Hi, my name is Deirdre and welcome to WasteNot. I started this website for my graduate project but it is fuelled by my desire to banish single use plastics from my life.
Where did this desire come from?
Well, I was raised in a very environmentally conscious home where composting, reusable water bottles, and containers were the norm. In school, I was always one of the only kids who did not bring my lunch in a throw away plastic baggies. So taking care of the environment has always been in the back of my mind and something I knew everyone should be more concerned about, myself included.
When I moved to London for University, for the first two years I tried to keep up with the basics like using my reusable water bottles and shopping bags. It was only this past year, I started to become more aware of just how bad the plastics pollution problem was getting. I slowly started to try to use do more than just carrying around shopping bags with me all time. I started only buying take-away coffee if I had my reusable cup, I started using my local food waste pick up service, and I switched to using bar soap instead of liquid (this one was a big deal for me).
Because of my growing desire to go plastic free (where it was still convenient to me), when I was challenged to give up one of my consumption habits for my anti-advertising class, I instantly knew what I would do. This was the excuse I needed to quit using single use plastics cold turkey.
Video I made for my Anti-Advertising class
Attempting to go plastic free and zero waste for a week made realise much I relay on single use plastics, nearly all of my toiletries and food came in plastic. In preparation for that week I had done days of research to try to find plastic free alternatives. I discovered so many plastic free alternatives that worked really great for me, and then some that didn’t.
But then it dawned on me, why should I have to spend days and days of research to go plastic free for a week. There should be one guide dedicated to helping those in the UK, who are striving to reduce their plastic and waste by any amount. It was then, the idea for WasteNot was born.
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I want to disclose that I am not currently zero waste and I don't think I ever will be. I much prefer say that I am striving for 'minimal waste', as the term 'zero waste' can be daunting. It is nearly impossible to go completely zero waste no matter how hard you try. My goal has been to reduce my single-use plastics and waste in a way that works for my lifestyle. This is the message I hope other will take away from WasteNot, that we should focus less on perfection as any small changes can make a difference.
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