Maybe you’ve seen A Plastic Ocean or Blue Planet II. Perhaps you’ve even seen your own neck of the woods slowly become more and more inundated with plastic trash… and now, like many of us on this journey, you may be looking for inspiration to make some pretty fundamental changes to the way you do life and everyday consumption. Well, the good news is that this pathway is becoming well-trodden by some pretty amazing and inspiring people around the world. There are guides, maps, hacks, plans, challenges and beautiful pictures to help get you on your way! And it doesn’t have to be boring, ugly or mean that you have to do without!
We wanted to share some of the most helpful blogs we’ve come across that really are inspiring thousands (dare we say, millions?) around the world. To the ultra-busy folk, the following quick links are for you!
QUICK LINKS
The Originals:
The Up & Comers:
The Specialists:
THE ORIGINAL ZERO-WASTE BLOGS
These are the zero waste blog trailblazers that shifted the waste-conscious movement into the global public eye. They have huge followings on all the socials and do a ton of work to get their messages out there, including doing regular speaking gigs and influential collaborations:
Bea Johnson, French Native now living in California with her family, wrote THE book on Zero Waste, Zero Waste Home which has now been translated into 20+ languages. Her “vocation is to shatter mis-conceptions associated with the Zero Waste lifestyle, proving that waste-free living can not only be “stylish”, but also lead to significant health benefits, and time and money savings”.
Useful resources on Bea’s blog:
- Bulk Finder app which we’ve used dozens of times when travelling to new places
- Recommended products to get you started on your journey (with the reminder to try find second hand first!)
Even though Bea Johnson most likely did it first, Trash is for Tossers (TIFT) founder, Lauren Singer (as far as we could tell) really made the trash jar famous. If you haven’t seen it, watch this video to see what we mean. Lauren was inspired by Bea and decided to “live like I love the environment”. She is super active on Instagram and pretty damn inspiring. Her blog is jam packed full of great ideas, very specific ‘how to do X’ articles and videos.
Some of our favorite posts include:
- List of useful swap outs (zero waste alternatives)
- Video of Lauren showing us how to do package-free shopping
Going Zero Waste founder, Kathryn Kellogg started her journey after a health scare and now wants to “help others improve their personal health, improve the health of the planet, and most importantly I wanted everyone to know their choices matter”. Together with her husband and doggy dog, she provides uplifting support and guidance to her community. She says “it’s not about perfection; it’s about making better choices”.
Particularly useful posts/resources over at Going Zero Waste include:
THE ZERO WASTE UP AND COMERS
The up and comers are customizing and strengthening a library of zero waste resources, often for their local area but also applicable to everyone. They are creative and resourceful and definitely worth learning from:
Full disclosure, these guys are our great friends! They are also awesome. Reusable Nation founders, Vix and Dave, are originally South African and grew up with a deep respect for the environment. We can personally confirm that they have taken their path to Zero Waste living very seriously and based on their very fast rise on Instagram, they are also providing a huge amount of value to many people through their ultra-practical daily advice. Today, they are based in Melbourne Australia and have the place scoped for Zero Waste everything (including the low-down on local recycling).
Some examples of their very specific and helpful resources:
- How to Do Your Weekly Grocery Shop Plastic / Waste Free
- How to Avoid Plastic Water Bottles When You Can’t Drink the Tap Waterextra useful for you wild travelers out there)
- If you happen to be Melbourne based, here is a super useful map of useful Zero Waste places to shop
We’d recommend reading the Wasteland Rebel About us page and dare you to not be inspired. Founder, Shia is down to earth and her story is so relate-able. We especially love that she her husband Hanno are into the simple stuff that works – no fluff, guff or unnecessary stuff here. She covers a range of waste-related topics, even for the most random and obscure (we were once inspired by her write up on dental floss).
Some select ideas from Shia’s list of helpful posts:
Here’s a great one for those in London! Kate Arnell was one of the first people to inspire us to live differently while we were living in London, she is super upbeat, doesn’t take herself too seriously, has some very useful and inspiring blog posts and has a fun YouTube video with practical how to guides on how to do things greener.
Some useful goodness from Kate:
The Rogue Ginger is Erin Rhoads, another Melbourne-based Australian Eco-lifestyle blogger who writes about all things zero waste and like Reusable Nation provides some really good, detailed local knowledge. She also helps to create change by having a voice on things like policy change in Australia. She often appears on radio and like many of these knowledgeable bloggers, Erin has also written a book and runs events around Australia.
Find some of Erin’s good stuff here:
Celia from Litterless [we see that play on “Limitless” – nicely done] writes “about striving for zero waste both imperfectly and joyfully, as a way to work toward a more sustainable future. In addition to blog posts, the “Where to Shop” and “Where to Compost” guides can help you find local zero waste resources in your community.” Her blog and Insta is ultra-minimalist and rather pretty. Visit Litterless if you want to be inspired by the beautiful side of less everything!
Here’s some handy resources form Celia:
- Getting started with Zero Waste
- Where to Shop (USA) and Where to Compost (USA) – both very thorough!
THE SPECIALIST ZERO WASTE BLOGS
These folks are specialists in that they’ve taken the Zero Waste concept and made it their own by infusing it with their passions and skills. Great resources for those looking for something specific:
In addition to the usual zero waste good stuff, Anne-Marie Bonneau focuses on going zero waste in the kitchen. Food waste is a huge problem in our extra consumptive societies so thinking about zero waste from a food perspective makes a ton of sense. The absolutely best thing about this blog is the recipes and menus – we will be trying all of these in due course!
Waste less in the kitchen with these ideas:
- 7 day menus
- Recipes (and other things)
Ok, to be fair, being a “guy” isn’t “specialist” but we needed to put the LA-based Zero Waste Guy (Jonathan Levy) somewhere different because he does seem to be one of very few men talking about zero waste (where’s the gender diversity guys?). We like that Jonathan builds waste considerations into his work and has a nice repertoire of impact in this regard. Jonathan writes about how to waste less and provides amusing and/or matter-of-fact commentary on environmental related news. His Insta also provides some nice inspiration from a slightly different perspective (when compared to everyone else on this list).
Some examples of Jonathan’s helpful articles:
We love that the zero waste community is growing strongly and led by such a range of inspiring people. Importantly, these leaders are creating a whole eco-army of micro changemakers who are influencing their family, friends, neighbors and people in their local communities. It take a whole lot of good work to make change like this happen on a global scale so we hope you find inspiration from these lovely people to go out there and make your own change! Tell us in the comments… who inspires you when it comes to wasting less?
