badezimmer ideen holz
translator: maria bourareviewer: rhonda jacobs the average american generatesone ton of waste annually. my family: one jar of wasteper year since 2008. our journey started back in 2006; we read some books,watched some documentaries. and what my husband and i foundreally made us sad thinking about the future we weregoing to leave behind for our kids. so it gave us the willto change our ways. i got super motivated in tryingto find waste-free alternatives.
i tried lots of thingslike canning and those - some things were good ideas; others, not so much. canning was a good idea, but i do not recommendusing stinging nettle on your lips in lieu of lip plumper. it really hurts, believe me. i do not recommend using mossin lieu of toilet paper either. you see, moss dries,so the next day you end up with -
you know those scouring pads? yes, not very pleasant. i don't recommend that. i also tried using "no poo," which is a way of washingyour hair without shampoo. you're supposed to wet your scalp,massage some baking soda in, and then rinse itwith apple cider vinegar. but after six months, let's just say thatthe oil of my hair migrated down to here, and i ended up with frizzy ends.
not quite the hairstyle i was looking for. but i think i hit rock bottom, when one night i wentto lay down next to my husband, and he looked over,rolled his eyes, and said, "i am so tired of you smellinglike pickled herring, bea. (laughter) it's really not sexy." so that's when i realizedthat maybe i had gone too far, and maybe i should findanother alternative to shampoo.
after all this trial and error,we found balance. we found that for zero wasteto be sustainable in our household in the long run, all we had to dowas follow five rules in order. now, don't you guys even dare thinkthat we bury our waste in our backyard, or we throw it in other people's cans,or in the public bins. the first rule is to refusewhat we do not need. we've simply learned to say "no"; we say no to junk mail,
we say no to single-use plastics, we say no to freebies. for today, in this consumerist society,we're the targets of many consumer goods. but every time we accept them,we create a demand to make more. every time we take a freeplastic pen from a conference, it's a way for us to say, "please, drill more oil from the groundto create a replacement, and the replacement will be created." the second ruleof the zero waste lifestyle
is to reduce what we do need. so in our home, we've gone througha decluttering process. the beauty of declutteringis that it lets you share the things that you do not really use or needwith other people. it boosts the second-hand market, which is extremely importantfor the future of zero waste. in my kitchen in the old days,i used to have a jar filled with utensils. i had about ten wooden spoons, until i realizedthat i only have two hands.
and when i stir, i only need one hand. what's the point of havingten wooden spoons? one is enough. this is a picture of underneath my sink. this is a space that usedto be filled with cleaning products because i was listeningto what the marketers tell us. they tell us that for each application,we need a different product. to clean the windows, we need a product; to clean the floors, a different product;
the bathroom, a different product; and we end up with a cabinetfilled with toxic products that we don't actually need. we found that we can clean our whole housejust with white vinegar and castile soap. this is our bathroom, and our medicine cabinet. so this represents all the productsthat we need in our bathroom. for example, to brush our teeth, we simply sprinklebaking soda on a wet toothbrush.
on my eyes, i use burnt almonds; on my skin, i use cooking oil; and on my cheeks, i use cacao powder. the only problem with usingcacao powder on your cheeks is that you have a chanceof getting attacked by dogs when you walk down the street,but it hasn't happened yet. this is the master bedroom. and this, the closetthat i share with my husband. now, in a normal closet,people only use 20% of their clothes.
they keep the other 80% for the "what if." "what if...?" what if we have a job interview? what if we have a wedding to go to? what if we are going to lose weight? what if we're going to gain weight? what if, what if, what if? what we've done in our homeis figure out what our 20% is, and we've let go of the other 80%.
so in my case, i have one pair of shorts,two skirts, two dresses, two pairs of pants,seven tops, and one sweater. having less does not meanthat you have less options. as a matter of fact, these 15 pieces allow meto create more than 50 looks. my kids are minimalists too. this is my youngest son's bedroom. and as you can see,all of his wardrobe can fit in a carry-on. each of our wardrobescan fit in a carry-on.
you know what the beauty of that is? if we want to go awayfor the weekend, a week, a month; all we have to dois pull out our carry-ons, we throw our wardrobes in it,we zip it, we're out the door, then a cleaning service comes in, cleans the house,and then we have people that come, rent the house out,and end up paying for our vacations. don't go thinking that we're trying to,or we hide things in other closets. this is our linen closet,
and this is our garage. the third rule of the zerowaste lifestyle is to reuse. and in our home, reusing meansswapping anything that's disposable for a reusable alternative. so this glass jar filled with handkerchief is what has replaced the tissue box. no need for disposable sponges,or paper towels. we simply use rags, a wooden scrubby,and a metal scrubby. no need for disposable food storage items.
