MALE SPEAKER: Thanks everybody
for coming to this Google
Author Series talk.
I want to have the
esteemed privilege
to introduce Bea Johnson,
author of "Zero Waste Home."
Bea, she's lived a waste-free
lifestyle since 2008,
generating for her whole
family just a quart
of waste in an entire year.
She's also zero waste
lifestyle expert.
Her goals shatter
the misconceptions
associated with living in
zero-waste lifestyle proving
that a waste-free living can
not only be stylish but lead
to significant health benefits
and time and money savings.
She was a grand prize
winner of the green awards.
She's invited to speak, like
here, at many corporate events,
universities, and other
conferences all over the world.
And she spreads her tips for
living a zero-waste lifestyle
in that.
She opens her home
to educational tours
and the media.
I know [? Myomi ?]
has been to her house,
has been shopping with her at
Whole Foods to see how she does
this.
She's appeared on TV shows and
publications around the world,
including the "Today Show"
and the "BBC Breakfast."
New York Times has
called her the priestess
of waste-free living.
I like that one.
As a spokesperson for
a zero-waste lifestyle,
she also provides
consulting services
for sustainable product
conception, waste reduction,
and minimalism.
Welcome Bea.
[APPLAUSE]
BEA JOHNSON: Thanks
so much for having me.
It's so funny that I have been
calling myself a Google girl,
and here I am today at Google.
So first, let me
introduce my family.
And so this is my family.
On the right, we have
Max who's now 15,
Leo, on the left, who is
now 14, my husband, Scott,
and our zero-waste dog,
Zizu, is actually the mascot
of our zero-waste lifestyle.
So yeah, it's the little
baby of the family.
Anyways, our zero-waste
journey started back in 2006.
We were living back then in a
large home, 3,000 square feet
in the suburbs in the East
Bay actually in Pleasant Hill.
But that house was
located in a cul-de-sac.
And the problem with that
is that we felt that we
had to drive everywhere.
We had to take the car
to go to the grocery
store, the schools, church,
and movie theaters, and so on.
So we decided that we wanted
to relocate to a location
where we could have these
things within walking distance
or biking distance.
So we chose the
town of Mill Valley.
But before finding
the ideal home,
we rented an
apartment for a year.
And we only moved in
with the necessities.
So instead of moving in with
fork tables and 26 chairs,
we only moved in with one table,
four chairs, one set of dishes,
one set of towels, et cetera.
And what we found
during that year
is that by living with
less, all of a sudden,
we had more time in our hands
to do the things that we enjoy
doing, more time to spend with
family and friends, more time
to explore a new
coast or region.
So when we did find the ideal
home in downtown Mill Valley,
we got everything
out of storage.
And we realized that a
lot of the things that we
had kept in there for a year
are totally gone and missed.
We realized that there were
a bunch of things in there
that we hadn't even
needed or even missed.
And so we got everything
out of storage
and questioned ourselves
about all the stuff
we had, and we let go of
about 80% of our belongings.
And then thanks to that
voluntary simplicity,
that also opened more
time to educate ourselves
on environmental issues.
So this was back in 2007.
We read some books.
We watched some documentaries.
And what we discovered
with my husband really
made us sad thinking
about the future
that we are going to
leave behind for our kids.
So we decided to do
something about it.
So my husband quit his job
to start a sustainability
consulting company.
And I tackled the home.
So I got super
motivated at first.
And there is lots of
things that I tried.
I googled a lot of alternatives.
And some of the things
that we discovered we still
do today such as canning.
This is actually canning season.
I have how-to's on my blog.
So on Saturday, I'll be
buying a bunch of flats--
I mean a flat of tomatoes.
And then I'll be
canning it for the year.
It's not like I can all
year long, or all day.
I just can once a year
for the rest of the year.
But anyways, some other
alternatives that we tried
did not quite work out for us.
So I had heard about
the [INAUDIBLE]
option of shampooing your hair.
And so I thought, oh
maybe that will be
a good alternative to shampoo.
And so what that
involves is using
baking soda in lieu of shampoo.
You're supposed
to wet your hair,
sprinkle baking soda on your
scalp, you massage it in,
and then you rinse with
apple cider vinegar.
Now after six months,
the oils of my hair
had migrated down to here, and
I ended up with frizzy ends.
Not really the look
I was looking for.
And when I went to lay
down next to my husband
after those six months, he
looked at me and he said,
I am just so tired of you
smelling like vinaigrette, Bea.
It's really not sexy.
So I thought, yeah, maybe
he has a point there.
I need to find
another alternative.
And I did.
It's not shampoo.
I'll mention it later.
But I picked
another alternative.
I also came to look at my
cosmetic pouch at one point.
And I wanted a greener
alternative, or at least
a zero-waste alternative for all
the items that I had in there.
