It’s easier if you focus on one area of your life or a particular activity at a time. For example, you could start with how you save and preserve your food and leftovers at home, and integrate items like canning jars and Khala Cloths [reusable waxed canvas] into your kitchen. Or you could focus on solutions to single-use items when you’re out and about, like bringing a reusable bottle with you instead of drinking bottled water and bringing your own reusable cutlery and even a metal or glass straw. You could focus on shopping, starting with bringing your own bags, and then move to think about how things are packaged, and bring your own container to your local market and bulk-food store.

Two golden rules to the zero waste lifestyle are:

1.  planning ahead and
2. refusing unnecessary things.

There’s no denying that zero waste practitioners spend time planning ahead, especially when traveling. And we’ve learned to refuse stuff like plastic-wrapped candy, useless freebies handed out at events and all the rest of it.

I call this journey toward waste-free living the Zero Waste Voyage; if you were to imagine yourself going on an expedition on a paddleboard and only had one tiny jar to carry your trash, what excess packaging could you eliminate in your life? (Ladies: single-use sanitary products? Men: single-use razors?) The second aspect of this voyage is that you won’t become a guru overnight, but if you take it step by step and keep building on your success, over time you’ll be able to reduce your waste dramatically by putting together a tiny zero-waste travel kit. In many cases, this can save you tons of money!