the ideal option for you to go to the supermarket, market, or all your purchases, from electronics to clothing instead of using plastic bags. In fact, the price is one of the authentic pieces of evidence for a motivating reason for not using plastic. Due to the taxes and other fees are added to the price of the item, plastic bags aren't really free as you think. This suggests that eco-friendly bags with a more expensive price, but use it for a long time and seen cheaper.

The idea that avoiding plastic straws and changing into bamboo or glass straws, plastic toothbrushes with a bamboo toothbrush, plastic jars of spices with glass jars of spices are considered the effective ideas to eliminate plastic from daily life, especially disposable plastic.

3. Shopping secondhand

Buying second-hand clothing is one of the most effective ways to saves resources and helps the environment. As being an eco-friendly recycling system that is now used for other purposes, you can find various items at specialized reuse centers and consignment shops. Being considered as the precious opportunity of owning beautiful clothes with the low cost and as good as new, second-hand clothes is also the environmental option that extends the lifespan of the garment before being generated an enormous amount of clothes get discarded as waste to the environment. Recycling second-hand clothing assists the people who in need and benefit the environment as well.

4. Cutting out packaged goods, start to the natural foods.

Let give up frozen convenience foods and start to eat real food for your health and for the planet. Undeniably, all of the containers of frozen meals use plastic which is considered the main reason for polluting oceans and killing animals. Cutting out packaged goods, anything that comes in packaging, and the consumption of frozen convenience foods are the top choices for the environment.

Moreover, reach for natural stuff like fruit and vegetables could yield benefits for your health and the environment. Research has consistently shown that the consumption of animal items has a higher negative impact on the environment than plant-based products. Foods such as refined grain cereals, dairy, eggs, and chicken are not only good for health but also good for the environment, especially we replaced them with the environment harm food like meat. If we are to adopt environmental-friendly eating habits, eating both plant-based foods and organic foods is almost always the healthier choice.

5. Planting a vegetable garden

Gardening is a healthy way to relieve stress, provide fresh vegetables for your health, but it also has many environmental and ecological benefits. Besides reducing the carbon emissions and waste during using the transportation methods as well as packaging products made by artificial materials such as plastic and cardboard, gardening is also a great way to nourish the soil for the environment. By growing your own vegetable garden, you could have a constant supply of fresh, healthy, organic produce to benefit the environment and help the environment in balancing its ecosystem to create various habitats of considerably smaller life forms such as ants, birds, insects, aphids and etc. Therefore, gardening makes a positive impact on our environment today!

There are a great number of easy ways to make a positive difference in protecting the environment for our planet. In a period in which intimidations to the environment are more and more pervasive, it is important to care about this to make it more maintainable. Every individual who concerns about the green lifestyle, as well as environmental problems, has to make an effort to minimize the negative environmental influences because that is essential to our health, quality of life, and survival.