If you’re new to living a low waste lifestyle you may be wondering where to start. There’s really no specific area to start, you can start in the kitchen or the bathroom for example, but it’s important that you do start. And when starting out it’s nice to start somewhere easy and with a nice checklist that you can cross off in no time.
So, we’re going to start by learning how to make a zero waste kit because even if you haven’t heard of one before you’ve probably already started to assemble your own without even realizing it, and if you haven’t, no worries, you can start now!
If you’re completely new to zero waste find out what it is all about here.
Before making a zero waste kit
Even though we’re making a kit, this doesn’t mean you need to jump onto Amazon or into your car with your credit cards at the ready. You’ll likely already have almost everything you’ll need in your house, or you can find it at your local thrift store, or from friends, neighbours and family.
Remember that a part of the zero waste goal is to not require the creation of more products from our depleting resources. So, keep in the back (or front) of your mind the R’s of sustainability: rethink, refuse, reduce, reuse, recirculate, rot and recycle.
However, you are going to be making some pretty big changes soon and you want to make sure that you stick with your goal to reduce waste.
So, if there’s one product on your list that you already have but it’s old and ratty and you really want to buy that new one on Amazon, then go for it! If using that new product will make your transition easier and make you more interested and bound to remember your zero waste kit when you go out, then go for it!
Just try to reduce the number of items that you buy new. Also, try and get well-made products so they last long and do a good job, therefore, you won’t have to get a new one anytime soon.
Note: if you are getting rid of anything in this process, please check out our directory to find out if you can donate it, repurpose it, or recycle it so that it doesn’t end up in the landfills.
What is a zero waste kit?
A zero waste kit is a set of items that can include anything that will help you limit your waste when you’re out and about. Everything in your kit should be reusable and you should try to get your items from secondhand stores, neighbours, friends or family before buying anything new.
You don’t need to bring everything in your kit whenever you go out, but if you think there’s a slight chance you may need it then you should bring it. It’s better to be safe than sorry. If you carry a purse you can always leave your items in there, or if you drive a car you can put them in a bag or box in the trunk of your car.
After putting together your kit, these are just some of the things you’ll be able to do:
- Say no to plastic straws
- Stop using plastic shopping bags and produce bags
- Save money (and the environment) by not buying plastic bottles
8 items to have in your zero waste kit
Note: everything we talk about below that will be going into your zero waste kit is reusable.
1. Shopping bags
Did you know that the average Canadian uses 700 single-use plastic bags per year? We sure didn’t know that!
We’ve had our reusable shopping bags for years, and we always tried to remember them but sometimes we’d forget them at home and most times we’d forget them in the car. So, we’d just use the single-use plastic bags instead.
We were too lazy to go get them from the car once we were in the store (or it was too cold out. Canada, eh?). And so, we’d just tell ourselves, “well, we need something to put our garbage in at home, and we don’t want to run out of plastic bags, so it’s okay.”
Now, if we don’t have bags we just put everything back into the cart after we’ve paid and roll it out to the car to put all of our items loose in the back of the car. This might not work for those without cars, but you may have a backpack that you could stuff some groceries into.
Note: many people don’t realize that we should all be bringing our reusable bags when we go shopping for anything, not just groceries.
A great way to remember your reusable bags is to stuff them in your car, backpack, and purse. And, if you have bags that fold up well, you can stuff them in your coat pockets.
Where to find:
- the back of you closet, maybe? We have so many that when people come over and need a bag to take something home in, we just give them one of our reusable bags.
- your family/friends/neighbours might have extras.
Where to buy:
2. Produce bags
After we switched over to reusable shopping bags we didn’t even think about the fact that we kept using single-use plastic produce bags. When we realized this, it was an “oh duh” moment, and you may be having one of your own right now, but that’s okay!
You can make the switch starting today. If you don’t have any reusable produce bags at the moment, don’t worry! Just use your normal reusable bags and you can take the items out to put on the scale when you get to the cash (or at least that’s what we do when we forget our produce bags).
If you’re making the switch to reusable produce bags it also makes sense to make another change to your grocery shopping routine: to stop buying produce that’s wrapped in plastic packaging.
Now, it’s hard to find produce with absolutely no waste attached (i.e. rubber band, sticker, etc.) unless you go to a farmer’s market but these items are much better than full-on plastic packaging.
Also, you can reuse rubber bands or ask if your mail person would like them for their mail runs. We just stick our extra rubber bands in the mail box slot so that they can use them for the mail. But remember to ask them about it first!
