How I got into the zero waste lifestyle
The Rogue Ginger blog was founded in 2013 as a way document my adventures in Melbourne, my new home. It did not stay a travel diary for long, soon morphing into a popular website where millions of people followed along as I shared my efforts to reduce my plastic, rethink waste and live more sustainability.
I was not always some eco greenie tree hugging person. In fact, I know I'd be described as the opposite. Talking about how to lower my plastic use and share why I live zero waste was not something I ever imagined myself to be doing. Ever. Let's jump back a decade to see how I got started on this journey...
Where I started, through to today
On a wet dreary winter afternoon in June 2013 I was sick in bed with a brutal cold. My sister called to see how I was feeling and when I told her I had gone through my supply of Nicholas Spark's movies she suggested a a documentary she had read an interesting review about the day before. The Clean Bin Project would go on to be my first environmental documentary and a catalyst for changing my life. To give you a quick summary of the documentary, it follows a couple that pledged to buy nothing new for one year, while trying also to produce no rubbish in that same year. The documentary looked at the unnecessary amount of rubbish we generate day to day. I will admit the deciding factor that made me watch the documentary was the hair colour of the lead - it was ginger, just like mine. Redheads supporting redheads :)
After the credits rolled I looked at my own life and was shocked. My mindless consumption was contributing to a take-make-throw away system harming people, communities, ecosystems, animals. So I decided to make some changes no matter how small. This led me to partaking in Plastic Free July a month later. It was similar to Dry July, but instead of giving up alcohol, all I had to do was give up single use plastic. So I decided to take on the challenge to go single-use plastic free for one month, blogging about it along the way. How hard could it be?
The plastic free month was hard. But it was a month where I got a glimpse of the benefits reducing plastic and changing my habits around consumption would offer. By the end of the month I knew I wanted to keep going, extending the plastic free challenge for life.
As months passed along my rubbish decreased drastically to the point that I was throwing nothing away for weeks. In May 2014 I decided to track what rubbish I was creating by collecting it in a dilemma bag to learn more about my waste footprint. I soon discovered the zero waste movement and decided to apply its principals to my life, continuing to blog about my journey along the way. The following year my story went viral and I was being interviewed about my zero waste life all over the world.
Click here to learn about what plastic-free and zero waste means, and more.
What began as an experiment on reducing my plastic, has morphed into a life long commitment to lessen my impact while I live on this earth. I don’t believe the next generation should have to deal with my rubbish and that we can advocate for another way. As a person with ability to make changes and speak up, I am committed to doing the best I can to help make sustainability accessible for everyone.
My motto is: Do the best you can, with what you have got, where you are.
I continue to enjoy sharing my attempts at reducing plastic and my zero waste life here on the blog, writing for publications, chatting on radio and TV, presenting talks, running workshops and panel discussions around Australia and internationally (via Skype of course, let's limit those air miles).
If you want to jump into the blog and get started I recommend you read a list of my must-not-miss blog posts. These are my most popular and helpful blog posts that will surely get you one step closer to living with less plastic and going zero waste. You can also get everything in my book Waste Not available at places where books are sold and your local library.