Posts by Rachelle Strauss

Welcome to the 15th annual Zero Waste Week! Do you want the good news or the bad news? Well, the good news is we have a fantastic never-done-before theme for this year’s campaign. I’m hugely grateful to Anna for researching and doing all the leg work for this year’s content. She’s got something for everyone,…

I’ve been reducing my landfill waste since 2008. Back then I was seen as a bit weird. It all felt pretty lonely to be honest. The only other person I knew was Karen Cannard. She started her ‘rubbish diet’ in response to a challenge set by her local council in January 2008. It was Karen…

Zero Waste Week 2022, takes place 5th-9th September and we’ll be celebrating our 15th annual campaign! While we won’t be giving away the theme until the first day, there are plenty of things you can do to get your staff and colleagues on board. Here are 22 ideas to get you started: 1. Appoint a…

  Zero Waste Week 2022, takes place 5th-9th September. If you sign up to the mailing list, you’ll get daily emails, outlining the overall theme, topic for the day and a daily challenge. Plus access to a fantastic article each day, packed with researched information. Alternatively, follow me on Twitter, where I’ll be posting up…

We’ve been living a Zero Waste lifestyle since June 2004. And one of the first problems we encountered was finding toilet roll that satisfied our eco credentials. We wanted something plastic free and recycled. Our choices were limited to some dull grey, dusty, thin and sad looking paper that – without going into too much…

Over a decade ago, I was inspired by a lady called Mandy Haggith, who taught me all about our paper footprint. She calculated that the average person uses around 250kg of paper per year. It’s made up of things like newspapers, receipts, toilet paper, packaging and printer paper. Another source I found, suggest that the…

It’s a year of new beginnings here at Zero Waste Towers. (That’s my upbeat way of saying many things are ending!) One thing that is on the cards is a house move for my daughter. She’s got a job the other side of the city and, as she doesn’t drive – and we live in…

There’s something wonderful about a summer barbecue. It’s an excuse to gather with friends and family, to enjoy some al fresco food and let’s face it, for some reason, everything tastes better when you eat it outdoors! Sadly though, a barbecue can result in a lot of excess waste. It’s often a time when we…

I recently needed to get some printing work done. Back in the day I wouldn’t have thought twice about eco credentials; I would have just ordered the cheapest or the nicest and that would have been as far as any decision making would have gone. In fact I confess to having boxes of old business…

One of the things I love most about the Zero Waste movement, is that ideas can be scaled up or down. When I first started promoting this way of life, I worked predominantly with householders. Individuals were hungry for information on how to reduce waste, save money and preserve resources in their homes. Next, I…