2. The Zero Waste Movement
Pause for a minute and try to imagine the amount of waste you throw out in a week. How many unloved belongings and unused food do you get rid of? The simple answer can be found in your bin.
It is undeniable that, with an increase in the world population and the growth of economies, waste generation rates are rising. According to World Bank researchers, in 2016 the world’s cities generated 2.01 billion tonnes of solid waste and this is expected to increase. What this does, is that it raises the question of what needs to be developing to reduce the amount of waste created in the first place.
Unlike the extravagance of attending a Victorian banquet eating turtle soup and ending it with "drinking slops and eating buttered muffins" (Thackeray 198), there are a growing number of people today who are saying to go vegan or strive towards a minimalist lifestyle. The term ‘no waste’ was first coined by recycling activists which slowly started popping up only around the last 20 years.
The chart below shows the comparison of interest between the terms ‘no waste’ and ‘zero waste’ on Google from 2004 to the present day. From July 2014, the searches for ‘zero waste’ overtook ‘no waste’ and a steady increase is seen, showing the rise of the movement.
It is no surprise that a lot of the attention revolving around the movement is online. Be prepared to dive deeper into the realm of social media where in my next posts I will have jam-packed paragraphs of analysis!
It is undeniable that, with an increase in the world population and the growth of economies, waste generation rates are rising. According to World Bank researchers, in 2016 the world’s cities generated 2.01 billion tonnes of solid waste and this is expected to increase. What this does, is that it raises the question of what needs to be developing to reduce the amount of waste created in the first place.
Unlike the extravagance of attending a Victorian banquet eating turtle soup and ending it with "drinking slops and eating buttered muffins" (Thackeray 198), there are a growing number of people today who are saying to go vegan or strive towards a minimalist lifestyle. The term ‘no waste’ was first coined by recycling activists which slowly started popping up only around the last 20 years.
The chart below shows the comparison of interest between the terms ‘no waste’ and ‘zero waste’ on Google from 2004 to the present day. From July 2014, the searches for ‘zero waste’ overtook ‘no waste’ and a steady increase is seen, showing the rise of the movement.
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| Data source from Google Trends |
This is extremely interesting! I had not heard of the zero waste movement before reading this post. It's fascinating that we are still striving for a reduction of food waste after so many years. An interesting advancement would've been the effects of increased vegetarian and veganism on food waste. You have inspired me to do my own research!
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