- Well, it's the day of the Zero Waste Challenge.
- I'm probably the most competitive out of the three of us,
and I really wanna win.
- I ordered something on Amazon, more waste!
(waste material banging) - Of all the plastic
ever created, only 9% has actually been recycled.
- I've been making some efforts in my life to go zero waste.
My lovely green grocer still does the kale like that,
and it's like well my health is one thing
and the Earth's health is the other.
- Doing zero waste for one day
probably would be easier if it was just me,
but its got me, my lovely partner Amanda Millie,
and my two beautiful children.
- The key thing really is making a bit more effort.
- Hello there,
my name is Captain Robert Sheehan Esquire.
- Hello there, my name is Thomas Hopper.
- Hey there, I'm Byron Knight.
- And I'm one of the triumvirate of hosts
of "The Earth Locker Podcast".
We dive in to discovering what makes us better earthlings.
- Seems like you guys are kind of
already interested in this,
but just to break it down,
zero waste basically just means trying to send
as little as possible to landfill, and it actually started
as a waste management term.
I think all of you are mostly based in London,
and I went ahead and I looked
at your Mayor's Environmental Strategy.
London aims to be zero-waste by 2026.
- Did not know that. (laughs)
- Yeah, so what do you guys say?
Do you wanna get into looking at your trash?
- So organic stuff.
- That's great. You can compost all that.
- Greek yogurt, takeaway food,
Glade container thing, there's tissues, there's leads.
- Maybe do some meal prepping,
so that you're not eating out and using single-use plastics.
For your yogurt, try to find either a glass yogurt
that you can purchase,
or you could try making your own coconut yogurt.
- Right now I'm in quarantine in Canada,
so I find it tricky to be zero-waste.
So they'll come on these Flow Waters.
I get a drink for like two to three.
But the other thing I noticed as well, is back home
I would never know, 'cause I'm using
the cups from my own house.
But it's these, I get that delivered.
- See if there is a way you can tackle your coffee routine,
even if you just get coffee grounds in a container,
and you get your hands on a French press or something,
and also trying to eliminate your single-use water.
- Sitting next to my trash now. Divers.
- Oh yeah.
- I actually was too busy to have lunch.
Normally I would have gotten take away somewhere,
but- (laughing)
- I see that you had some blueberries,
perhaps shopping trying to get some produce
at the farmers market.
Thank you, guys for showing me your trash.
You're already doing so well.
I'm so excited for your 24 hours of no trash,
and I am challenging you to try and make
as little trash as possible.
And if you make any trash, I might, you know, spank you
or spit on you, just kidding.
I only wanna be your cheerleader.
But whoever- (laughing)
- I'm gonna make a ton of trash now.
(laughing)
Hello, hello. This is how far I've come
with my Zero Waste cosmetic routine,
which includes wiping your bum, 100% recycled,
no inks, dyes or scents.
Here's my shampoo and condish, no plastic there.
Here's a little soap pouch for catching the remnants
of bits of soap, toothpaste in jar,
because all toothpaste tubes tend to end up
in the landfill unfortunately, all of them,
every single one that's ever been sold.
Here's some refilled shampoo and condish as well.
Those are reused bottles.
This is a refill place near me,
where I just refill my shampoos and conditioners.
I do my best, you know, do my best.
- So I'm still zero-trash, a couple of meals in.
Had some meat in a Tupperware
I'm drinking my reusable water bottle
from the tap water.
The only major difference really is
because I haven't got the water filter yet here
in quarantine is the chlorine taste that you get
from tap water.
So that's not ideal.
But filters are on the way charcoal filters which can go
in these and get some work gloves or some disposal glass
on painting on site.
And I thought okay,
I'm not gonna get the disposal gloves,
I want to get reusable gloves.
And that way I don't have to throw away
and I'll use it a few times
and it'll be better.
And then look my first fail
of the day for trash it came
in a frickin plastic bag through the day trash free day.
God dammit I ordered something on Amazon more waste.
But it is an eco friendly mattress topper
Auri threw down and she said I challenge you
to produce zero waste in 24 hours.
- As little trash as possible
then I was entertaining.
I had a couple of friends coming over.
So Alas, we made a mess.
I made toast with sardines and rockers,
and a bit of common bear.
So I made a little bit of waste
with like a sardine tin
and the wrapping around it.
- One thing that I found
when we did the the meetup with
Auri near the guys
is I had way more plasticky trash.
So I'm determined to not have any plastic waste today.
I think I can do it
because I've not had a coffee this morning.
Not because I'm not addicted,
but because I want to win.
But yeah, so far, no trash.
- Okay, so I'm on Zero Waste challenge today,
I don't want to make any trash, no packaging.
So what I want is some meat and takeaway containers.
That's it looks good.
Zero Waste trip to the butchers.
Look at that! More trash.
- Uh, I failed the zero waste challenge this time.
It's an interesting thing to think about,
how much plastic Am (bleep) i into the environment daily
on this zero waste challenge.
I think a big component of it is self compassion,
trying to remove that voice in your head
that goes I must. I must. I must.
I should. I should. I should.
And it's it's just it's a combatant.
And it ultimately compels you to do the opposite
of what you want to do.
- The last piece of meat that I have was from this,
so I'm gonna count this in my 24 hours.
- So this is what happened today for a family
of four definitely got a Whammy because I'd order
something off Amazon and arrive today.
So epic fail. For me.
That's my actual trash for the day.
I think I kind of rocked today.
Good job completing the challenge.
I'm proud of you all for even attempting this in a pandemic.
So Pat yourselves all on the back
as zero waste is so difficult,
especially during this time.
And it's not about being perfect.
It's just trying our best.
And you guys all did that.
If you guys could kind of guesstimate how many pieces
of trash you each made what would you say
- Putting it generously I'd say 15 to 20
but they were bottles and paper I opened a couple of things.
sardines, my constant complaints about ruckus,
that it's wrapped in a plastic suitcase.
- Personally, as an individual on the no challenge.
I've had one tissue paper,
one plastic bag that my bloods came in.
And at the end of the day,
I chose to have a cider. So I had a bottle of cider.
But then as a family,
you know, I don't think we did too bad.
It was under 20 bits of waste that we produced
in a 24 hour period.
- I made I made actually no trash like not
heres the kicker though I had taken the meat out
of the plastic when I bought it two days previous.
But within the 24 hour period, yeah,
it was only food waste I had.
- The average American
makes 4.3 pounds of trash a day.
So you guys all did very well,
compared to your American counterparts.
And I think you're all winners in my eyes.
But if we had to declare one,
I think it's kind of a tie between Byron and Tom.
So thank you guys so much for doing this.
And how do we listen to your podcast?
- The Earth locker,
it's on Spotify, Apple audio, really
And we have the YouTube channel as well.
Thank you so much.
Thanks, BuzzFeed for doing this with us.
- Oh, yeah, thank you guys.
- It's just so on point with what we're about.
we're about making ourselves better Earthlings.