With so much in the news today on the topic of climate change, it’s difficult to escape it. Equally, it’s difficult to escape the changing weather patterns that we witness every day. It might get a little overwhelming for some to believe that we as individuals have a role to play in improving or influencing the situation when in fact we very much do. We have the power to instigate a change in behavior from the top down. This means educating our children to make small changes like being mindful of their use of plastic or even of how they dispose of items. All of this can be easily taught.

A lady called Bea Johnson, originally from France but now based in the U.S., developed the whole concept of a “Zero Waste Home.” As a concept, she wanted a way to reduce the amount of waste that her household created and did so by aiming to “Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rot” (and crucially to do so in that order). Today, she is known all over the world for developing the idea and has gathered many followers along the way who enrich themselves with her teachings. She speaks at global conferences, maintains a blog on the topic and keeps a tight focus on producing zero waste in her own home.

While achieving zero waste in a household might seem a bit daunting at first, changes however small can be made to attempt this. Even if we make one change a week or even one change in the home per month, these will all add up to a significant change in our ways and importantly in our waste output.

EZ Living- Furniture Shop in Belfast has created the below infographic to explain everything you need to know on the topic of Zero Waste Homes. It outlines the reasons we should aim for a zero waste home; it details the important differences between waste prevention and waste disposal; it highlights the zero waste hierarchy; it explains the 5 Rs of zero waste and it focuses on 5 actionable ways people can reduce waste in the home plus lots more. Check out the full infographic below.