The same that goes with shopping bags is what we do about produce bags: if we don’t have them, we don’t use the provided plastic bags, we just put them straight into our cart naked.
Tip: if the holes are small enough (or non-existent), you can also use produce bags for making drinks that contain pulp such as homemade nut milk or orange juice. You just pour the pulp-liquid mixture into the bag (over a bowl) and squeeze all of the liquid out into the bowl.
Where to buy:
3. Water bottle
I cannot remember the last time I drank from a plastic water bottle in Canada. I was so proud of myself for only using 2 single-use plastic water bottles when I travelled throughout Thailand for 2 weeks, so I can’t imagine drinking from one in my home country unless in an emergency.
But, did you know that the average Canadian uses 1025 plastic bottles a year?
This fact was rather shocking to me! That’s almost 3 single-use plastic bottles per day! But then I realized that it’s most likely not just plastic water bottles but bottles for Pepsi, Gatorade, Coca-Cola, Minute-Maid, etc.
I personally don’t drink pop, but I know a few pop lovers and one way to get around the plastic bottle is to buy your drink in a can; make sure you recycle it though!
Tip: If you’re at a fast food joint, I wouldn’t suggest this if your water bottle has a straw, but you can always ask them to see if they would fill up your water bottle with one of their fountain drinks instead of getting the single-use bottle or throw-away cup.
If you are currently buying water in single-use plastic bottles though, and it’s because you’re worried about the cleanliness of your tap water, you can get a water bottle with a filter, and the same goes for if you’re worried about water while you’re travelling.
Where to buy:
4. Coffee mug / thermos / travel mug
The average Canadian uses 720 single-use cups per year. That’s almost 2 a day. This number sounds almost unbelievable, but it actually makes sense when you think about it. A lot of people grab a coffee at Tim Hortons on their way to work (so 1 cup) and then one at lunch or for a break or after work (so 2 cups).
When you add up all the cups in a year, more than 20 billion single-use coffee cups are added to our landfills annually, if they even end up in the landfills and not the waterways.
Wait, but what about recycling? Well, single-use coffee cups have a thin plastic lining that prevents them from being able to be recycled, this means that all of those well-intentioned “paper” coffee cups that you threw in a blue box actually went to the landfill instead.
A great thing to note is that a lot of places are starting to give incentives for using a reusable coffee cup rather than a single-use one. At my school, no matter the size of the cup you bring (within reason) you get charged the price of a small.
Where to buy:
5. Straw
The average Canadian uses 730 plastic straws per year. That’s over 19 billion straws used in Canada per year.
“It’s just one straw,” said 8 billion people.
Unknown source
A common quote (that I cannot find the source for) is “‘It’s just one straw’, said 8 billion people.” However, if the average person used the same amount of plastic straws as Canadians per year, the world would be using (and throwing away) 5.84 trillion straws per year.
Plastic straws are one of the most widely used, and therefore disposed of, plastic product. Many types of straws cannot be reused or recycled due to the chemicals from which they are made.
But now, most places have paper or bioplastic straws, right? Well, yes, but a main point for using reusable items instead of single-use items other than the waste the single-use items create, is that it takes energy and makes waste when you have to make those 5.84 trillion paper or bioplastic straws.
And yes, it does take energy and makes waste when you produce reusable straws, but they wouldn’t need to make and dispose of 5.84 trillion per year, every year. Instead it would be a number much less than the size of our population.
Instead of the average Canadian using 730 single-use straws per year, the average Canadian would use an average of say 2 reusable straws per year (just guessing here, hopefully everyone uses less than 1 per year).
Regarding those biodegradable/compostable bioplastic straws, a lot of them aren’t actually able to be composted because many composting facilities have rules about them, therefore, many end up in the landfills anyway.
There are multiple types of reusable straws that you can buy:
- bamboo
- metal
- telescopic/collapsible metal
- glass
- plastic
We would suggest NOT buying plastic straws. If you already have them, that’s fine! But during this plastic crisis, even if the item is reusable it’s better to not buy plastic if there are other options.
Though saying that, if you do get a metal straw you’ll most likely want a little plastic “cushion” on the end because the metal straws get really cold when used in cold drinks.
Therefore, our top pick would be bamboo (sustainably-sourced, of course), but we haven’t tried glass straws yet so we won’t count those out of the running. Have you tried glass straws? If so, let us know in the comments, we’d love to hear how they are!
