Production - Consumption - Disposal

an outdated 20th Century approach

We are living with in an outdated linear economy of production, consumption and disposal. The zero waste mentality is to switch the whole system to a circular economy, which aims on keeping things in continuous rotation and out of landfill. This isn’t to be confused with the recycling economy, which delays the journey to landfill, but winds up there eventually after using lots of energy and resources to keep it in use until then.

The diagram above shows just how much destruction and energy is used to extract the oil, to make the plastic, to wrap our food, to sit on a shop shelf to be thrown in the bin when we get home! As consumers, we have to demand quality and reusability over quick, cheap and disposable quantity and this starts with changing how we choose to shop.