{"id":49069,"date":"2017-01-31T15:30:19","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T21:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=49069"},"modified":"2017-01-31T15:30:19","modified_gmt":"2017-01-31T21:30:19","slug":"could-zero-waste-be-the-new-recycling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/could-zero-waste-be-the-new-recycling\/","title":{"rendered":"Could zero-waste be the new recycling?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alaina Boukedes<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a new route in conservation called zero-waste, which is a lifestyle that cuts out all concept of waste by utilizing reusable products instead of plastics or disposables. From singles in the city to families in the suburbs, Chicago residents see this new concept as the ultimate step toward sustainability.<\/p>\n

In 2012 Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a blue cart recycling program that collects recyclables from eligible households in Chicago. According to the 2016 Blue Cart collection results, only 9 percent of Chicago\u2019s waste was recycled and the rest was going to a landfill. These statistics concern people like Julie Cahillane, who manages sustainability at Northwestern University through SustainNU. <\/p>\n

\u201cYour first step should be reducing [waste] in the first place,\u201d Cahillane said. She commented that many people think recycling is enough, but she added that to really think about environmental impact you should \u201celiminate before you even create it.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Celia Ristow changed her attitude about waste by creating Litterless<\/a>, a lifestyle blog that tracks her journey to zero waste in Chicago. She and her friend Bailey Warren of Zero Waste Chicago<\/a> promote a community of like-minded people through their online content. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to care about the environment, it\u2019s another to put your money where your mouth is,\u201d Ristow said.<\/p>\n

Both bloggers set up volunteering opportunities around the city to learn about going waste-free and facilitate community members who want to meet each other. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s easy if you have the resources,\u201d Ristow said about the inspiration for her blog. Since she started Litterless, she\u2019s cultivated a small community in Chicago to swap tips and tricks to maintaining a zero-waste lifestyle. <\/p>\n

Ristow\u2019s major tips are to start small. \u201cI\u2019m a believer in starting off painless,\u201d Ristow said. Her first major switch was going from plastic bags to cloth bags to go grocery shopping. Then she used glass jars to store food instead of relying on plastic containers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to be perfect to be meaningful,\u201d Warren said. The term \u201czero\u201d can be daunting to beginners, but Warren and Ristow insist that the effort is only as hard as one makes it. <\/p>\n

As the mother of 3-year-old twins, Meg Torres, 35, said she understands this sentiment. Her family is based in Naperville, a western suburb of Chicago. Torres said she was concerned about her family\u2019s dependency on plastic, so she began self-educating herself on the zero-waste lifestyle. <\/p>\n

\u201cPlastic is everywhere. In nearly every toy.\u201d Torres said. \u201cTry telling a 3-year-old they cannot have the toy they want because it has plastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though she struggles with fully transitioning, Torres said she appreciates the online community that surrounds the zero-waste lifestyle. She found a majority of her research on blogs and forums and tries to instill those zero-waste concepts in her children by teaching them about recycling and composting. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want my kids to see and learn about being a positive global citizen,\u201d Torres said.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Bailey Warren uses glass jars as an easy switch from plastic packaging. (Alaina Boukedes\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alaina Boukedes There\u2019s a new route in conservation called zero-waste, which is a lifestyle that cuts out all concept of waste by utilizing reusable products instead of plastics or disposables. From singles in the city to families in the suburbs, Chicago residents see this new concept as the ultimate step toward sustainability. In 2012 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341,"featured_media":49072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3516],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-winter-2017"],"yoast_head":"\nCould zero-waste be the new recycling? - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/could-zero-waste-be-the-new-recycling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Could zero-waste be the new recycling? - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Alaina Boukedes There\u2019s a new route in conservation called zero-waste, which is a lifestyle that cuts out all concept of waste by utilizing reusable products instead of plastics or disposables. 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