Most of us have spent the last month or so battened down at home, enjoying the monotonous delights of a pandemic Groundhog Day. If social media makes one thing clear, it’s that we’re all ruminating on just how much time we spend these days washing dishes. But there’s probably something else you’ve noticed while standing at the sink—just how much trash you accumulate when you’re not tossing it in someone else’s garbage bin.
For Cindy Villaseñor, an outdoor educator who goes by Cero Waste Cindy on Instagram, it didn’t take a global health crisis for her to adopt a low-waste lifestyle; she’s been examining her garbage can for years. This interest in conscious consumption first bloomed during a college environmental science course whose instructor offered passionate testimony to the various woes that have long affected the Golden State. Villaseñor, who grew up in Los Angeles, paid rapt attention. “My professor was very brutally honest,” she says. “Sometimes I would come out of her classes crying, because I’d be thinking—How could this be? How can we be doing this?”
After transferring from community college to California State University Northridge, Villaseñor became manager of the school’s food garden and composting facility. After graduation, she began an internship with the Sarvodaya Institute, which runs a sustainable urban farm. There, Villaseñor was exposed to the tenets of regenerative agriculture and low-waste living and realized that even if she couldn’t directly halt the large-scale environmental problems she had learned about in college, she could at least make a dent with her own practices.
“Consumerism is what’s really driving a lot of our issues in the world,” says Villaseñor. “The way I look at it, I’m just trying to be the best steward of the land that I can be and not use too many resources, because the future generation depends on them.”
Cero Waste Cindy wasting zero. Photo courtesy Villaseñor
Lest you wonder if things are about to get preachy, that’s not her style. Instead, Villaseñor takes a joyful attitude and chill approach to her education, preferring to lead by example, posting her low-waste adventures online and engaging with people who are curious about making the shift themselves. “That’s one of the greatest things—you’re able to spark some of these conversations with other people,” says Villaseñor. “You kind of open a little door of sustainability for them to see.”
While her full-time job as a Garden Ranger with Enrich LA, an organization that provides education in school-based gardens, is on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, Villaseñor has pivoted to offer gardening consultation online. But she also has a few tips for anyone who’s busy dreaming of future adventures.
CONDUCT A TRASH AUDIT
“A big thing is just seeing how you consume and how you can reduce your consumption,” says Villaseñor. She recommends completing a trash audit in your home—that is, taking a closer look at the overflowing garbage can and even your recycling bin to see what is taking up the most real estate, and then come up with small steps you can make to cut back on that type of item (i.e. assorted plastic, empty bottles, individual snack wrappers, etc.) Food scraps can be composted; other items can be re-purposed: empty pasta jars might store dry goods, spent bike tubes can be sewn into wallets and belts, egg cartons become art projects, retired climbing rope is ripe for weaving into a rug.
RETOOL YOUR GROCERY LIST
As you probably noticed during your audit, food waste (or food packaging waste) often fills our bins. “We don’t live in a circular economy where things are meant to get refilled,” says Villaseñor. “That’s probably the biggest challenge; that we’re constantly fighting against a system that doesn’t let us live a more eco-friendly lifestyle.”
She suggests combating the issue of food waste and excess packaging by first relying on package-free foods, whether they’re from your garden, a farmer’s market, or from the store, and cooking at home—and using seasonal ingredients—as much as possible. Villaseñor also frequents grocery store bulk bins, not just for typical items like grains and legumes, but also to find package-free snacks like trail mix and energy bites for her outdoor adventures.
For camping trips, she cuts waste by thoroughly pre-planning meals. Before leaving for the trailhead, she preps as much as possible, using mason jars, cloth sacks, and reusable zip-top Stasher bags to store everything. For backpacking trips, Villaseñor used to purchase dehydrated meals from a company that used compostable bags, but says that they’re no longer in business; instead, she suggests dehydrating your own meals.
Nah. Photo: Dan Meyers
GET THRIFTY
Low-waste can also be low-budget. First, aim to repair your gear instead of chucking it at the first sign of wear. Even if you’re not able to, say, replace a tent zipper, patch a hole in your sleeping pad, or sew up a tear in your favorite jacket, someone else—a local tailor or even the gear manufacturer—can do the job. And while it’s currently paused during the pandemic, Patagonia’s Worn Wear program accepts gear for both repair and recycling.
And if you truly need to replace or purchase new clothing or gear, consider looking for the same items used. Villaseñor has bought everything from high-quality wool base layers to technical rain jackets at thrift shops, but she’s also scored big at REI’s famed Garage Sales and their online used gear site. Facebook users also have several options, including its Marketplace feature, which tracks items for sale near the zip code you input into the site; Bearfoot’s Hiking Gear Market, a page that helps facilitate peer-to-peer outdoor gear sales; and local Buy Nothing Project groups, which promote a hyper-local gifting economy.
