In this Q&A, Kathryn Kellogg discusses composting, responsible consumption and why personal action must go hand in hand with larger policy and industry change.
What are the top three practical changes people can make today to reduce waste and live more sustainably?
The biggest swap people can make is to start composting. On average, 50% of household waste is organic matter that could otherwise be composted, and this is a great way to have a really big impact. A lot of people think food scraps break down in landfills, but they don’t because landfills are designed for storage, not necessarily decomposition. All of this organic matter in landfills produces up to 16% of methane emissions here in the U.S., and methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon, resulting in almost 32 times more warming. The next thing you can do is really just start buying less. A lot of us way overconsume. We buy way more things than we need. So by simply buying less and ensuring that we’re focusing on what we have, choosing to share and swap with neighbors and friends, buying secondhand, and reducing our overall dependence on stuff. Lastly, try and swap out your disposable products for reusable ones instead, choosing to buy things once and trying to buy them for life.
How can individuals and businesses work together to move toward a circular economy, particularly in fashion and consumer goods?
Right now we live in a linear economy where we extract resources from the earth, turn them into products, and at the end of their useful life dump them into a giant hole in the ground. It really doesn’t make a lot of sense. Instead, we should move to a more circular economy that mimics nature. I always think it’s interesting that humans are the only creatures on the planet that actually create trash. So how can we rethink our systems to live more like everything else? I would love to see businesses create more accountability in their supply chains and, at the bare minimum, use recycled materials in their products. A lot of people think recycling is charity. People view it as something very altruistic, but in fact it’s a business, and it relies on businesses buying those recycled materials to actually put them into their products. This also plays into how you recycle at home. Next time you’re looking at your recycling, I want you to think, would I buy this? Because this is really going to change how you view your recycling. Our recycling should be clean, it should be dry, and it should be something that can easily be turned into a raw material that can be bought by businesses and used in their products.
Which emerging technologies, products, or initiatives excite you most in the zero-waste space?
Last year, I toured Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, and I also went to the WM Phoenix Open. I’ve been to that event several times, and it is so amazing to see how WM is innovating and working through these massive, large-scale events to create zero waste.
It all starts at the top, and I think this is something that so many different companies and businesses, from small to large, can implement. They’re really, really thoughtful about what enters the course, making sure that every product that is there already has a designated end-of-life plan.
For instance, all of the plastic film that comes in already has a designated recycling spot where it’s being used to create park benches. The only drink cups that are allowed on site are certified compostable or recyclable, and they already have partners lined up to take all of those materials. It is so smart, and it makes it a no-brainer.
All of the compost bins and the recycling bins have cutouts to make it more intuitive for people to put their waste, or their products, when they’re done with them.
I want to see more of this. I want to see more thoughtfulness in design, and I want to see businesses making it easier to make the right choice. At Climate Pledge Arena, they include public transit in your ticket price, making it a no-brainer.
As climate and environmental challenges accelerate, what role do individuals play in driving systemic change, and how can personal choices create broader impact?
The trap that the 2016 zero-waste movement fell into was being so hyper-focused on individual actions. I think a lot of us have learned that while our individual actions are important, because they are very important, it’s also important to advocate for change at larger levels. Instead of focusing on every single tiny piece of trash, how can we take some of that energy—maybe that means we make a little bit more trash—and instead get plugged in with an organization or group who’s doing amazing work and put our efforts behind that in order to create larger impact. The National Resources Council of Maine is doing great work. They passed an EPR law here in Maine, which is Extended Producer Responsibility, which is exactly what we need. We need to see more businesses showing up and taking responsibility for the waste that they produce and create.
