Going Zero Waste in A Year: Is It Possible?
Yes! It’s possible to go zero waste in just 365 days. And I wrote an e-book guide to prove it!
This is the official launch of Zero Waste in a Year (ZWiaY)!
Thank you to everyone who has inspired me throughout the years, supported my work, encouraged me, and a GIANT thank you to my editors. I could not have done this without any of you!
But, what is it?
The e-book
I’ve had the idea for ZWiaY for years and finally pulled the trigger on it this fall. This is a resource I wish I had when I first started my own zero waste journey! This guide is mainly for beginners, but I think intermediate zero wasters would benefit from this, too.
Each month we cover a new topic across 30 days. Why 30 days? Yes, some months will be short 1 day, but I wanted to design it in a way that could be started any day of the year and that you can take breaks from if needed.
I don’t know about you, but just about every year I try a planner. And then I forget about it come February. Maybe I have interest again in March or April, but now I’ve wasted 30-60 pages. I didn’t want you to feel the same with this guide. If you fall off for a bit, that’s okay, you can pick up right where you left off since there are no hard dates to follow.
Here are the topics for each month:
Reduce, reuse, recycle
Zero waste out and about
Food, Groceries, and a zero waste kitchen
Energy conservation
Water conservation
Laundry & Cleaning
Zero waste bathroom
Eco lawn, garden, and misc home
Low waste school & office
Ditching Big Oil
Zero waste with kids and pets
Zero waste holidays
But, it doesn’t stop there! Each month has resources imbedded such as books to read, other influencers to follow, in-depth YouTube videos about the daily tip, and more. Each month also concludes with a list of resources to further your education, research, and broad low waste journey. The guide itself concludes with more resources to further your zero waste life, a glossary of common zero waste definitions, and more!
The guide is for those who want to live zero waste but maybe don’t know where to start. If you feel confident in your ability to research your own brands and interests, you may not find value in this guide. It is a stepping stone targeted toward beginners.
Hopefully by the end of the year, you feel confident in waste reduction, how to research your areas of interest further, and you feel ready to take bigger actions!
The Calendar
This is truly where it all began, the idea for a calendar with bite-sized daily tips. But, again, I didn’t want to create that environment for stopping the challenge and wasting months of resources. So, it’s a broad calendar that you can start any day of the year. Just simply check the box when you’re done to indicate that it is completed.
I didn’t want you to take a vacation or just simply miss a few days because of life happenings and then feel like you’re missing out on tips or can’t back track. If you fall off for a bit, that’s okay, you can pick up right where you left off since there are no hard dates to follow!
The difference between the calendar and the guide is how in-depth it goes or doesn’t go. The guide truly is all-encompassing with resources and product recommendations and other bonus tips and explanations. The calendar, on the other hand, is truly 1 sentence or less per day. This is a great option for busy folk who don’t have time to read a few paragraphs per day or watch a YouTube video. It will still point you in the right direction and you will still be well on your way to your zero waste life but with a little less guidance. It’s a bit more hands off if you prefer that!
The journal
While you can buy the journal on its own, it is designed to accompany either the calendar or the e-book or both! The goal was to have a daily log for you to track the tip, how much you liked it, how you will be implementing it into your daily routine, how you might change it to better suit your life/home, etc.
It is not necessary, but it is a good opportunity for reflection each day and also at the end of each month. It will help you brainstorm MORE ways to live zero waste and get you thinking in an eco-friendly mindset.
The goal of zero waste is not about 100% waste reduction, that’s impossible. Rather the goal is to turn ourselves into conscious consumers. We must change the way we think because everything we do has as impact. That is what this journal is for!
To limit the file size, the journal is 30 daily entry pages and 1 monthly entry page instead of 360+ pages. So, download the journal and copy it 12 times to have a journal for each month for the price of 1. Alternatively, you can write down the prompts in your own journal or create prompts that better suit you!
Fill it out digitally or print it, buy it here!
Which one should I get?
It depends what your goals and needs are. Here are some pros and cons to both.
E-book
In-depth
Hands on
Truly a guide! It will guide you and explain things to you every day
Contains embedded resources, people to follow, swaps to try, and more information
Requires a little more time to read, watch videos, etc.
