As a society, we have come a long way in terms of recycling and the redistribution of our waste products. Recycling has become an essential part of every household, recycling schemes are state sponsored and children are taught at a young age what we should recycle and how not to damage the environment. However, we still have a long way to go and the zero waste movement aims to make landfills a thing of the past.

The average European throws away half a tonne of waste (500kg) each year. Most of these items can be easily recycled or even sold again. Many consider their waste to be of no use anymore and as a result, we continue to waste our waste. Even our waste that becomes useless could be made out of useful materials that can be used again, like glass, paper, cardboard and metal.

On average, we only consume 50% of the food products that we purchase. The remaining 50% goes into the trash. These food scraps can be burnt, creating energy to heat buildings or even run our cars. Burning waste is significantly cheaper than burning oil or coal and is much healthier for the environment too.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, the United States is the worlds largest producer of waste. On average, 236 million tons of waste goes to the landfill annually from the US alone. A hugely significant amount of this waste could be avoided if citizens were more aware of the 5 R’s of the zero waste movement, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot. It is more than possible for countries to endorse zero waste and in the process, hugely decreasing our waste and carbon footprints. For example, In Sweden, companies are successfully running off each others waste products. While in Hungary, companies are using bio fuels from mushroom scraps to produce green energy that is cheaper and more efficient for companies to run.

While we have certainly gotten better at recycling, only 60-80% of what we intend to recycle actually gets recycled depending on a cities waste management system. This is mainly due to us still being unclear on what exactly we can put in our recycling and composting bins. If it became clearer to households that recycling was not our only option, encouraging us to reduce and reuse more of what we already own, a zero waste future throughout the world would become less of a dream and more of a possible reality.