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Reviews
Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying Your Life by Reducing Your Waste by Bea Johnson
ingridboring's review against another edition
1.0
Some good tips which felt mostly obscured by the smug self satisfied attitude of the author and her privilege.
bes_life's review against another edition
3.0
This book is full of tips on how to live the Zero Waste lifestyle, which is very helpful. I enjoyed the first couple of chapters and plan on adopting some of the tips. I feel like this book needs to be read chapter for chapter and actually implemented as far as one wants because otherwise, all the tips can get very overwhelming. I borrowed this book from the library and had to give it back, so I could only skim through the last chapters.
romcm's review against another edition
3.0
I really wish this could be more than just inspiration for me. It did make me think about cutting up my old bed sheets to use for tea towels, I guess.
justiceofkalr's review against another edition
3.0
There's a lot of really great ideas in here for reducing the amount of junk that you consume and produce. But there's also a lot that goes a bit too beyond for me. And a lot that really isn't practical for a lot of areas where people live. Relatively the author lives in a good area for going zero waste in terms of resources and the community available to her. And despite her insistence that it's cheaper and not time-consuming to be zero waste, I maintain that she also has the time and money to be able to do this that many others may not. Also, I just have to vent that her obnoxious ABC lists drove me crazy because it seemed like she had to try too hard to make them work.
ioana_cis's review against another edition
5.0
Liked a lot the book - while I consider this kind of topics to be better suitable for an article, this one was pretty well done, good structure, lots of tips and tricks and many receipts. Some may consider it extreme, but I personally think you can choose how much you want and can do on this subject (as the author says it depends on us). I do not think I am ready to make my own cosmetics but to try to address the plastic problem, the over consumption.. yes, I'm definitely in it for a while and this book is a bit of a bible for this problem.
Definitely will use the 5Rs and the questions set for each object in the house
• Could I use this space for something else?
• Do I keep it out of guilt?
• Do I keep it because society tells me that I need one (“everyone has one”)? Could something else achieve the same task? Does it truly save time, as promised?
• Is it worth my precious time dusting and cleaning?
• Does it put my family’s health in danger?
• Do I use it regularly?
• Is it a duplicate?
• Is it in working condition? Is it outdated?
• Is it reusable?
My fav parts:
"To have or to be? What will your legacy be? "
"According to a 2009 report by the Cascadia Consulting Group, recycling creates ten times more jobs per ton of material in the collection, processing, brokering, and transporting practices than throwing “away,” and it pays more, too!"
"We cannot wait for the system to change. We individuals are the system. —Colin Beavan, No Impact Man "
"a simple system in order: refusing (what we do not need), reducing (what we do need), reusing (what we consume), recycling (what we cannot refuse, re-duce, or reuse), and rotting (composting) the rest."
Definitely will use the 5Rs and the questions set for each object in the house
• Could I use this space for something else?
• Do I keep it out of guilt?
• Do I keep it because society tells me that I need one (“everyone has one”)? Could something else achieve the same task? Does it truly save time, as promised?
• Is it worth my precious time dusting and cleaning?
• Does it put my family’s health in danger?
• Do I use it regularly?
• Is it a duplicate?
• Is it in working condition? Is it outdated?
• Is it reusable?
My fav parts:
"To have or to be? What will your legacy be? "
"According to a 2009 report by the Cascadia Consulting Group, recycling creates ten times more jobs per ton of material in the collection, processing, brokering, and transporting practices than throwing “away,” and it pays more, too!"
"We cannot wait for the system to change. We individuals are the system. —Colin Beavan, No Impact Man "
"a simple system in order: refusing (what we do not need), reducing (what we do need), reusing (what we consume), recycling (what we cannot refuse, re-duce, or reuse), and rotting (composting) the rest."
swissmunicipal's review against another edition
5.0
It took me two rentals of this from the library to finish it (with a long break between because of how long it was on hold), but it is packed full of good information on how to reduce the amount of waste we create. I have no plans to tackle all of the ideas immediately (and will probably never adopt all of them), but at least I now have the information in my head to consider as I buy things and get rid of current waste.
rebekahology's review against another edition
5.0
This book is pretty incredible! I don't think we will ever be a Zero Waste family, but it was eye-opening and I felt convicted about a number of things we are doing that are very wasteful. Some of this felt extreme in some ways, which coming from our current lifestyle would seem to be, but is it really? If plastics almost never break down, and are not properly recycled, is a compostable toothbrush really extreme? If we want to save this planet for future generations, we probably need to rethink extreme.
I would challenege everyone to read this with an open mind and at least examine the ways that you are overly wasteful. Where can you begin taking steps? I have already committed to no more Starbucks without a resuable cup, and I will be getting a soda stream to deal with my sparkling water issue. Those are just the first two steps. Finding containers for meat from the store is next! I am inspired!
