The Creative Culture Guide
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The idea of waste, something that gets discarded, is fundamentally incompatible with a holistic and optimized natural system. Everything transitions between states and between different life forms but nothing is "waste".

Approximately one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption—nearly 1.3 billion tonnes—gets lost or wasted every year. Food that deviates from what is considered optimal in terms of shape, size and colour, or beyond the “best-before” date is often discarded by retailers or consumers.

Reducing trash at the household level is a first step. However, more than 80% of wastage happens before a product gets purchased. To go beyond landfill culture one must go beyond participation in the industrial product market.

Principals for transitioning to a wasteless culture:

  1. Reduction of resource extraction, production and consumption of new products.

  2. Redesign of products and methods of production to eliminate waste by designing for longevity, modularity, and indefinite closed-loop reuse.

  3. Avoidance and reduction of single-use materials such as packaging and convenience products.

  4. Convert "waste" to resources for the benefit of local production and the creation of a sustainable society.

  5. Clean, sort, store or re-use any not-yet-recyclable "waste" to enable future re-manufacturing .

Zero-waste Resources

Misfits Market


Food company (about 138 miles away)
Misfits Market is an online mail-order food store dedicated to making affordable, high-quality food more accessible while helping break the cycle of food waste. The company works directly with farmers to rescue organic produce and other grocery items...

Rootree Packaging


Zero-waste company (about 319 miles away)
Rootree offers stock and custom compostable packaging options. The Rootree Vision To re-invent the packaging world in a transparent way, by: -sourcing or developing renewable materials; -using easier to recycle alternatives; -leading the industry...

Elevate Packaging


Continental zero-waste company (about 567 miles away)
Elevate Packaging provides 100% compostable packaging and labels for small businesses. They sell stock bags in small batches that you can order directly off their website, or they can also do custom bags with printing. All primary materials are compostable...

Tekpak Solutions


Zero-waste company
Tekpack Solutions has developed certified "omnidegradable" packaging that biodegrades in composting facilities. "The additive is a particular blend of Organic compounds, which in the presence of microbes, create an enzyme that breaks down the long-chain...

Zero Waste Living — Bea Johnson


Zero-waste knowledge holder
Bea Johnson lives a zero-waste lifestyle with a family of four. A writer, speaker, and leader, she shares practical tips and how-tos for reducing waste and shifting our lifestyle to ensure a healthy environment into the future.

ZWIA


Zero-waste organization
The Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA) is an international organization focused on Zero Waste standards, policies and best practices. The ZWIA Charter Principles are: 1. Convert waste to resources for the benefits of local production and the creation...

Olio


Zero-waste app
Olioex is a free smart-phone app meant to connect neighbours to share food and other things, rather than chuck them away. Olio is has more then a million users in 49 different countries.

Zero Waste Manifesto


Zero-waste standard
The Zero Waste Manifesto declares the rules and principles of a zero waste lifestyle--producing and consuming without producing materials that will be discarded into nature and the oceans--by considering the following values: 1. Well-being of Plants...



Keywords
zero waste, biodegradable, recycling, reduce, re-use, DIY