Where to buy:
6. Utensils/cutlery: spoon, fork, knife, chopsticks
If you tend to eat out, you most likely end up using plastic utensils. Even if you don’t eat out a lot, a set of reusable utensils is great to have for when you do, this would include a spoon, fork, knife and chopsticks.
Recently, the plastic straw has taken the spotlight for what everyone needs to say NO to, and so many people have already made the switch to reusable straws. However, we hardly hear about plastic utensils even though they too are part of the plastic crisis.
They’re also the easiest and least expensive items for your zero waste kit! You already have a drawer full of them (maybe not the chopsticks) in your kitchen.
Two great options for your reusable utensil set are either bamboo utensils or stainless steel ones. Though, if you’re travelling on a plane you might not be able to bring stainless steel ones with you, but you can check your airline’s rules just to be sure.
Where to find:
- in your kitchen
Where to buy:
7. Container for leftovers/takeout
Did you know that a lot of both recyclable and biodegradable containers aren’t getting disposed of properly and end up in landfills? And that doesn’t include those that aren’t recyclable in the first place.
We know that it is often difficult to bring your own container for takeout orders or leftovers just due to the awkwardness of being different. And yes, people may give you a funny look at first, but when this becomes the norm, you will feel quite comfortable.
At first, it was a little awkward for us, but after bringing our own containers a few times, the awkwardness wore off, especially when everyone who noticed us had a “good for you” response. This will also prompt others to do the same. No one likes to be “the first”.
You will also notice that restaurants are starting to encourage people to bring their own containers. It also saves them money as they won’t need to buy as many single-use containers.
We ate at Auntie Joys in Orangeville a few weeks ago and on the wall by our table was a sign encouraging customers to bring their own containers for takeout and leftovers.
Where to buy:
8. Cloth napkin
The final item on our zero waste kit list today is a cloth napkin. Now, these can have two purposes when you’re out and about. The first is as a napkin (obviously) and the second is as a utensil wrap (so that your utensils don’t go flying around in your bag).
Yes, paper napkins are compostable most of the time but it’s the same as goes with the straws, if there’s an option for reusable rather than single-use, reusable should win every time.
Also, a key fact to remember is, when you’re out and about, how many compost bins do you see? I’ve seen less than the number of fingers on my hands. So, yes, the paper napkin might be compostable, but if it ends up in the landfill then it’s not going to compost properly anyway.
Where to buy:
Pre-made zero waste kits
Now, if you find that you don’t have any of the items mentioned above already and you can’t find them in any nearby secondhand stores, some stores sell pre-made zero waste kits.
How to start using your zero waste kit
So, now that you have your zero waste kit assembled (or soon will), it’s time to start using it.
Reusable shopping + produce bags
This week (or as soon as you get your kit supplies), pack your reusable shopping and produce bags in your car or purse so that when you go shopping you don’t have to be like the guy behind me in line who told the cashier that yes he did need a bag because he forgot his reusable ones at home.
Reusable straws, utensils, napkins + containers
Next time you go out and you know you’ll be out during breakfast, lunch or dinner, bring along your reusable straw, utensils, napkin and container(s) just in case you eat out for your meal.
Water bottle + travel mug
If, like me, you have a backpack that you take to work or school, stuff your water bottle in one pocket and your travel mug in the other, that way you’re always prepared.
Reusable straw + cup
If it’s the season for drinking iced drinks from Starbucks or Tim’s or smoothie joints, then bring your reusable straw (and a reusable cup) with you whenever you go out so that you’re never unprepared.
Tip: a good way to remember everything is to have a basket or tote bag that will hold everything in your zero waste kit. Then you can keep your kit at the front door or in your car so that whenever you head out you can grab the items you’ll need or grab the whole kit.
Making a zero waste kit is an awesome first or twentieth step toward living a low waste lifestyle. Wherever you are in your journey, you’re doing a great job!
Making changes is difficult and if all you do this week is remember to bring your reusable coffee cup when you grab your morning coffee at Tim’s, that’s such a great success! Just take your journey day-by-day and let’s go zero waste together!
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We’d love to hear from you!
Is this the first time you’ve heard of a zero waste kit? If so, were there items listed that you already have/use? If not, what’s in your zero waste kit? What do you find is the best part of having your zero waste kit items? What do you find is the most difficult? Please comment below, we can’t wait to hear from you!
