Zerowaste Knowledge Share work in progress
1 ZEROWASTE A Different Way of Living
Who we are (the groups/ communities an open call went to)
A positive view of life
Why zero-waste living?
Why aim for zero waste?
From scarcity to abundance
Zero waste as a joyful practice, not a punishment
Changing systems and habits — not just buying bamboo stuff
Consumption, convenience and the stories we’ve been sold
What “zero waste” actually means
Progress over perfection
The politics of waste — who produces it, who deals with it, and who pays?
NEW: Refuse, reduce, reuse, repair, recycle — and why the order matters
Chapter 2: Zero Waste, Boycotting & Systems Change
Pushing for ethical consumption versus individual responsibility
Boycotts, divestment and collective action
NEW: The limits of ethical shopping
NEW: What we can change individually and what requires collective action
NEW: Community, mutual aid and sharing economies
NEW: Local futures and building alternatives
This gives BDS its own proper political chapter rather than having it appear as a side note.
Chapter 3: What is a Zero-Waste Home?
Planning- not buying
Storage and organisation
Kitchen essentials
Kitchen essentials: spice cupboard
Composting systems
Using your freezer
NEW: Buying less and buying well
NEW: Bulk buying — when it helps and when it doesn’t
NEW: Food preservation
NEW: The household inventory
NEW: Cleaning without a cupboard full of products
NEW: Repair, maintenance and making things last
Zero-waste vegan kitchen
A rice for every occasion
Nutritious lifechanging millet, lifechanging bread
For the love of congee
Japanese breakfast and Mazegohan
Chia pudding
Homemade granola
Egg-free pancake mix
Chapati and Roti
All about dumplings
Life-changing bread
Scandinavian crispbread
Juicing vegetables
Smoothies
Things worth buying at your Asian store
For the love of tea
NEW: Cooking from the pantry
NEW: Making meals from leftovers
NEW: Nose-to-tail cooking, reimagined for plants
NEW: Beans, pulses and lentils — the zero-waste staples
NEW: Making your own plant milks and what to do with the pulp
NEW: Scraps worth saving
NEW: The freezer as a zero-waste tool
On culturally diverse vegan cooking.
Chapter 4: Preserving, Fermenting & Making
Zero-waste stock
Bioenzymes
NEW: Sauces, pickles, ferments and condiments
Making bioenzymes
Dehydrating spring onions
Using your freezer
Juicing vegetables
NEW: Fermentation
NEW: Pickling
NEW: Food scraps and second lives
NEW: Vinegars
NEW: Preserving seasonal abundance
NEW: Making the most of surplus
Chapter 5: Growing Food Anywhere
Growing food indoors
Growing food on balconies
Windowsill growing
Regrowing and reusing scraps
Microgreens and shoots
Edible houseplants
A packet of seeds
Raised beds
Allotments
Seed and plant swaps
Feeding the soil
Weed fertiliser
NEW: Growing food when you have no garden
NEW: Containers and vertical growing
NEW: Saving seeds
NEW: Seed sovereignty
NEW: Growing from kitchen scraps — what actually works
NEW: Seasonal growing
NEW: Sharing harvests
NEW: Community gardens
Chapter 6: Foraging & the Edible Landscape
On foraging
Foraging
One Straw Revolution
Edible weeds
Feeding the soil
Weed fertiliser
NEW: Foraging safely
NEW: Learning your local plants
NEW: Foraging ethics — take little, leave plenty
NEW: Urban foraging
NEW: Seasonal wild foods
NEW: The difference between abundance and exploitation
I’d keep this separate from gardening because foraging has its own philosophy and ethics.
Chapter 8: Personal Care
Quitting plastic
Quitting commercial deodorant
Homemade deodorant
Going no-poo or less-poo
The importance of a fragrance-free lifestyle- VOCs
DIY cosmetics from India, China and beyond
Plastic-free periods
Cups and lube
Moon balm
NEW: The bathroom audit
NEW: What do we actually need?