I would challenege everyone to read this with an open mind and at least examine the ways that you are overly wasteful. Where can you begin taking steps? I have already committed to no more Starbucks without a resuable cup, and I will be getting a soda stream to deal with my sparkling water issue. Those are just the first two steps. Finding containers for meat from the store is next! I am inspired!
ao_amelia_oconnor's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
rachelb36's review against another edition
4.0
I wasn't sure I would like this book, because I'd been mostly watching YouTube videos on zero waste, and felt that many "zero-wasters" came across as pompous know-it-alls who have "arrived" and who just want to be paraded around and have people admire them – rather than being humble mentors.
Bea Johnson's book proved that Bea, at least, isn't like that. She grew up in France, living a modest lifestyle, then moved to America as an adult and took on the "American dream" lifestyle. After living this way for awhile, she started to realize the troubles it brought and moved toward zero-waste. I love that she recognizes that zero-waste is a goal, but it will never happen for any of us (there will always be a certain amount of waste) and the things that each of us compromise on will be different.
She says toward the end of the book, "Some said that our household doesn't do enough because we are carnivores and travel to France, for example. Others said that we do too much, that our lifestyle is unrealistic or extreme. How is it unrealistic if I am living it?" -p. 253
The book itself is incredibly thorough. There are only illustrations on the chapter intro pages, and the rest is pure text (apart from a few illustrations to help explain various processes she describes, such as papermaking). There were so many questions that have popped into my head during my online exploration of zero waste, and she answers nearly all of them. The resources section is also full of truly practical resources.
My biggest beef with the book is her section on kids. She claims (as do many zero-wasters) that overpopulation is the cause of a failing environment (without citing any real facts), and suggests we all reconsider having large families, even suggesting that we adopt, instead. I'm a huge advocate for adoption, but it's certainly not rooted in environmentalism! (That's not a good enough reason to adopt – adoption should be about a child joining a family, rather than seen as a means to make one feel better about his ecological footprint.) She also talks about "protecting ourselves from surprise pregnancies" and includes Planned Parenthood as a resource. (I definitely can't get behind that organization!)
At the end of the day, I strongly believe that over-consumption and incorrect-consumption (that is, using plastic and synthetics instead of natural materials that can be returned to the earth) is the problem. If the entire global population began living, overnight, with a desire to redeem the earth and care for it, many of our "waste" issues would be a thing of the past.
Anyway, that chapter is what bumped my rating from 5 stars to 4. I would definitely still recommend it as a very comprehensive read for anyone interested in going plastic-free, or just in implementing a few resource-saving habits into their regular lifestyle.
Bea Johnson's book proved that Bea, at least, isn't like that. She grew up in France, living a modest lifestyle, then moved to America as an adult and took on the "American dream" lifestyle. After living this way for awhile, she started to realize the troubles it brought and moved toward zero-waste. I love that she recognizes that zero-waste is a goal, but it will never happen for any of us (there will always be a certain amount of waste) and the things that each of us compromise on will be different.
She says toward the end of the book, "Some said that our household doesn't do enough because we are carnivores and travel to France, for example. Others said that we do too much, that our lifestyle is unrealistic or extreme. How is it unrealistic if I am living it?" -p. 253
The book itself is incredibly thorough. There are only illustrations on the chapter intro pages, and the rest is pure text (apart from a few illustrations to help explain various processes she describes, such as papermaking). There were so many questions that have popped into my head during my online exploration of zero waste, and she answers nearly all of them. The resources section is also full of truly practical resources.
My biggest beef with the book is her section on kids. She claims (as do many zero-wasters) that overpopulation is the cause of a failing environment (without citing any real facts), and suggests we all reconsider having large families, even suggesting that we adopt, instead. I'm a huge advocate for adoption, but it's certainly not rooted in environmentalism! (That's not a good enough reason to adopt – adoption should be about a child joining a family, rather than seen as a means to make one feel better about his ecological footprint.) She also talks about "protecting ourselves from surprise pregnancies" and includes Planned Parenthood as a resource. (I definitely can't get behind that organization!)
At the end of the day, I strongly believe that over-consumption and incorrect-consumption (that is, using plastic and synthetics instead of natural materials that can be returned to the earth) is the problem. If the entire global population began living, overnight, with a desire to redeem the earth and care for it, many of our "waste" issues would be a thing of the past.
Anyway, that chapter is what bumped my rating from 5 stars to 4. I would definitely still recommend it as a very comprehensive read for anyone interested in going plastic-free, or just in implementing a few resource-saving habits into their regular lifestyle.