for most people, a daily trip to the bins to dispose of a bulging bag of rubbish is a fairly common routine. food packaging, coffee grounds, old teabags and broken or unwanted odds and ends from around the house make up the bulk of our daily waste &ndash but imagine if all of your waste for an entire year could fit inside a jarthis is the reality for some people around the world who live by the philosophy of zero waste. while some may scoff at its status as a philosophy, this really is the best descriptor for the lifestyle choice that forces its followers to rethink everything they&rsquove ever been taught about the world. zero waste is a commitment to a life of reusing, recycling, and rejecting certain norms.plastic packaging will not fly in a zero waste household. the same goes for purchasing new clothes, when nearly everything can be mended or replaced by a secondhand version. anamarie shreeves, a 26yearold from atlanta, georgia is an advocate for the zero waste lifestyle. and she isn&rsquot about to let it hold her back from living a normal life &ndash instead, she claims all that is needed is a little more mindfulness and preparation. shreeves buys her food in bulk, and brings her own containers to avoid plastic or paper packaging. she also carries an essential kit with her every day a jar, to fill up with water or to hold hot drinks or smoothies a fabric napkin, to avoid using a disposable version and a spork, so she never has to use a plastic fork to eat her lunch. these are some of the small steps she takes to cut down on her overall waste.another nono in the zero waste lifestyle is petrol or fuel &ndash which means owning a car is pointless. shreeve gets around this by travelling on foot, by bike, or by public transport. at home, shreeve makes her own shampoo, toothpaste, and reusable feminine hygiene products &ndash and the burning question on everyone&rsquos mind can she use toilet paper yes it&rsquos just the biodegradable kind.with the average american throwing away one tonne of rubbish every year, the zero waste lifestyle may one day be a necessity rather than a lifestyle choice. the earth simply cannot sustain our level of wastefulness for much longer. although, some have criticised the zero waste movement and the associated costly initiatives for directing funds and attention away from more important causes.mark mondik, managing director of origin climate, highlighted the problems of existing landfill waste that won&rsquot be resolved by reducing the amount of waste we send there in future. he said &ldquoeven if we successfully divert 100 of organic waste going forward, the waste that&rsquos already there will be adding to our ghg inventory beyond 2050.&rdquoto anyone claiming that a zero waste lifestyle is too extreme, shreeves recommends taking it one small step at a time. the next time you throw something away, ask if it can be reused or recycled. and if it can&rsquot, maybe you should consider if you could do without it in the future.if you&rsquod like to read more about the effects of landfill waste on our environment, read our report renewable energy, landfigas and efw now, next and future.image source recyling 
