Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • - Well, it's the day of the Zero Waste Challenge.

  • - I'm probably the most competitive out of the three of us,

  • and I really wanna win.

  • - I ordered something on Amazon, more waste!

  • (waste material banging) - Of all the plastic

  • ever created, only 9% has actually been recycled.

  • - I've been making some efforts in my life to go zero waste.

  • My lovely green grocer still does the kale like that,

  • and it's like well my health is one thing

  • and the Earth's health is the other.

  • - Doing zero waste for one day

  • probably would be easier if it was just me,

  • but its got me, my lovely partner Amanda Millie,

  • and my two beautiful children.

  • - The key thing really is making a bit more effort.

  • - Hello there,

  • my name is Captain Robert Sheehan Esquire.

  • - Hello there, my name is Thomas Hopper.

  • - Hey there, I'm Byron Knight.

  • - And I'm one of the triumvirate of hosts

  • of "The Earth Locker Podcast".

  • We dive in to discovering what makes us better earthlings.

  • - Seems like you guys are kind of

  • already interested in this,

  • but just to break it down,

  • zero waste basically just means trying to send

  • as little as possible to landfill, and it actually started

  • as a waste management term.

  • I think all of you are mostly based in London,

  • and I went ahead and I looked

  • at your Mayor's Environmental Strategy.

  • London aims to be zero-waste by 2026.

  • - Did not know that. (laughs)

  • - Yeah, so what do you guys say?

  • Do you wanna get into looking at your trash?

  • - So organic stuff.

  • - That's great. You can compost all that.

  • - Greek yogurt, takeaway food,

  • Glade container thing, there's tissues, there's leads.

  • - Maybe do some meal prepping,

  • so that you're not eating out and using single-use plastics.

  • For your yogurt, try to find either a glass yogurt

  • that you can purchase,

  • or you could try making your own coconut yogurt.

  • - Right now I'm in quarantine in Canada,

  • so I find it tricky to be zero-waste.

  • So they'll come on these Flow Waters.

  • I get a drink for like two to three.

  • But the other thing I noticed as well, is back home

  • I would never know, 'cause I'm using

  • the cups from my own house.

  • But it's these, I get that delivered.

  • - See if there is a way you can tackle your coffee routine,

  • even if you just get coffee grounds in a container,

  • and you get your hands on a French press or something,

  • and also trying to eliminate your single-use water.

  • - Sitting next to my trash now. Divers.

  • - Oh yeah.

  • - I actually was too busy to have lunch.

  • Normally I would have gotten take away somewhere,

  • but- (laughing)

  • - I see that you had some blueberries,

  • perhaps shopping trying to get some produce

  • at the farmers market.

  • Thank you, guys for showing me your trash.

  • You're already doing so well.

  • I'm so excited for your 24 hours of no trash,

  • and I am challenging you to try and make

  • as little trash as possible.

  • And if you make any trash, I might, you know, spank you

  • or spit on you, just kidding.

  • I only wanna be your cheerleader.

  • But whoever- (laughing)

  • - I'm gonna make a ton of trash now.

  • (laughing)

  • Hello, hello. This is how far I've come

  • with my Zero Waste cosmetic routine,

  • which includes wiping your bum, 100% recycled,

  • no inks, dyes or scents.

  • Here's my shampoo and condish, no plastic there.

  • Here's a little soap pouch for catching the remnants

  • of bits of soap, toothpaste in jar,

  • because all toothpaste tubes tend to end up

  • in the landfill unfortunately, all of them,

  • every single one that's ever been sold.

  • Here's some refilled shampoo and condish as well.

  • Those are reused bottles.

  • This is a refill place near me,

  • where I just refill my shampoos and conditioners.

  • I do my best, you know, do my best.

  • - So I'm still zero-trash, a couple of meals in.

  • Had some meat in a Tupperware

  • I'm drinking my reusable water bottle

  • from the tap water.

  • The only major difference really is

  • because I haven't got the water filter yet here

  • in quarantine is the chlorine taste that you get

  • from tap water.

  • So that's not ideal.

