A Night with Bea Johnson of Zero Waste Home

Last month I received a sweet Facebook message from a follower that told me Bea Johnson was coming to Australia. I thought, "Oh yay!" Who is Bea Johnson... 

Google Search... bam! Oh... neat, she is all about the War on Waste.  She had started a Zero Waste movement that was growing fast. That's cool. I'm trying to learn more about that at the moment. I just so happened to get an email from my local Source Bulk Foods in Bulimba the following day announcing the early bird ticket sales. The event happened to be in Sydney at the Concourse in Chatswood. Hey I'm moving there, I think. It was going to a 2hr seminar, $15 and a 30 minute drive from our new home. I was keen as mustard.
* (I didn't know it when I booked, but The Source Bulk Foods gave everyone a reusable bag as well as a $20 voucher to use at their shop....so impressed). 

I knew I would have only lived in Sydney for a few days by the time the event rolled around, so I booked immediately, hoping to go and make some friends, network and learn a bit.

Paul Medeiros the co-founder and owner of The Source Bulk Foods opened up the conversation before handing over the mic to Bea.

Let me be completely candid.
First thing that stuck out to me about her was how she looked.

I caught myself being superficial as I was looking at her thinking; great bod, fab outfit, nice hair ... she looks completely normal. Her clothes in particular stood out right away. "This woman is killing it. Her book has been published in 25 languages. Cha-ching! I bet that outfit cost a mint, she looks fabulous and professional," I thought.

Not long into her powerpoint Bea pointed out that she only shops second hand. Um, what? She added that her chambray top and crisp white skirt were both second hand and her designer (looking) black boots were a whopping $5. Gobsmacked. 

_____

Bea and her family moved into an apartment in California and needed to place about 80% of their belongings into storage. After the one year was up on their apartment, they visited their storage unit and quickly realized they had not missed much of anything stored there. They ended up selling most of their possessions and donated the rest. Her family of four (plus one adorable chihuahua), found that they were clutter free, a lot happier and more active. Something had switched, and Bea wanted more.

From there they started to be more aware of their water consumption, and then she proceeded to eliminate harmful toxins in their house, such as cleaning products and plastics. One thing Bea said which really stuck out in my mind was about household cleaning products. She said that these companies have tricked us all into believing that we need different cleaning products for different parts of the house.  For example:  a certain product to clean glass, another for grout, yet another for mould, another for the showers, bench tops etc.  Bea simply uses vinegar and castle soap for all her home cleaning, and her space is spotless!

"Zero Waste helps me to invest in voluntary simplicity, so that my family can have a life based on experiences instead of things. A life based on being instead of having."
-Bea Johnson

​But, back to her story! Bea and her family moved again, but this time it was to a place that was more conducive to walking and riding their bikes around. Once again Bea felt inspired to live with even less. 

She focused specifically on her family’s waste and here are her 5 R’s:

The 5 R's

So to keep it simple, Bea and her family only put into the recycling bin what they cannot refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle or rot. Since plastic can't be reused more than once, (example plastic bottles converted into a park bench), Bea switched to items such as glass, metal, cardboard and wood. Her family of 4 fills ONE glass jar of trash a YEAR. Yes, you read that correctly, a year (see photo at the bottom of this article).

Bea became vigilant when it came to detail. A few things that stand out in my mind are:

• She composts, but she’s even mindful about WHAT she composts. If she decides to eat or cook a fruit/vegetable that doesn't need to be peeled, she won't peel it. Simple as that.
• You can compost human hair (although, she donantes her hair to companies that make wigs for cancer patients). 
• She also uses a single bar of soap to wash her face, body and hair and takes this soap with her when she travels speaking all around the globe. 
• She uses two silk fibers to floss and then composts the fibers.
• She has 7 pairs of black underwear and will patch them when she needs to rather than buy a new pair
• She owns 15 items of clothing and can make over 50 outfits with the staple pieces that she owns 
• Butter is the only food that she buys in packaging 
• When you buy an item in packaging, 15% of the price covers the cost of the package
• It’s a common misconception that your spend MORE money going zero waste  

Bea's Wardrobe

All I could think of was:
How satisfying it must be to lead such a rewarding, low-tox, waste free life.

How I personally would find it hard not to buy brand new materialistic temptations. 

How liberating it would be to live in a home without papers, clutter and unnecessary items. 

And she must have known that most of us were thinking somewhat along these lines because she clued with this:
​
"Zero Waste helps me to invest in voluntary simplicity, so that my family can have a life based on experiences instead of things. A life based on being instead of having."

Cheers to that Bea!
​EMK x

Educate me!

Want to find a bulk foods provider, click here 

To read more about The Source Bulk Foods journey, read this article - and you can also check out their new website which has just been updated. ​​

Head to Bea's Zero Waste Home Facebook page for support 

Want to buy in bulk? Click here for the worldwide Bulk food finder 

Bea is still on tour from the 13th-17th of July.... see where she is headed by reading this

Bea Johnson and her family's jar of waste for an entire year