Page 18 - Inspire Health November/December 2016
P. 18
• feature story
The Goal is Zero Waste
Lauren Singer Lives Her Values
By Patricia Danflous
She is a young, energetic New knowing what to do with things when environmental science in college and I
Yorker with a great sense of they reach their end of life such as textile always talked about sustainable lifestyles,
humor. She is a healthy, active recycling and knowing how to compost. but I was not living that way. I was
entrepreneur. She is committed talking about the environment and I was
to preserving the environment IH: How does that apply to things purchasing plastic four times a day. There
she loves. Lauren Singer also talks that are not reusuable, like band-aids? was a misalignment of what I believed in
trash. That’s a good thing. The and what I was actually doing. My zero-
founder of the organic cleaning LS: You can totally make your own waste lifestyle was my way of aligning
product company The Simply bandages out of organic cotton rounds those values.
Co., author of the zero waste blog that are washable and reusable.
Trash is for Tossers, she is an IH: Your blog, Trash is for Tossers
advocate for leaving a waste-free IH: Are you flexible enough that if says there are two easy steps to zero
footprint on the world. you can’t find a zero waste solution, waste: evaluate and transition. Can you
you just find what you need? expand on that?
And yes, she lives those values
to the ultimate, taking great pride LS: No, definitely not. I want to say, LS: Simply just looking at what
in revealing that the amount of when you’re buying something, have you you already have and what waste you
trash she has generated in the last looked at all the options for package- producing. Identifying ways that you
several years can fit inside a 16 oz. free? And most importantly, do you could minimize your waste and taking
Mason jar. actually need it? Is it necessary for your the steps to do that. You can’t reduce
life? Ninety-nine percent of the time it’s your waste until you know what you’re
Singer recently shared the not. Most of the time, things you can’t producing. See what things you can
how and why of a zero waste find package free are things that you donate or sell or minimize and then
life in a recent interview actually don’t need. start from there.
with Inspire Health. You will
be motivated, intrigued and IH: We live in such a disposable IH: Do you have suggestions for
environmentally inspired. world, filled with things that are not easy first steps in beginning a zero-
built to last. How do you deal with waste lifestyle?
INSPIRE HEALTH: Let’s start those types of issues?
with the basic definition: What is a LS: On my blog I have a whole list of
zero-waste lifestyle? LS: You can fix things. I like to focus alternatives and changes that can have a
on keeping what you have and keeping it large scale, long term positive impact. It
LAUREN SINGER: For me, it working at its best. There are lots of ways can be as simple as ordering a soda and
means not sending any trash to a landfill. to divert things from landfills. saying “no straw.” You can refuse plastic
So I do compost and although I used to bags and use reusable bags. If you use
recycle, I don’t really anymore because I think the thing is to just take care one reusable bag for the next three
I don’t buy anything in packaging. of things you have. Realize you don’t years, you will have eliminated literally
Recycling is a last resort. need a new phone every year and think hundreds of single use plastic bags going
of the expense. It’s not just money, but to a landfill.
IH: How do you manage to live its human capital. There are people
a waste-free life in today’s world suffering to make these products, there’s IH: You quit your job as a
of packaged goods and disposable environmental pollution occurring to sustainability manager at the New York
everything? make these products. When you think of City Department of Environmental
people killing themselves in the factories Protection, launched a kickstarter
LS: It’s a series of small choices. Really to make these [cell phones], you have to campaign to start The Simply Co. How
small, easy little choices that collectively ask yourself, is this really worth it? scary was that?
add up to not making any trash. Things
like buying my food in bulk, shopping IH: What inspired you to get into a LS: The scariest part was actually facing
at the farmers market, making my own zero waste lifestyle? my boss and telling him “I’m done!” It was
cosmetics and cleaning products and just a matter of the courage to tell him.
buying my clothing secondhand. Then, LS: For me it was wanting to live
in alignment with my values. I studied
18 INSPIRE HEALTH NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2016
