Living the zero-waste lifestyle may sound ideal, but it’s no easy feat. This means that you produce little to no waste in your daily life. Going through it for a day or two is hard enough, but for those who are truly passionate about it can stretch this out to weeks at a time.
Kudos to this eco-friendly family who can go for weeks without throwing a single piece of trash. Credit can be given to their innovative recycling and savvy shopping. Meet 41-year-old Esther Peñarrubia. She constantly pushes her kids to create crafts and drawings from old packaging.
The Peñarrubia family haven’t thrown out things that only end up in landfills. It hasn’t been easy because in the last two weeks, Esther has only been forced to throw an old balloon from a party, the backing from a sheet of stickers, an old T-shirt that had been utilized to clean shoes, and a broken toy.
It’s been truly rewarding, and the whole ingenuous plan started when she moved house. Esther simply began to lessen wastage when she opted to leave all single-use items behind. She is a mom of two who have encouraged her children to follow suite. She now lives in Girona in Catalonia and because of the new lifestyle she chose, she no longer uses cling film and tin foil. She also chose to get everything she needed in bulk or from second-hand stores.
Esther said, “There are already reusable items that we would have to buy once, so it would be a waste of time and money buying the single-use ones. It’s cheaper and you know that the item will continue being used instead of being set aside – so it’s just perfect!” She also added, “Each of us play a big role in taking care of the environment. It’s enjoyable to try to help rather than just keep complaining about the current situation.”
Esther further explained, “Moreover, you don’t take out your rubbish quite so often, because you don’t generate it! “ For her, any leftovers from the kitchen go into the compost bin. As for her glass containers, these are cleaned properly and repurposed because there’s always use for it.”
In their effort to produce zero waste, Esther and her family have sent a piece of rubbish to landfill every two weeks, and this is already on average. As for plastics, she tries not to have any. Of course, sometimes the unavoidable happens. When she does have plastic at home, such as the five-liter bottle of olive oil that lasts months at time for them, this gets thoroughly cleaned and recycled as well.
Her five and seven-year-old kids have learned to draw and make crafts from scrap paper packaging, and when that’s done, it’s also recycled. Esther was inspired when she watched a TED talk in November 2015. She wanted a zero-waste lifestyle after the show. As for cleaning products, such as liquid wash and detergent, she goes to a supplier who sells in bulk once every two months or so to buy up to 4kg worth of it.
For fruits, vegetables, and bread, Esther gets them from local suppliers, and again, she gets these in bulk each week. They also learned to grow their own tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli, and herbs in the kitchen garden they have. As for outdoors, they have planted mandarin trees.
Esther has managed to get into a community of friends who trade items with each other based on what’s needed. So far, they have exchanged furniture and plates and this was done through a WhatsApp group chat that they have created.
Esther would use reusable cloth nappies in lieu of disposable ones when they were young. This meant that she had to wash three times a week, but she preferred this to filling up the landfill that’s already ridden with trash. Esther said, “We tried to use the minimum possible and inherited some toys and baby equipment from friends and relatives. If we really had to purchase anything, first we tried at the second-hand market or on free apps.” As for Christmas and birthday presents, she finds ways to wrap them in reusable cloth instead of the conventional wrapping paper.
Esther explained, “They know that if a new toy enters our home, another should go to another family’s house, so we try not to accumulate a lot of stuff. We avoid toys or other material made out of plastic and choose cardboard, wood or metal, instead. We haven’t got a TV at home, so at Christmas time they aren’t exposed to toy adverts on a daily basis. When they ask for a new toy, we explain to them that depending on the material we would think about it, and if it’s plastic they understand that we won’t like it.”
The family has also learned to organize activities such as making gifts, going on cinema trips, or buying pre-loved items. Esther worked hard to educate her kids. She constantly takes them out on nature walks to the forest. She taught them how to pick up trash that they see on trails and dispose of them properly. “They use their little gloves and enjoy this activity, because they know it’s better for the environment,” she said.
The family also checks out books from the town library. They try to focus on reading materials that talk about climate change and plastic waste. They read this together. Esther now thinks that the most challenging part is trying to convince the rest that they can follow her example because many assume that swapping to reusable products is pricier than normal.
She explained, “If you think and organize your buying habits, consume less things and from better quality, choose reusable alternatives, buy everything you can in bulk and from the second-hand market—then it’s not more expensive and you can save money.”
Esther has a PhD in agricultural engineering. She says that recycling is simpler than people assume. She said, “Zero waste culture doesn’t only comprise of the reduction of our waste, it involves a more conscious lifestyle and way of consumption. There are plenty of local enterprises that produce under more sustainable, ethical and social criteria. Think and get informed about who, how and where your food, clothes and other items have been produced.”
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