NEW: Minimalist personal care
NEW: Reading ingredient lists
NEW: Packaging, greenwashing and “natural” beauty
NEW: Making versus buying — when DIY isn’t actually better
Chapter 9: The Home Apothecary
Making a home apothecary
Basic medicine cabinet
On teas and tinctures
Tinctures — saying no to essential oils
Medicinal foods
Anti-inflammatory diet
Home apothecary: anti-inflammatory diet
NEW: Herbs as food
NEW: Herbal teas
NEW: Infusions and decoctions
NEW: Safe, simple herbalism
NEW: DIY hacks when sick
Chapter 10. Clothes: Wear, Repair, Reimagine
Microplastics
Repairing your clothes
NEW: Buying second-hand
The emotional archives of charity shops (an essay)
NEW: Mending and visible mending
NEW: Caring for clothes so they last- fragrance free and 30c, washing and drying
NEW: A capsule wardrobe
NEW: Textile waste and the global clothing system
Chapter 11: Cleaning, Home & Household Chemistry
On cleaning
Bioenzymes
Fragrance-free homes and workplaces
NEW: A minimal cleaning cupboard
NEW: Vinegar, bicarbonate and what actually works
NEW: Cleaning without creating more waste
NEW: Microfibres and synthetic textiles
NEW: Indoor air quality
NEW: Why “antibacterial everything” isn’t necessary
NEW: Cleaning as maintenance rather than consumption
Chapter 12: Out & About
Being prepared: Tote bag essentials, zero-waste emergency kit
NEW: Eating out without waste and travel
NEW: Festivals, events and public spaces
Chapter 13: Zero-Waste Animal Companions
Zero-waste pets and care
Homemade dog food
Homemade flea powder
NEW: Buying pet supplies second-hand
NEW: Toys and making things from what you already have
NEW: Sustainable bedding and litter
NEW: Packaging and pet food
NEW: The ethics of feeding companion animals
NEW: Caring for animals without turning them into consumers
Chapter 14: Craftiness
Make do and Mend
Upcycling and redesigning
Saving and making paper
Greeting cards & Wrapping gifts
Screen printing
Upcycling furniture & Reupholstering
Sentimental patchwork
NEW: Repair as creativity
NEW: Making gifts (seasonal)
NEW: Turning waste into materials
NEW: Collaborative making and skill-sharing workshops
Chapter 15. Decolonising Veganism
Why veganism needs decolonising
How not to be a shit vegan: Veganism beyond marketing
Access, disability and survival
Food, land and who gets to be vegan
Zero-waste veganism without classism or purity politics
Relational ethics with more-than-human life
Local futures
Seasonal, situational ethics: Who gets to define “ethical food”?
Fave Comfort Foods: traditions and cultural knowledge
NEW: Poverty, class and sustainability
NEW: Migration and food
NEW: Solidarity through food (Solarpunk examples)
Chapter 16: Technology, Stuff & the Right to Repair
Ethical tech
Repairable hardware
NEW: Planned obsolescence
NEW: Right to repair
NEW: Buying refurbished
NEW: Digital waste
NEW: Batteries and chargers
NEW: What happens to our electronics when we “recycle” them?
NEW: Keeping old technology alive
NEW: Digital minimalism and consumption
Chapter 17: DID YOU KNOW? On The Politics of Stuff (Misc short texts to go throughout zine)
What is waste?
Who creates waste?
Global waste colonialism
Recycling myths
Greenwashing
Fast fashion
Disposable culture
The environmental cost of convenience
NEW: Extraction — where materials come from
NEW: Labour — who makes our stuff?
NEW: Waste — where does it go?
NEW: The illusion of the individual consumer
NEW: Corporations, regulation and responsibility
Chapter 18: Building Futures – misc to be decided
From scarcity to abundance
Community systems
Sharing
Repair cafés
Tool libraries
People libraries
Seed swaps
Community gardens
Food cooperatives
Mutual aid
Skill-sharing
Collective kitchens
NEW: What would a zero-waste neighbourhood look like? (Illustration)