A zero-waste life is a lifestyle that hardly creates any rubbish. So, a zero-waste store is about providing a kind of everyday and pleasant-looking zero-waste products to help people start on a zero-waste life journey.
"Zero waste" or "danshari" was first suggested by a French woman called Bea Johnson. Her idea is: live a life and try not to create any rubbish; use different kinds of ways to save the environment such as stopping the use of one-off objects; giving unwanted things to others or giving them away to organizations like the Red Cross.
Yu Yuan, 27, is deeply interested in this idea. She and her boyfriend have lived in Beijing for many years. And earlier she used to buy things without thinking about them carefully until she saw a video about "zero waste", in which a family of four placed the rubbish they produced every year in a jar (罐). After watching the video, Yu wanted to experience this zero-waste lifestyle with her boyfriend.
A zero-waste life follows the 6R rule-Refuse Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle and Rot. Over August-October when Yu followed the rule of zero waste 6R, she and her boyfriend Joe Harvey both produced only two cans of rubbish.
Now, the couple have opened a small shop in Beijing, where they use wood products to take the place of plastic ones and cloth bags printed with environmentally friendly logos. Most products sold in the store can be reused. The store also has second-hand books and CDs/DVDs with, ideas to make the best of the used things.
"Those who once experienced the non-waste lifestyle have slowly changed their ideas," says Ya, "The zero-waste lifestyle is not for ascetics (苦行僧). It is just around us at our finger-tips." Yu expects some of her friends to join her on the road to zero waste.
