ZERO WASTE

One fine day I was browsing posts on Facebook and I was interested in an invitation to a lecture on ZERO WASTE. Although it was primarily intended for students, I decided to send a request and after a while they informed me that there was a place.
The lecture was given by a young girl named Marina and she simply delighted me. Marina talked about how her concern for the environment began in early childhood when she and her peers used to play by the stream in the village when she visited her grandparents. And then she was surprised that some waste was thrown into the stream, so she and her peers started collecting waste from the stream. When her parents noticed this, they decided to make suitable sticks for them and that is how Marina’s concern for the environment began. Marina also told us that she was once surprised when someone left an entire sofa in this stream?
I thought if we could hold lectures like this in every city in Croatia and why not – in every village in Croatia. In schools, kindergartens, student dormitories and retirement homes. I think we would be able to reach every person. Because after this lecture I know that if I buy milk in a carton – that carton cannot be recycled, because this packaging consists of aluminum foil, paper and plastic, which materials in this case cannot be separated and for this reason are not suitable for recycling, and if I don’t wash a plastic milk bottle, that such a bottle is also not suitable for recycling. And so I decided that in the future I would always try to buy milk from a milk dispenser. That’s why now instead of one jar I have two. And when the milk dispenser is not on my way, I hire one of my friends to bring me milk.
With the above, I want to say that by simply changing our lifestyle habits, we could contribute to our bins not always being overcrowded. We might say: “What is a carton of milk?”, but on an annual basis, that’s a lot, even if we take into account the consumption of just one person. Now imagine that all kindergartens use milk from a suitable bulk. As well as other products.
The ZERO WASTE initiative has also been launched, which the girl Ana Marija turned into a movement and which says that it is simply a lifestyle, a philosophy that implies that nothing is disposed of in landfills or incinerators, and it is incredible that just by changing your lifestyle – by leaving your comfort zone – you can reduce the amount of waste to half a can!
Namely, the newspapers have written a lot about the issue of waste management, which includes the adoption of waste management plans for local and regional self-government units, which must include, among other things, the locations of recycling yards, and they are preceded by changes to the spatial plans of local and regional self-government units. With the understanding that we should significantly reduce the disposal of municipal waste and enable recycling for most types of waste. In accordance with the requirements of the legislation of the European Union which regulates this area, it is necessary first of all to prevent the generation of waste, then try to reuse it, recycle it and try to use it for energy, and only at the end dispose of it.
All this reminded me of a statement by Oprah Winfrey when she said that education is necessary to reduce poverty. In this case, I would say that educating all of us on how to adapt our lifestyle habits to a zero waste lifestyle is necessary in order to contribute to environmental protection.
I believe that a lot has been achieved by opening zero waste stores where food is available in bulk and can be poured into its own packaging (including olive oil).
At the lectures on environmental protection, sustainability was always emphasized, and sustainability is the most important feature in the zero waste lifestyle. Namely, by reducing the amount of unnecessary packaging, we would reduce the amount of waste, but also the price of communal services, and the danger that threatens us from various forms of pollution. In addition, through the development of zero waste management, we could include local producers who could adapt their production to the new way of selling through various forms of bulk packaging (containers for oil, wine, sugar, salt, etc.). Furthermore, since this way of selling requires a new type of bulk packaging, it would be necessary to talk to relevant producers about designing the necessary packaging in accordance with the new needs: producers of various types of food, transporters, sellers and of course the buyers themselves.
In view of all the above, I believe that it is extremely important to design the necessary programs to educate all citizens, and in this direction to design a national program that would determine the basic guidelines, and then let local communities make their contributions, and, among other things, weave the threads of their customs and their indigenous products into ZERO WASTE.
I also believe that when creating this way of life and sales, we should focus on adapting the packaging to everyday life, in order to attract as many users as possible.
In doing so, it would be necessary to exchange experiences with local communities where success has already been achieved in this area. Local communities could devise certain symbolic subsidies for existing stores that would enable bulk sales of certain products in their existing business premises, and thus encourage them to gradually switch to a completely zero waste sales method.
Perhaps by simply adapting various types of “coffee machines”, we could contribute to reducing the accumulation of waste plastic packaging. Such machines could be adapted in such a way that people can pour the beverage of their choice into their own cup, rather than automatically pouring the beverage into a plastic cup.
In support of a healthy lifestyle and as a way of supporting milk and dairy producers, perhaps we could design “milk machines” based on the model of milk vending machines, where products from local OPGs that can be consumed immediately (milk, yogurt, etc.) could be poured, and which should primarily be available to school-age children. The aforementioned products could also be subsidized, and thus affect the standard of students, as one of the measures to prevent the consequences of children with lower financial status.
Given that this way of creation is new, and that the public is not sufficiently sensitized, for this project to succeed, it would be necessary to conduct an evaluation from the very beginning and prevent possible obstacles.
The implementation of all of the above would result in a healthier lifestyle, a more beautiful environment, sustainable development and cheaper utility services, which would of course also affect the improvement of the budget of local government units, but also reduce the cost of living of citizens.