So I took my cosmetic
pouch to a green pharmacy.
And I asked the sales
person to give me
an alternative or a product for
all the things I had in there.
She said, I have
a mascara for you.
I have different types
of makeup for you.
But I don't have an
alternative for a lip plumper.
So for the guys that are
here that don't know what
a lip plumper is,
it's a glass that
has an ingredient in
it that's supposed
to make your lips bigger.
Doesn't make it bigger.
I've actually taken a ruler and
measured the before and after.
It doesn't really
make them bigger,
but it makes you feel
like they are bigger.
So since she didn't have an
alternative for me, of course,
I googled it.
Alternative to or green way
to make your lips bigger.
And I found this video
of this beautiful woman
on YouTube, a woman that had
lips a bit like Angelina Jolie,
like really nice
and [INAUDIBLE].
And I thought, well, perfect.
That's what I need.
And she said, it's very simple.
All you need to do is
gather some stinging nettle,
you remove the leaves, and then
you roll the twig on your lips.
And I thought, uh,
how simple that is.
I have a bunch of stinging
nettle in my backyard.
So I put on some gloves,
and I hiked up my hill
because we're on a hill.
And I grabbed a bunch of
stinging nettle, brought it
back down to my kitchen, I
removed the leaves carefully,
and then I rolled
the twig on my lips.
OMG, did it hurt!
Of course, it did
not at all provide
the results I was expecting.
And not like the video, I ended
up with blotches, red bumps all
over the place.
Not very sexy, or not
very much the look
I was looking for again.
And of course, that's when my
husband came home from work.
And he looked at me,
and said, oh my gosh.
What did you do again, Bea?
And I said, eh, just
trying out something.
Don't worry about it.
We also came to question
our use for toilet paper.
So at that point I was
taking a foraging class.
And once we were in the forest.
And my teacher said,
well, if you guys are ever
stuck in the woods with
no toilet paper, that
moss out there is awesome.
I thought there Is my
alternative to toilet paper.
So I grabbed some and took
it home, but-- but moss, FYI,
it dries over time.
So the first day
it might be soft,
but the next day,
you're basically
left with a scouring pad.
Not very pleasant.
So we decided to
forego that idea.
And instead, we decided
to stick to toilet paper.
It's 100% recycled.
We buy it from a restaurants
and hotel supply store
because we can buy
it wrapped in paper.
We don't have to worry
about the plastic packaging.
So after all this trial and
error, we found balance.
And we found that for
zero-waste to be truly
sustainable in our
home, we simply
had to follow five
rules in order.
It was all of it simply about
refusing, reducing, reusing,
recycling, and
rotting in order so
that at the end of
the year-- sorry
I disappeared there-- we're
left with one jar of waste.
So this basically represents
our family's waste for the year.
This one is 2014.
So the first rule then that
we apply is we simply refuse.
We simply say no to the
things that we do not need.
We say no to
single-use plastics--
plastic bags, water bottles.
But we also say no to freebies.
For today, in this
consumerist society,
we're the target of
many marketing goods.
But every time we
accept them, it's
a way for us to reinforce
an unsustainable practice.
Every time we take a free
plastic pen from a conference
that we do not need--
because I think
everyone has enough
pens in their homes
to last them a
lifetime-- every time
we accept one of
those pens, then
more oil will be
drilled from the ground
to create a replacement.
Same goes with junk
mail, every time
we take junk mail
straight from the mailbox
and put it in a recycling
bin, it's a way for us to say,
love junk mail.
Please send me more.
And more will be sent out to us.
So it's important to
say no to these things
to simply stop the demand.
We also say no to
business cards.
So don't try to give me
your business card later.
I'll have my contact info at
the end of the presentation.
Our second rule is to reduce.
So I'm sorry the
slide is so light.
So we reduce what we do need.
So that means for us living
a minimalist lifestyle.
So in our kitchen, for
example, as you can see
the counters are pretty bare.
But I love it that way.
It's actually much easier to
clean-- much faster to clean.
I used to have next to my stove
a jar filled with accessories
and different types of spoons
until I realized that I only
have two hands.
I only use one spoon at a time.
I don't need the 10
of the same spoon.
So today I've downsized to the
true accessories that I need.
Same goes for
underneath my sink.
Underneath my sink
in the old days
was filled with products--
toxic products-- products
that the marketers
told me I needed
for different applications.
They tell us that to clean
the floor we need a product,
to clean a window is a different
product, to clean your bathroom
a different product, the
kitchen a different product.
This is all BS.
I found that we can clean
the whole house simply
with a spray mixed
with water and vinegar.
And we use castile soap also
that we purchase in bulk.
In a pump at the sink, we
use it to wash our hands,
wash dishes, wash the
dog, wash the floor.
This is our bedroom.
Even if it's a total
whiteout for you,
we still don't have
much in the bedroom.
