Zero Waste Living, The 80/20 Way: The Busy Person’s Guide To A Lighter Footprint (Volume 4) (Resetting Our Future, 4) Paperback – October 30, 2020

I bought the book as one of several as I began searching for ways how to reduce the waste we produce in our house. This one, written by Stephanie J. Miller, a finance professional-turned-green-Washingtonian, is both practical and encouraging: Often, she says, even just 20 percent of our actions are responsible for 80 percent of our impact. This 80/20 idea, the book's title, is as many will know a general rule of thumb that applies in the business world (and oftentimes in households...). The author afforded herself a gap year to research what the normal busy person can do in their daily live to reduce waste - and if you have spent, like myself, many years in the Washington DC area, you will recognize many of the things she describes. The author comes up with practical ideas to get started across three main areas: 1) reducing food waste, 2) purging plastics, and 3) recycling right. Ergo: We do not need a complete overhaul of life, but rather choices that makes sense, are doable, and often even much healthier.The book also includes many interesting facts about the "waste industry". Who knew that - if global food waste, just the waste, not the consumption - were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases (after the US and China).? Even across the EU, about half of all the food purchased ends up being thrown away, some of it in the process of production, distribution and sales but much also in households. Another interesting factoid: As a society, we have been using plastic in our daily lives only for less than 30 or 40 years. The US's biggest supermarket chains replaced paper bags with plastic bags only in 1982. The (over)use of plastic seems indeed completely changeable.The biggest question on my mind remains: Why are we putting the responsiblity for "the mess" that our societies produce on the conscience and shoulders of individual consumers? Why can't we come to a societal consensus and create the right rules? Whatever the answer: The booklet is helping me figuring out what it actually means, in daytoday life, to reduce the waste we otherwise leave behind.I bought the book multiple times and gave it away as a gift to friends - all with great feedback.

I am so thankful to have came across this book. It’s a quick and easy read, perfect for a busy family. Stephanie breaks down each action step beautifully and provides plenty of realistic examples. When we first started going low waste I was really overwhelmed and felt like I had to do everything perfectly. In this book instead of focusing on perfection, Stephanie encourages taking small baby steps. It’s much more encouraging and supportive. I’ve been able to get everyone in our home on board and now feel better equipped to keep the small changes to create a new lifestyle for our family. I highly recommend this book for anyone needed a little encouragement and guidance.

This slim but very practical guide on how to be a little bit better in your daily life and save a lot of waste is an infectious revelation. The author take us on her own simple but compelling journey of personal transformation - from someone who cares about the environment to someone who takes a few basic steps in her life to cut obvious waste. The dry-cleaning plastic! Compost. The take out containers. She then goes on to explore what other things she could do and finds out there is so much more than can be done by an individual willing to take a few small(ish) steps (e.g. the beauty of large scale recycling and the places where it falls down - do you know which plastics you can really recycle?).What is most important though is that she does not become a do-all-this-or-the-world-will-end zealot. Instead, she shows us that we can all be (approaching) Zero-Waste heroes by doing a little more, but not quitting your job or even your hobbies to do nothing but hunt for compost worms and beeswax clingwrap. Need to keep that pandemic La Croix habit going? Ok. Can't always avoid a plastic bag? Fine - but collect them and once a month take them to somewhere (a local grocery store) that accepts them.The book has many practical steps and resources - a quick read and a little thought and you've already made some changes. And here's the best part. IT FEELS GOOD. This crazy climate-crisis journey we are on will require a planetary effort to right the ship. Most of it is not for individual action, but each us doing a little more to use less, pollute less waste less will have a big impact. This book can help you on the path.Special note: As a long-time vegetarian, I was very pleased that the author says we can skip the chapter on eating less meat!

Easy to read and put into practice. 80/20 tells you what is most impactful, I highly recommend reading the book.

I love the way the author modelled how it is to be a zero-waste advocate through her and her family's day-to-day actions and mindset. As much as I think I'm doing a lot now in this area, there are many things I can improve and tweak that do not involve too much time and effort. I could be an imperfect zero-waster and still know that I'm making a huge difference.

What a great read! Stephanie offers easy solutions to living a zero waste lifestyle for even the busiest of people.