Calendar
Short and sweet
A bit more hands off
Requires you to seek out some additional resources on your own due to lack of space for explaining
Does not have explanations. If you need guidance or a walk-through of living zero waste, this probably isn’t for you
Very quick and easy to read each day
It really comes down to time and how much help you think you need. Do you need someone to walk you through starting a zero waste life or can you put the pieces together yourself? Do you want additional resources or is one tidbit per day good enough?
Maybe you still can’t decide…
Bundle them!
There are many bundles to pick from and all include a discount! For example, if you buy the Guide by itself and the Calendar by itself, it will cost $43. But, buy them as a bundle and it’s $38! The bundle options are:
The E-book, Calendar, and Journal Bundle
The E-book and Calendar Bundle
The E-book and Journal Bundle
The Calendar and Journal Bundle
Other things to know
No, you do not NEED these resources to be zero waste. All of the research I have compiled in these guides over the last 6 years I did all on my own and you can too! This is simply a one-stop-shop for all things zero waste living. Maybe you don’t want to or don’t have the time for research, then this is a good place for you to start.
No, I don’t recommend this if you’ve been living an eco-life for a few years. If you know what you’re doing on your zero waste journey, I don’t want you to feel like you’ve wasted your money with this resource. It truly is for beginners or those who are just dipping their toes into intermediate territory.
Yes, I still think you would find SOME value in this guide/calendar even as an advanced zero waster, but probably not 360 days-worth of tips would apply to you.
Some links included in the e-book are affiliate links. This means that the brand pays me a small amount to refer you to their shop. It costs nothing extra for you to use them!
Want to gift it to someone but you’re not sure which combo they might want? It would hurt to get them the full bundle but you also can’t go wrong with a gift card!
You CAN review these products! I would greatly appreciate any and all reviews. You should get an email about a week after purchase asking you to review the products.
Now, if you have a major issue with them, I would highly encourage you to reach out to me here instead of giving me a bad review. This comment form allows you to ask me specific questions about the product, provide feedback if something is wrong, and so forth.
Upon purchasing, you should get the option to download the materials directly from my website AND you will get an email with the download link. The download link DOES expire, so download it in a timely manner and save it somewhere safe. Should you lose your link or it expires, simply provide me with a receipt to prove your purchase and I will email you the guide myself. I don’t want anyone to feel like they may lose their money!
OTher ways to support
Perhaps you’re looking for a way to support my work monetarily but this guide doesn’t suit you, here are a few other ways you can monetarily support me:
Join us on Patreon! There are many tiers, but starting at just $1 gets you access to the Eco Book Club. Check it out to see what other benefits you might enjoy
Join us on YouTube Memberships! It’s the same benefits as Patreon just all encompassed on YouTube
Use my affiliate links. The next time you need to restock your Who Gives a Crap toilet paper or Pela phone case, use my links! It costs you no extra money but the brand gives me a small commission for referring you to their brand. Please only buy what you need. Can’t find the link you’re looking for? Feel free to send me an Instagram DM and I’ll get it to you :)
Buy me a “coffee” aka make a $5 donation to say thanks for what I do! Maybe I use it to buy a coffee, maybe I use to to pay for my website domain. Maybe I use it to buy a product to review or maybe it pays for my YouTube music subscription. This is a small way you can say “thanks” without getting anything in return. Think of it like a tip for the free resources I provide!
NOTE: You do NOT have to give me money to support me! I like to provide these options to those who wish to make this monetary contribution. I know when I find a creator/educator I really love on the internet, I want to find ways to support them with my money. But, this is not necessary!
Here are some ways to support me for free:
Like my posts
Comment on my posts
Share my posts and profiles with others: family members, Reddit, Facebook groups, school groups, etc.
Engage with my sponsored content!!! This is probably the biggest and best thing you can do! It shows brands that my content is worthy of more ads in the future and helps me keep a line up of sponsorships.
Thank you
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone reading this, watching the accompanying YouTube video, and supporting my content in free and paid ways. I appreciate every single one of you. If it were not for the free support I’ve garnered over the last 6 years, I wouldn’t be here, able to provide paid products to you all.
To those of you who do support these guides, thank you a little extra. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do and I hope that they are just the resource you’re looking for!
A GIGANTIC thank you to my editors: Adelheid, Beans, Dan, Jade, Jess, Joe, Kai, Katherine, and Taylor. This truly would not have been accomplished without your thorough and honest help. Thank you!
I am excited to continue making content for you all. Please let me know what else you’d like to see, paid or free content.
As always, remember that your small actions make a big difference in the long run :)
Emma