RETHINK TRANSPORTATION
Many folks need to travel in order to access outdoor recreation. If human-powered travel (walking, running, cycling, skateboarding, cross-country skiing, and beyond) isn’t possible, Villaseñor recommends using public transportation like buses and subways. If you have to drive, however, she suggests carpooling, driving, or renting a hybrid vehicle (she’s a Prius owner) to cut down on gas consumption. Her favorite option, however, is a bit slower, but more scenic. “I definitely recommend taking the train where possible,” says Villaseñor. “There are all of these beautiful places that you can visit along the Amtrak tracks.”
BE KIND TO YOURSELF
“Don’t beat yourself up. See what’s accessible to you,” she says. “Don’t to be too worried about being completely ‘zero waste,’ because in reality, nobody is. I’m not completely zero waste. It’s not perfect.”
“Baby steps” is perhaps Villaseñor’s most important advice. The goal isn’t perfection; the goal is to rethink our lifestyles and make change incrementally. Villaseñor began her low-waste journey with the simple decision to stop buying paper towels for her home. Everything else has built upon that one tiny step. She’s come a long way, but she admits that some things are still difficult for even her. “I’m trying to see what the alternatives are to chips,” says Villaseñor, laughing. “We really like chips.”
Top photo: Loco Steve
And yet, her last Instagram post is of a campground with so much smoke from campfires that it would be difficult to even breathe. There are lots of ways to think of the environment and waste, and campfires that create toxic smoke is certainly one way of waste that isn’t thoughtful or healthy, nor is it less wasteful.
I think most of what you are seeing in the photo is haze. lol. That said I have never understood why people wake up and start a fire. I’ve always used the rule that fire is for warmth at night…
Corinne-
I think you need to reread the last two paragraphs of this article and think about that message. Why don’t we try to be kind not only to ourselves but to others too? It’s not about perfection but instead taking steps in the right direction. If you have something constructive to say I would love to learn more but try to be nice! Bringing others down is not a good way to educate.
I think she said she wasn’t completely prefect. We all make choices. Che was clear in addressing that and giving SOME ideas.
Prius owners….. the”r” is silent.
Composting is a great way to turn kitchen waste onto the next tomato, pepper, lettuce, kale or squash crop. Easy to do and there’s nothing like growing (and eating!) food you’ve grown with your own hands.
Yes it is! I always have a jar with me to bring back scraps when camping! Thanks for reading the article! 🙂
Great article! It’s hard balancing a ecologically sound approach to life while also going out and adventuring. Thanks for putting solid ideas into words.
Amtrak is a constant bummer due to time and cost. I wish it was a bit more accessible a la Europe’s transportation systems.
Hi Tristan! It really is difficult doing both when going adventuring.
But like I say in the article, it’s not about perfection. So trying out what works best for us, and our budgets! 🙂 Thanks for reading!
Reading that comment made me (again) realize how glad I am to live in Switzerland – we have a very dense net of trains and busses which also transport mountainbikes. Hope that can be a role model for other countries as well because it makes outdoor adventuring without cars easy.
You forgot one of the most important things to avoid waste–stop buying take-out food and beverages. Eat at home, or bring your own food and beverages from home. And, guess what? If you like chips, the alternative to chips is to make your own. Little bit of fluff article, I’d say.
That’s actually one thing I also talk about. But we didn’t get a chance to talk about it take-out specifically. More about going to the farmers market, or growing your own food and then cooking homemade meals. We make a lot at home. Sometimes we crave chips that we can’t make at home, but we avoid buying them as much as possible. Simply sharing we aren’t perfect.
Loved the article! Your last two paragraphs really spoke to me and served as a great reminder that there is nothing wrong with baby steps.
Love this article, and how Cindy shows you don’t have to be perfect to start making a difference. We need more of this kind of encouragement.
I especially like the idea of adventuring around train travel. As an adventure addict, it’s hard to reconcile my love of visiting distant places with the environmental cost to getting there. I am challenged to see what kinds of destinations are available to me via train… and I have plenty of time to plan, thanks to quarantine.
The hidden gifts of Covid… stopping us in our tracks and giving us time to reconsider our patterns.
Thanks Cindy for writing and adventure journal for publishing.
Really enjoyed this post. The tips and suggestions are super helpful. I appreciate the message that not everyone is perfect 100% of the time and all we can do is try our hardest.
Ditto!