we've replaced them all with glass jars. and we also have been ableto eliminate food packaging simply by going to the storewith a kit made of reusables. so we shop the bulk aislesof the grocery store. and then once i'm home, i transferthe dry goods into glass containers so this is what our pantry looks like. and this is whatour refrigerator looks like. we even buy our wine in bulk; we just get our bottlesrefilled at a winery.
the second rule of reusingis to buy second hand. all our wardrobesare purchased second hand. yes, even my shoes. five bucks. thank you, thank you. (applause) i know i scored on these,i'm aware of that; i definitely scored. now, for the items that we cannotfind in a thrift store,
then we fall back on placeslike the flea market. that's where i bought these chairs. or sometimes ebay for the really specificitems that we need. the fourth rule of the zerowaste lifestyle is to recycle only what we cannot refuse,reduce, or reuse. so the zero waste lifestyledoes not mean recycling more, it actually means recycling less, thanks to waste preventionin the first place.
with this lifestyle, we've learned that we shouldavoid plastics at all costs, because not onlyare they toxic to our health when they are being manufactured, they're also toxic to our healthwhen we are actually using them. a lot of the food packagingactually leaches into our food. we've also learned that very few plasticshave the chance of being recycled, and the ones that do have a chanceof being recycled are turning into an itemthat's no longer recyclable.
so we consider plastics as a materialthat is meant for the landfill. so we try to avoid it at all costs. and instead we pick glass,metal, cardboard, paper, and sometimes wood,like the toothbrush you saw earlier, because we can compost them. rot is the last ruleto the zero waste lifestyle. today we not only rot - compostfruit and veggie scraps but we also compost our butter wrappers. butter is the only foodthat we buy in packaging.
now we buy it in a waxed paper packagingbecause we can compost it. but we also compost floor sweepings,dryer lint, even our hair. actually, it's more my boys' hair. i don't compost my hair,i recycle my hair. i let it grow down to here,and then i get it cut, and then i send it to an organizationthat makes wigs for cancer patients. not so long ago, had i heardabout a zero waste family, i would have thought to myself, "oh boy, these peoplemust be total granola.
i'm sure they live in the boondocks,and i'm sure she doesn't shave." well, i wore a skirt today for you guysso you can check for yourselves. i don't have hair on my legs. i would maybe also have thought, "well, she must be a stay-at-home momwith way too much time on her hands; she probably worriesabout her waste all day, or makes a bunch of things from scratch. that's not the case; i'm a full-time professional,
and the only things i makeare my cosmetics, and very few of them. we found that the zero waste lifestyleis not just good for the environment but it's also been great for our health, because we've been ableto eliminate all toxins from our lives, and we're way less sickthan we used to be before. we also found that this zero wastelifestyle saves a ton of money - 40% on our overall budget. this is due to the fact that, one,we consume way, way, way less than before.
but when we buy something, it's only to replace somethingthat needs to be replaced - a shoe that has a hole in it,or a t-shirt that's too small. and when we buy that replacement, we buy it second hand,which by definition, costs less. but we also buy our food in bulk. did you know that when you buyan item in a package, 15% of the price coversthe cost of the packaging? so when you buy in bulk,you make an automatic 15% savings.
but finally, we've replaced anything that's disposablein our home for a reusable alternative. so that means that our money is no longerinvested in throwaways, in a landfill. we no longer throw our money away. we've instead, invested in reusables. and they've translatedinto cumulative savings over time. they've even allowed usto install solar on our roof which allows us to save even more. but to me, the best aspectof this lifestyle is voluntary simplicity.
because it's made time in our lifefor what matters most: a life based on experiencesinstead of things. a life based on being instead of having. as a family, thanks to this lifestyle,we've been able to do things we would have neverthought possible before. we've been able to snorkelbetween two continents. we've been able to ride our bikesbetween san francisco and los angeles. we've been ableto go ice-climbing on a glacier. but my favorite pictureis probably this one.
i believe it representsthe zero waste lifestyle to a t, because it's translated into a lifestylefilled with absolute happiness. and if you have a teenager, you know how hard it isto put a smile on their faces. after all, you know, gandhi said, "happiness is when you think, what you say, and what you doare in harmony." the zero waste lifestylehas done exactly that for me. now, the little french au pairwho came to the us at the age of 18
would have never thought that one dayshe'd be launching a global movement. because today,thousands and thousands of people throughout the worldhave embarked on this lifestyle. my book and my bloghave even inspired people to open zero waste stores everywhere. like marie, who openedthe first zero waste store in germany. and there is gerard, who, after reading my book,realized that there was a need to bring back on the marketproducts sold in returnable containers.
and then there is anne, i mean, look at that store. how cute is this mobile,little zero waste store? and you know what we all have in common? simply the regretof not having started earlier. so i would encourage you guysto think about this. what do you have to lose by embarkingon the zero waste lifestyle? who knows what you mightdiscover about yourselves? maybe... absolute happiness?
thank you.