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Meet Erin Rhoads: Living 'Zero Waste' Since 2014

Erin Rohads has been living 'waste-free' since 2014. Photo: marie claire

People would never know I live a zero-waste lifestyle.

I work in a corporate job, I wear heels, but I don’t get takeaway coffees. Once a week I’ll go out for lunch to a restaurant. I always carry my own cutlery with me just in case a place has plastic.

The change started when I saw a documentary in 2013 about a couple in Canada who pledged to create no trash for one year. I was just blown away. I had never known you could live like that.

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I signed up for the Plastic Free July challenge, and after that I decided to keep going with the whole idea of low-waste living.

I started looking at what in my house was packaged in plastic, then trying to find alternatives.

I began buying staples like pasta, tea and chocolate monthly at bulk food stores where you take your own containers, and vegetables, meat and fish at the markets.

I’ve developed a much better relationship with a lot of the businesses in my area. It’s nice to know the people who are selling and making your food.

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We also started using food scraps for compost or to make our own stock. Sometimes we’ll splurge on pizza because you can recycle the boxes. I also started reducing packaging by making my own deodorant, toothpaste, lip gloss and body oils.

Those things all take a while to get right at the start, but now I can whip up my own mascara and everything else in under 10 minutes. When my boyfriend moved in he initially didn’t want to take the lifestyle on board, but he’s become quite passionate about it.

He loves that he’s saving money and we’ve both also become healthier because we’re not eating processed food.

People also tell us our skin is better and we’ve lost weight.

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But the biggest change is just worrying less, being happier. We’re not focused on material things anymore or stressing about what we need to buy next or which brands to choose. Life is good. Erin blogs at the rogueginger.com.

How can you cut down waste? Here are some simple steps to try today...

1. Buy in bulk using the ZeroWasteHome Bulk app to find suppliers.
2. Start small and think about each product as you throw it out.
3. Is there a reusable or compostable alternative?
4. Compost food waste – which makes up most of our daily rubbish.
5. Contact your council about worm farms and local compost collectives.
6. Live junk-mail free by asking for bills to be sent via email. Sites like cataloguecentral. com.au let you receive catalogues online.
7. Buy loose-leaf tea instead of tea bags. Store it in an old jar.