It’s been about 8 years since my co-founder, Lindsay, first shared her copy of Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson with me, and we both started making concerted efforts to live with less waste and more intention. From my early days of religiously (and stressfully) eliminating every source of plastic and unnecessary trash from my home to burnout to something vaguely resembling balance, here’s what I’ve learned from the journey so far:
The Hardest Parts

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Food
Especially when limited by time, budget, or local options. During the first few years of this journey (particularly pre-COVID), I was pretty obsessed with procuring every single grocery item I needed without plastic. That meant cutting out staples like hummus, crackers, and yogurt, and scouring the city for desired items like cheese or gluten-free flour in bulk. Some of those swaps were easier, like getting nut butter in glass jars, pasta in paper boxes, produce unpackaged from the produce section, and grains and snacks from the bulk section with reusable bags or containers. I also got into a pretty good habit of bringing my own containers for takeout or choosing restaurants with plastic-free containers.
Then COVID happened, and my interest in spending as much time as I had been going to various grocery stores waned. I did take that time as an opportunity to try making more things from scratch at home, like crackers, ravioli, and granola bars. But eventually, a period of (unrelated) burnout depleted my energy for overthinking every meal and creating unnecessary friction with my partner over things like tortilla chips. At the moment, I still have more plastic in my refrigerator than I’d like, but I’m giving myself and my husband grace, especially in light of all that we have on our plates and all the other efforts we consistently make. And I’ve learned tricks here and there that make it easier to avoid plastic without much extra effort – for example, ask the flight attendant for the full can of ginger ale if you’re dying of thirst on a plane!
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Buy-in from other people in your life
Especially those you live with. One of the most common refrains I hear from customers in our store is, “I am really curious to try x… I just have to make sure my husband/girlfriend/roommate/mom/kid is on board.” Let’s face it. Humans get comfortable with our status quo, and inevitably, when you’re proposing throwing that off in some way, you’re likely to experience resistance. There are all kinds of reasons. People sometimes have preconceived notions about the efficacy or efficiency of sustainable alternatives. Sometimes they just don’t have the energy to try something new or rock the boat. And other times, they might just be creatures of habit, simple as that.
Whether it’s getting someone in your life to be willing to switch to a solid dishwashing block or shampoo bars, convincing them to change up their shopping habits, or even having conversations around the kinds of holiday gifts you prefer to receive, I’ve learned that grace, patience, and incrementalism go a long way. Trying to change too much at once is likely to cause much more friction and feelings of judgment (in both directions) than introducing new habits and products little by little.
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Guilt
Your own and the others around you. Speaking of judgment, maybe the single hardest part of this whole journey is managing the emotions of the new expectations you have for yourself and others. I’m talking to all of you perfectionists and recovering perfectionists out there. For those of you not afflicted by this particular disposition, what’s that like? Let yourself be studied and then send me the notes. The guilty emotion can come from trying to match up what you now believe you should be doing with your actual actions. There was a time when I felt guilty every time I received a free t-shirt, used a plastic condiment cup at a restaurant, or had a used mascara wand I didn’t know what to do with. I’m getting stressed out just thinking about this time. And it’s not like I was making this lifestyle look cute to my friends, who started apologizing to me every time they used a straw in my presence.
I eventually decided that guilt and perfectionism aren’t sustainable because we’re humans, not robots. There's no such thing as being perfectly zero waste anyway. It's impossible to exist in the modern world without consuming some resources and creating some waste. Our recycling systems are a hot mess. And we can still have an enormous collective influence on the environment, the market, the health of our bodies, and the amount of physical waste produced by adjusting even 10% of our daily actions, much less the 70-90% some of us are putting in.
The Easiest Parts

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Cleaning products
The days of having to choose between harsh, toxic chemicals or ineffective, greenwashed “natural” cleaning products are over. There are so many super simple swaps for the stuff we’re used to using.
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Comet → Meliora Gentle Home Cleaning Scrub
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Windex → The Tidy People Glass Cleaner
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409 or Clorox → Meliora All-Purpose Cleaner
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Plastic Sponges → Loofah Scrubbers
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Plastic Dish Brushes → Wooden Dish Brushes
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Disposable Dusters → Reusable Dusters
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Swiffer Mop Pads → Felt Mop Pads
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Plastic Toilet Brushes → Wooden Toilet Brushes
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Plastic Scouring Pads → Coconut Scourers
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Dawn → Solid Dish Soap
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Tide → Laundry Paste
And that’s not even counting easy DIY ingredients like baking soda and vinegar. No more breathing in fumes that make your lungs burn or shedding countless microplastics down the drain. So easy to make the swap and never look back.

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Personal care products
Something you should know about Lindsay and I is that we are product girls. We love trying new skincare. We wear makeup. We like our hair looking good. We are picky. We like things that work and that look cute on our counters.
Clean beauty was a gateway to zero waste living for both of us because we were already trying to limit our exposure to harmful ingredients we were putting in and on our bodies. When I tell you there’s not a single product I miss, I mean it. And that’s including mascara (which took a while for clean and low waste brands to get right, but that day has arrived)! I was using customized hair products before I switched to shampoo and conditioner bars, and my hair health and appearance is equally good if not better than before. Lindsay’s having the best hair of her life, and we have very different hair types. Amazing and effective nontoxic, plastic-free products are abundant for hair care, skincare, oral care, body, and beauty, and many of them actually heal instead of harm your body. Some of my faves:

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Swapping disposables for reusables
There are countless low waste swaps I’ve made that I haven’t thought twice about in years. We’ve eliminated paper towels, cotton balls, plastic baggies, cling wrap, razors, and tissues, just to name a few. They’re all incredibly easy to use and can be easily washed and used for many years, if not a lifetime.
The Best Parts
- Feeling in alignment with my values.
- Knowing I’m exposing the environment, my family, and myself to fewer toxic, inflammatory, carcinogenic, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
- Supporting businesses and business owners that make the world better and not worse.
Curious about how to apply more of these low waste principles and habits to your life? Sign up for our newsletter to stay updated with more insights, tips, and tricks!
-Alex Gamboa Grand