Anyone who lives a zero waste lifestyle can tell you that the habits and skills they’ve adopted aren’t trendy at all. Zero waste living si more old-fashioned than trendy. Ask your parents and gradparents, who can easily line up zero waste principles with the habits they were used to live in the past 😊
Lining up old-fashioned zero waste living with living of my parents and grandparents show me how we can rely on some time-tested lifestyle choices to work and reduce our waste.
These activities show that zero waste is closely connected to traditional way of living.
If it worked in the past, why we would need to change it?!
Cooking from scratch
Learning to cook from scratch is a valuable skill that in the past was totally normal way of cooking. Cooked meals were highly connected to seasonal food, and that’s why could be more healthy.
Eating seasonally
Eating fresh and seasonal food was a common way for all people in the past. After development of food system we can now eat food even out of season, while being imported and shipped across the country.
Canning
Canning is a way to ensure that the food doesn’t need to go to waste and allows it to be stored without the need for further resources like electricity needed to keep food frozen and preserved.
Small and local producers, makers
There were many craftsmen with reputable skills in the past, who produced goods with quality. Buying locally made goods and goods from small makers has advantages. Not only you can know better how and where is produced, you also support your community.
Hanging laundry
Hanging laundry to dry saves electricity and can help prolong the life of clothes.
Clothing repair
These days, stained, torn, and worn clothes are often disposed of, but learning simple clothing repair is an old-fashioned skill that extends the life of our clothes.
Gardening
Gardening connects you to the seasons and can serve as a reminder of the noticable amounts of work that go into our food and why it should not be wasted.
Cleaning
Vinegar and baking soda or lemons and salt can do a lot when it comes to surface cleaning. Using them as traditional cleaning methods tend to go hand in hand with zero waste.
Good things are simply timeless and they can be found any time in any occasion. My grandmother would confirm it for sure 😊