And we just have what we need
in order to sleep in the room.
And this is our closet.
So my husband and
I share a closet.
This is not the walk-in
closets that you
see in movies or
in glossy magazines
because it's not really
a walk-in closet.
It's more of a scoot-in
closet because it's so tiny.
But my husband has the top rail.
And I have the bottom one.
And then he has
one set of shelves.
I have the other.
When we decluttered
our lives, we
came to choose
[INAUDIBLE] items that
were the most versatile,
the most multi-functional.
And in my case, I ended
up picking a wardrobe
that I can dress up or
down for different events
and throughout the seasons.
Well, likely to
live in California,
it's much easier
for us to do that.
So in my case, I have one pair
of shorts, two skirts-- that's
one of them.
By the way, in drought
season, wearing leather
is awesome because you obviously
don't throw that in a wash.
You just wipe it off.
Saves water.
I have two dresses, seven
shirts, three sweaters,
five pairs of shoes.
Actually, talking about
the shoes, at one point,
I looked at my
tennis shoe, and I
realized that they
were gathering
dust more than anything.
All my activities, my
more sporting activities,
do not really require
the use of tennis shoes.
So instead, I have
a bootie that I
can wear when I go hiking,
backpacking, biking.
I don't need a pair
of tennis shoes.
This is a little experiment
that I did for my blog.
I wanted to show that this
one little black dress that I
purchased for $2 at
a secondhand store--
because we buy all our wardrobes
from a secondhand store--
can create lots
of different looks
based on how I accessorize it,
whether I dress it up or down,
and wear it under something
or on top of something.
My kids are also, of
course, minimalists.
This is Leo's bedroom.
And his closet is
as bare as ours.
As you'll notice, he
doesn't have much clothes.
But all our clothes
actually fit in carry-ons.
So what's great about that
is when we want to go away
for a weekend, or a week, or
a month, all we have to do
is pull our wardrobes
in our carry-ons.
We zip them.
We're out the door.
Then we have a service that
comes, cleans the house.
And then the renters come
and pay for our vacations.
So this is one of those
ideas that my husband
had four years ago.
He only has two good ideas
a year, and I have to say,
this one blew my mind.
My kids today don't really have
toys because they're teenagers.
But when they did have
toys, we encouraged them
to pick their favorite items.
And then once they
became older, they
were able to sell
them to purchase more
age-appropriate replacements.
So this is our bathroom.
As you can see it's
also very minimalist.
And what you see on
the right is basically
the contents of the
medicine cabinet
that you see on the left.
So there again,
when we decluttered,
we realized what
our essentials were.
So just to give you some
examples on what I've done,
for example, for
cosmetics, on my skin,
the only thing
that I actually buy
manufactured is a tinted
moisturizer with an SPF in it.
Otherwise, to hydrate my skin,
I buy cooking oil in bulk.
The black that
you see on my eyes
is, actually, almonds
that I have burnt
and to which I have added
a little bit of oil.
My mascara is made of four
ingredients, same ingredients
that you can actually
eat, that I've purchased
in bulk from the bulk isles.
And actually, I should
say, the mascara
is the recipe I'm actually
the most proud of in my book.
It took a lot of trial
and error to find
just the right concoction.
I went out to dinner
once with my girlfriends.
I was trying or
testing out a recipe
only to find out once I got home
that I had black down to here.
You'd think my girlfriends
would tell me, no.
Yeah, I've wiped them out since
then-- no, I'm just kidding.
On my cheeks, to add
color to my cheeks
and my eyebrows, and
sometimes [INAUDIBLE],
I use a cocoa powder.
It's an organic cocoa powder.
And just to fill that little
jar, it cost me $0.72.
There is no way I can find an
organic bronzer at the store
if I were to buy
it manufactured.
And then to smooth out my
hair, to add a little shine
on my lips, or maybe
highlight my cheeks,
or even add shine on my nails,
I make a multi-purpose balm,
which are simply two
ingredients-- beeswax
and cooking oil.
All the recipes are
in my book, again,
so if you guys are interested
in these alternatives,
check it out.
The deodorant, we use a crystal.
As a hair spray, we
reduce lemon peels
with a little bit of
water, and it's magic.
It works.
It actually makes
your hair stick.
I don't use it.
My husband does to make his
little hair spiky in the front.
To shave, he uses a
double-edged razor.
It's actually a vintage
razor that you can
purchase, for example, on eBay.
And then to wash
ourselves from head
to toe-- so to wash our
hair, our face, or body,
and also to shave,
we use a bar of soap
that we buy unpackaged, loose,
from the health food store.
Then to brush our teeth,
we use baking soda
that we buy loose
from the bulk bins.
And then to brush, we use a
compostable wooden toothbrush
made out of bamboo.