  • But filters are on the way charcoal filters which can go

  • in these and get some work gloves or some disposal glass

  • on painting on site.

  • And I thought okay,

  • I'm not gonna get the disposal gloves,

  • I want to get reusable gloves.

  • And that way I don't have to throw away

  • and I'll use it a few times

  • and it'll be better.

  • And then look my first fail

  • of the day for trash it came

  • in a frickin plastic bag through the day trash free day.

  • God dammit I ordered something on Amazon more waste.

  • But it is an eco friendly mattress topper

  • Auri threw down and she said I challenge you

  • to produce zero waste in 24 hours.

  • - As little trash as possible

  • then I was entertaining.

  • I had a couple of friends coming over.

  • So Alas, we made a mess.

  • I made toast with sardines and rockers,

  • and a bit of common bear.

  • So I made a little bit of waste

  • with like a sardine tin

  • and the wrapping around it.

  • - One thing that I found

  • when we did the the meetup with

  • Auri near the guys

  • is I had way more plasticky trash.

  • So I'm determined to not have any plastic waste today.

  • I think I can do it

  • because I've not had a coffee this morning.

  • Not because I'm not addicted,

  • but because I want to win.

  • But yeah, so far, no trash.

  • - Okay, so I'm on Zero Waste challenge today,

  • I don't want to make any trash, no packaging.

  • So what I want is some meat and takeaway containers.

  • That's it looks good.

  • Zero Waste trip to the butchers.

  • Look at that! More trash.

  • - Uh, I failed the zero waste challenge this time.

  • It's an interesting thing to think about,

  • how much plastic Am (bleep) i into the environment daily

  • on this zero waste challenge.

  • I think a big component of it is self compassion,

  • trying to remove that voice in your head

  • that goes I must. I must. I must.

  • I should. I should. I should.

  • And it's it's just it's a combatant.

  • And it ultimately compels you to do the opposite

  • of what you want to do.

  • - The last piece of meat that I have was from this,

  • so I'm gonna count this in my 24 hours.

  • - So this is what happened today for a family

  • of four definitely got a Whammy because I'd order

  • something off Amazon and arrive today.

  • So epic fail. For me.

  • That's my actual trash for the day.

  • I think I kind of rocked today.

  • Good job completing the challenge.

  • I'm proud of you all for even attempting this in a pandemic.

  • So Pat yourselves all on the back

  • as zero waste is so difficult,

  • especially during this time.

  • And it's not about being perfect.

  • It's just trying our best.

  • And you guys all did that.

  • If you guys could kind of guesstimate how many pieces

  • of trash you each made what would you say

  • - Putting it generously I'd say 15 to 20

  • but they were bottles and paper I opened a couple of things.

  • sardines, my constant complaints about ruckus,

  • that it's wrapped in a plastic suitcase.

  • - Personally, as an individual on the no challenge.

  • I've had one tissue paper,

  • one plastic bag that my bloods came in.

  • And at the end of the day,

  • I chose to have a cider. So I had a bottle of cider.

  • But then as a family,

  • you know, I don't think we did too bad.

  • It was under 20 bits of waste that we produced

  • in a 24 hour period.

  • - I made I made actually no trash like not

  • heres the kicker though I had taken the meat out

  • of the plastic when I bought it two days previous.

  • But within the 24 hour period, yeah,

  • it was only food waste I had.

  • - The average American

  • makes 4.3 pounds of trash a day.

  • So you guys all did very well,

  • compared to your American counterparts.

  • And I think you're all winners in my eyes.

  • But if we had to declare one,

  • I think it's kind of a tie between Byron and Tom.

  • So thank you guys so much for doing this.

  • And how do we listen to your podcast?

  • - The Earth locker,

  • it's on Spotify, Apple audio, really

  • And we have the YouTube channel as well.

  • Thank you so much.

  • Thanks, BuzzFeed for doing this with us.

  • - Oh, yeah, thank you guys.

  • - It's just so on point with what we're about.

  • we're about making ourselves better Earthlings.

- Well, it's the day of the Zero Waste Challenge.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it