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Writer's pictureNatalie McMyn

Day 12: Bea Johnson the Zero Waste Icon

Today was pretty similar to yesterday. In case you were wondering, the pickled onions were a great addition to the salad. I also can’t believe I’m nearing the end of the challenge! I feel like this zero waste eating is starting to become second nature. Okay maybe not that far, but it really hasn’t been that hard, speaking 12 days in of course. It just takes a little bit of planning and knowledge of what kinds of foods there are and how they are packaged at your local grocery stores.

To help you, here is a search tool for finding a store that sells bulk food in your neighborhood. It’s from Bea Johnson’s zero waste website. Johnson is like the original icon for the zero waste lifestyle movement. Since 2008, she and her family only produce one small jar of trash per year but does so in a somehow realistic way. Today, a lot of zero waste bloggers face so much criticism if they produce one piece of trash or aren’t vegan to the point that it has become a scrutinized, competitive, and unhealthy lifestyle. In this interview though, Johnson says that her family chooses to eat meat or fish on the weekends. She also says her family tried going vegan once but stopped after her husband experienced an abnormal amount of weight loss. That choice really supports her ideologies of keeping things in balance and realistic.


Bea Johnson
Bea Johnson

“If it’s sustaining my life, I don’t think it’s a waste.” - Bea Johnson





Here is one of her articles on how to do zero waste grocery shopping. She only goes grocery shopping once a week with a shopping list and brings a bunch of cloth bags, jars, and glass bottles. For meat, she just asks the store associate behind the counter to put the desired meat in her jar. I wonder how many stores will do that now because of the required health code policies, but she mentions that small family owned stores are more likely to accept personal jars to put products in.

I really want to emphasize that zero waste is not about being perfect. It is about joining in on the environmentally conscious movement and doing as much as you are able.

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