An alarming 25.35 million tons of trash was removed from the ocean in 2024. While it’s great that The Ocean Cleanup removed so much waste around the globe, it’s tragic that so much waste makes it into streams, rivers, and eventually the ocean.
It’s time to think about the future of our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. We need to shift towards sustainability. If everyone does their part, we can stop plastics and other forms of trash from getting into the ocean where it harms aquatic creatures and creates issues with microplastics getting into the air we breathe and foods we eat. RecycleNation wants to show you how to start your zero-waste journey in 2025.
Assess Your Current Waste and Recycling Habits
It’s hard to move towards zero waste without first looking at what you’re not currently doing or what you’re doing wrong, even if it’s not intentional. It can often be hard to understand how to recycle, especially if your district isn’t clear. You need to assess what you’re doing and how you can improve it.
One way to do this is by installing a waste-tracking app or bookmarking a website dedicated to responsible recycling. See if your local trash and recycling hauler has one or can recommend one. Recycle Nation has a gigantic recycling database with data on where to recycle more than 50 items. Enter your location and a list of available recyclers, along with maps and contact information, appears.
Keep track of what you’re recycling each week to get an idea of what you recycle the most. Build a spreadsheet and log the number of items you recycle every day.
Are there ways to reduce what you’re recycling? If you have dozens of water bottles each week, it’s time to consider a reusable water bottle. If you dislike the taste of your home’s, workplace’s, or school’s water, invest in a reusable bottle with a built-in filter like Brita or LifeStraw. You have multiple paper bags from your grocery store, why not invest in reusable shopping bags instead?
What’s ending up in the trash that you cannot recycle in your area? Do you have a lot of black plastic containers from a local Chinese restaurant or pizzeria? Look for establishments that use compostable or easily recycled containers instead.
Do you have a lot of kitchen scraps but haven’t made the switch to composting? Consider composting. If it’s difficult in your apartment or small yard, there are indoor composters that dry and grind food scraps into a fine powder that’s easy to sprinkle on your garden or lawn.
Foodcycler’s FC-30 is the indoor composter I use, and it’s amazing. It takes 2.5 liters of coffee grounds, cabbage cores, onion peels, tea leaves, and other kitchen scraps and turns a full container into a cup of powder in under two hours.
Finally, how many items could you buy in bulk or choose refillable items? Grove offers refillable cleaning bottles that you fill using water and a small dissolvable tab with the cleaner. If you have a refill station in your area, you could bring your own shampoo, condition, laundry, dish soap, etc. to the store and refill those rather than purchase new containers over and over.
As you take a much closer look at your purchases, usage, and recycling habits, you have a blueprint that gets you started on your zero-waste journey. It’s time to move onto the five goals of a zero-waste lifestyle.
Learn the Five Rs
Any zero-waste journey focuses on the five Rs.
- Refine: Always ask if you really need something before you purchase it. Could you borrow it instead or find it free on local sites like Freecycle?
- Reduce: Stop generating recyclables and waste by choosing items that don’t have as much packaging. Instead of purchasing a new bottle of shampoo or another bottle of laundry detergent every few months, wash and refill that container at a local refill station.
- Reuse: Reuse whatever you can. Instead of single-use water bottles, invest in a refillable water bottle. If you get coffee at work, bring a mug instead of using disposable coffee cups. Purchase reusable shopping bags or bring milk crates to put your groceries in after paying for them.
- Recycle: Learn what is and isn’t recyclable in your region. If you’re uncertain, use the guide at Recycle Nation to find out where to bring something to ensure it’s recycled properly.
- Rot: Food waste can be composted. If you don’t have the space for composting, ask local farms. Farmers often take compost for their pigs and chickens.
Targeting Food Waste
Vermont was the first state to pass a law requiring all residents to compost their food waste. The ultimate goal is to shop so that you don’t buy more than you can use before it rots. Anything that does need to go into the trash is composted instead, including meat scraps and bones.
This seems odd, but it’s not as hard as it sounds. Fill a bucket and bring it to a local drop-off point. If you want to compost in your backyard, that’s possible. You do have to compost meats carefully as they attract raccoons, rats, and other rodents. Underground composters like the Green Cone work well.
Menu planning is an important part of food waste. Create a weekly menu and stick to it. Shop for just the ingredients needed and cook the meals in order of how long the ingredients last. Spinach is going to go bad before cabbage does. Fish needs to be used faster than tofu.
Change Your Purchasing Habits
When you make a purchase, consider where you’re buying from. Prices at a grocery store may be cheaper, but you’d be surprised. Go to a farmer’s market and shop for seasonal produce. You get better quality for lower prices, and the trip to the market is shorter, so there’s less emissions from cross-country transportation and no plastic packaging.
Purchase as much in bulk as you can. A 25-pound bag of rice only has one bag that’s being added to the waste stream. If you’re worried about mice or other pests, transfer the rice to reusable freezer containers and store them in the freezer until needed. Or, split the cost of a bulk bag and share it with your family and friends.
If you need items like a new bookshelf, go to a secondhand store and purchase one there. You get a better price, and you’re giving an unwanted item a new life.
Do you need a new phone or simply want one to have the latest technology? If it’s a “want” vs. a “need,” reconsider it. At the very least, make sure you use a trade-in program to keep that electronic device from ending up in a scrap heap. If it has life left, entering it into a refurbishing program is essential.
Never Stop Learning and Adjusting Your Habits
You’re not going to be perfect. It takes time to achieve zero waste, and even then, people can’t always maintain it. There’s going to be a time when you need an item that you must purchase that isn’t zero-waste. Keep learning and adjusting your habits. When you do have to step away from a zero-waste lifestyle, do as much as you can to keep the impact to a minimum.
Keep learning what you can and adjust your habits. Sign up for your waste and recycling district’s newsletter and read the latest news. It’s the best way to keep up with changes to recycling processes and know when new items are added to the list of recyclables accepted or prohibited in your curbside bin.
Even small steps make a big difference. If you’re doing your best following the five Rs, you are already helping save the planet from excessive trash and plastic waste. Make yourself aware of what you buy and consume, and it goes a long way towards a zero-waste lifestyle. For more recycling tips and tricks or information on recycling in general, visit RecycleNation or contact us to learn more.
