Sustainability

Zero Waste Warrior

April 16, 2016

Fashion Hound Meet my friend Anita, an amazing girl who worked as a rocket scientist for years and is now studying medicine PLUS she’s taught me so much about working towards living a zero waste lifestyle. Its #GiveAFork month so let’s hear from the lovely one herself on how we can be more culinary conscious!

Faye: What does zero waste mean and what does it mean to you?
Anita: Zero waste means producing as little physical waste as possible, this means buying package free goods where possible, or ensuring that packaging can be recycled. It also means being a #ConsciousConsumer, this means understanding where my goods come from and trying to limit my environment impact through everyday, simple switches.
To mean me, it also represents my philosophy on life – never waste the time you have on Earth, enjoy every moment and allow your actions to reflect your values!
Faye: How much waste do you think you’ve eradicated from your life? 
Anita: Whilst I am not totally zero waste yet, I’ve drastically reduced the amount of waste I produce in my life. I no longer send any food waste to landfill, and I only empty my bins once 3 weeks.
Faye: You’ve taught me so much, can you share some of your clever tricks for getting around the waste issue in public, at cafes, restaurants etc 
Anita: Make yourself a zero waste kit that you can grab and go! All you need is a reusable coffee cup, a cloth napkin, resuable utensils and a reusable tote bag which you can carry with you anywhere. This will drastically eliminate any single use items when you are out and about
Another great tip is to buy reusable produce bags, you can put pastries, fruit and vegetables, soap and whatever small items you buy into them!
Fashion Hound
This is my zero waste kit, thanks to Anita teaching me
Faye: How can we prevent food waste?
Anita: Food waste is a huge landfill issue. Some great tips to prevent food waste include:
1. Freeze food whenever you have excess!
2. Only buy what you need!
3. Make stock out of ‘limp’ veggies
4. Do a stocktake of your veggies at the end of the week and make ‘orphan’ vegetable soup, curries or stir-frys with anything leftover!
5. Compost! Find your local community gardens or start your own worm farm to turn your food scraps into compost for your garden!
Faye: Have you seen some cool zero waste initiatives that inspire you? 
Anita: My girl Faye De Lanty inspires me because she truly lives her values! She spreads her positive message with style and grace, most of all she is a positive role model on how eco-living can be sexy.
(For real I didn’t even have to pay her to say that! See how sweet she is!)
Sustain Table is also a huge inspiration for starting the #Grexy and #GiveAFork campaign, encouraging companies and communities to understand more about where their food comes from and how they can prevent food waste!

 

Faye: Why did you change your lifestyle to a zero waste one?

Anita: My zero waste lifestyle started in July 2015 when I was going through a ‘quarter-life’ crisis, I had climbed up the ‘Corporate Ladder’ and was a successful Engineering Manager, however despite the monetary success I was not truly happy. I was stagnating in my personal growth and I realised I needed to align to my core values. So, I decided to make some changes to my external environment in hope to be able to heal my inner turmoil. I turned towards minimalism and a living more eco-friendly life, this was a start to learning more about consumerism and sustainability. It was then I realised I didn’t need much to be happy, so I finally gained the courage to quit my corporate job and go back to university to study Medicine.

Its the small things we can do that make a big difference to mother nature

Here are the details of my zero waste kit

1.Glass mason jar and one of a kind cutlery found at the Salvos

2. Knitted cotton napkin handmade by my Mumma

3. Glass froggy straw from Green Nutritionals

4. Produce bags from Biome 

#ZeroWaste #Reuse #FashionHound

Check out Anita on instagram @rocket_science

PS Anita came to visit me at one of the Salvos Street boutiques and we decked her out in pretty preloved finds, see you can get your zero waste on with your fashion too

#ecochic

 

 

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