The Zero Waste Movement aims to tackle all three components of the 3 R’s, reduce, reuse, and recycle. Reduce is one aspect of how individuals can combat climate change that is often overlooked. However the zero waste movement focuses on how they can reduce their consumption to create as little garbage as possible.
History of the Zero Waste Movement
The term zero waste first started out as a term for manufacturing and waste management, but was first adopted to our current meaning in 2009 by Bea Johnson who kept a blog discussing her life producing no waste, and was featured in the New York Times in 2010. Bhea Johnson even pioneered the idea to collect all her garbage into a mason jar to keep track of how much she and her family were actually disposing of (Jennings, 2019). Photos started being shared on the internet of people trying out the lifestyle, sharing their similar aesthetic photos of their garbage collected in a mason jar. Through social media there were zero waste movement influencers, such as Lauren Singer that were able to create a career out of sharing their lifestyle. Despite the origins of the zero waste movement being rooted in anticonsumerism beliefs, soon social media influencers were able to co opt the movement to create a business of selling green products. Instead of the origins which encouraged buying and having less, individuals are being influenced through social media to purchase products such as bamboo cutlery, and reusable bags in order to live a zero waste lifestyle.
Encouraging Consumerism of “Green Products”
In addition to the zero waste movement becoming a method to increase spending on green products, there is evidence that not all these “sustainable” substitutes are actually better for the environment.For example, take the cotton tote bag which is seen as a greener alternative to plastic grocery store bags. However, a study completed in 2018 that compares the environmental impact of different shopping bags determined that cotton and specifically organic cotton tote bags had the worst impact. A cotton tote bag must be used 20,000 times, or once a day for 54 years in order for their benefit to outweigh the impact of its production (Cook, 2021).
Focus on Perfectionism
Another criticism of how social media has affected the zero waste movement, is the ability for influencers to easily portray their “perfect” lifestyles, producing almost no garbage. However, influencers are able to easily show only the positives of living a zero waste lifestyle and through their curated content exclude any sources of struggles or their imperfections making the movement feel very unattainable for average people. Most people are not able to attain these near perfect routines that allows individuals to produce no garbage. The focus of perfection that exists on the zero waste movement and is further perpetuated through social media creates a level of unattainability where many will not even try to reduce their consumption and garbage production. If instead the focus existed on highlighting small, realistic changes, more people would be able to incorporate the positive components of the zero waste movement.