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Meet Bea Johnson: Living 'Zero Waste' Since 2008

Bea Johnson has been living 'waste-free' since 2014.

In 2006, we had a large home in the outer suburbs, a 4WD, and didn’t walk anywhere.

But my husband and I realised we just weren’t happy living this way so decided to temporarily move to a smaller place closer to the city.

We put most of our belongings in storage, thinking we’d eventually settle somewhere bigger. But we found that without all this "stuff", we had more time on our hands to do things we enjoyed. We ended up donating all our old furniture to charity.

Around the same time, my husband become a sustainability consultant and I decided to reduce our environmental impact in the home.

The first step was to stop using plastic bags. Then I made fabric bags out of old sheets. Soon I was taking containers to buy meat and cheese.

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At the start I was a bit extreme, making my own bread, butter, yoghurt and almond milk, and experimenting with hard-to-make beauty products. I learnt a lot, but realised there was no way I could keep up this kind of lifestyle while working full-time and raising two kids, so I decided to keep things as simple as possible.

These days the only products I make are things I can’t find sustainably anywhere else. Simple things work best, like we just use baking powder for toothpaste. Same with bronzer – I use cocoa powder on my cheeks. And cornflour works as dry shampoo. I’ve made my own mascara, which I’m very proud of.

The one thing I really missed was my lip plumper, and someone told me that you could get the same effect from stinging nettles. Oh my God, I can’t tell you how much it hurt! I ended up with hard bumps all over my face.

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Johnon and her family-of-four produce just a 1 litre jar of landfill per year (for the whole family of four).

Toilet paper is the only thing we buy that’s single use. I use a menstrual cup, and wish I had done it earlier. It’s so easy.

My two boys actually love the lifestyle. We go out to dinners together, to museums. For birthday presents we give experiences rather than “things”.

All our wardrobes fit in carryons, so if we want to go away for a weekend or a month, we just throw our entire wardrobe in a bag and walk out the door!

We’ve all learnt that life is about more than just filling your home.

Bea blogs at zerowastehome.com and is the author of Zero Waste Home (Scribner, $33.99).