First, the bad news: When it comes to trash, the average American聽reportedly produces聽more than 4 pounds of it per day. Over the course of a year, that adds up to 220 million tons of waste, more than half of which ends up in one of more than 3,500 landfills across the country. Now, the good news: An eco-conscious movement is actively working to reduce that number 鈥� it鈥檚 called 鈥渮ero waste,鈥� and it鈥檚 taken root in Atlanta.
The zero-waste philosophy revolves around slashing waste production through recycling, composting, buying in bulk and buying secondhand, so that eventually practitioners are producing nearly no trash at all. The movement isn鈥檛 exactly new, but it has grown through platforms like blogging and social media 鈥斅爏earching 鈥渮ero waste blogger鈥� on Google or Instagram produces thousands of results from around the globe. The private 鈥淶ero Waste in Atlanta鈥� Facebook group includes more than 40 locals swapping advice, tips and other tricks for eliminating waste in daily life.
One of the members,聽Anamarie Shreeves, is a pioneer of the movement locally. An arts advocate, freelance consultant, program coordinator and communications expert, Shreeves holds zero-waste workshops at places like Sevananda and Hodge Podge Coffee House, as well as offices and universities.
She also runs the blog聽Fort Negrita, where she posts about everything from whether or not she uses toilet paper (she does) to making her own聽toothpaste, body butter, mascara and shampoo. Shreeves launched her blog in 2013 to chronicle her journey to living a more sustainable life. 鈥淸I shop] in two sections of the grocery store, the bulk section and the produce section 鈥� I鈥檓 buying food without any packaging on them,鈥� she said.
Shreeves brings her own bags and mason jars to fill with her produce and dry goods. She buys all of her clothes secondhand (though she tries not to do much clothes shopping), and at concerts and festivals, she brings her own cup when she goes out.
Her waste level: Fitting eight months of trash into a mason jar.
Clean Business Model
Some have adopted the practices in more than personal ways. Karen Glass, a fashion designer with more than 40 years of experience at fashion houses in New York and Paris, found the zero-waste community out of necessity.
She started infusing the practices into her life (without even realizing it) while building and maintaining a small organic farm in Florida. When she moved to Atlanta a few years ago and settled at The Goat Farm Arts Center, she decided to meld her love of sustainability with her career in fashion to embark on her own clothing line,聽zer酶waste, which launched in late 2016.
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