And this is what
we do for floss.
So what we use is simply a
little piece of organic silk.
Two strands work better.
So we take them, we twist them,
and then we use it for floss.
And then we can compost it.
This is our linen closet.
So you'll tell me, well, great.
But where are the linens?
Well, linens are, actually,
once we wash them,
we put them back on the bed.
So we only have one set of
linens for each one of us.
In the bathroom, we always
have four towels that are hung.
And then we always have
four extras in case
we go to the beach, to the
pool, or have friends over.
So before basically launching
the zero-waste movement
and spending my time preaching
the zero-waste lifestyle,
I was actually an artist.
And my previous
studio was filled
with art materials--
canvases and frames
and different types of media.
And here I realized
that, well, it's
not the materials
that make the artist.
It's rather with the
creativity that the artist
has in their head
that makes the artist.
So I let go, and I donated
basically all my supplies.
And I also came to realize
that after all my compost
bin and my recycling bin are
themselves sources of material.
So the only food that
we purchase in packaging
is butter.
So when I came to look
one day at my compost bin,
I realized that the
butter wrappers, which
we buy-- the
wrappers that we pick
are the ones that are
made out of the wax paper
because it's compostable.
I decided to make a peace
with these wrappers.
So I collected them
for four years.
Then I made a lotus
flowers, origami style.
And then I applied
them to a canvas.
So this basically represents
four years of our family's
butter consumption.
Now I know the math
people in the room
are good doing this
times this equals.
Well, if someone had
asked me how much butter
do you think you
consume in four years,
I would have guessed
100, maybe 200
to top-- 575 butter wrappers.
OK, I'm French, and I
use butter for cooking.
But I also use olive oil.
I had no idea how much we
were actually consuming.
The thing is, when
we throw things away,
or even when we
compost or recycle,
we're completely disconnected
with how much we're
truly consuming.
Once you start collecting
it for a while,
then you're much more
aware of your consumption.
So this to me blew my mind.
This is our garage.
Yet you don't see much in it
because there isn't much in it.
I find that in
garages the items--
a garage tends to collect the
items that are in transit.
The items that we
want to return,
the items that we keep for
a what-if-- what if we move?
What if our kids move?
What if our kids need this?
What if they want it later?
I know I love the
looks over there.
You guys are great.
Yeah, I know what she means.
And what we've done
is basically make
a decision on all of
these items in transit.
And so today, our garage,
it makes it much easier
for us to grab our bikes and go.
After all, that
was the reason why
we moved to the
downtown of Mill Valley,
so we could have
access to our bikes,
so we could bike to
things and walk to things.
The third rule is to reuse.
So in our home,
reusing means swapping
anything that's disposable
for a reusable alternative.
So today we no longer
buy boxes of tissues.
We have a glass jar
filled with cloth ones.
I have one right
here-- just remembered.
We've also been able to
eliminate the sponge simply
with a wooden scrubby, a
metal scrubby, and rags.
Once the wooden scrubby
is no longer usable--
and we usually use them
for about two years.
The metal scrubby, I think
we've had the same one
for three years now.
And then with rags, you
simply can reuse those things
over time, and you don't
need to use sponges.
We've also been
able to eliminate
aluminum foil, plastic wrap,
freezer bags, sandwich baggies,
et cetera-- all those food
kind of storage items simply
with glass jars.
And when my kids
go to school, they
don't need any
fancy lunch gizmo.
What they do is they wrap
their lunch, furoshiki-style.
Furoshiki is the Japanese
art of wrapping in cloth.
And what's great about
doing it this way
is that then the towel
becomes your place mat.
It becomes your napkin.
But also you use
it for transport.
And everyone has
a towel at home.
Everyone can wrap their lunch.
When we have parties of
50 people at our house--
or I should say, more
than 10 people because we
can sit 10 at our table.
But if we have more than 10,
then we'll make finger foods.
We don't have a lot
of stuff at our house.
But what we do have
a lot of is glasses
so that if we do have 50
people coming to our house,
we don't need to
resort to disposables.
We use a turkey lacers in lieu
of toothpicks for the buffet
style food that
I put out, and we
have a stack of cloth napkins.
So if you are going
to have a party of 50
people at your
house and you plan
on serving or having paper
napkins, you better at least
have 200 paper napkins
because people don't really
respect the paper napkin.
They'll be using at
least two, maybe three.
I have found that people respect
the cloth way more than they
do the paper napkin.
I only have 32 napkins.
When I have 50
people at my house,
I only need the 32 napkins.
I actually found that only half
the people will use napkins.
So for 50 people, 25
napkins is actually enough.
So replacing anything disposable
for a reusable alternative
also means shopping
with reusables.
So this is the shopping kit that
I take with me to the grocery
store.
It's comprised of cloth bags
to buy dry goods, mesh bags
to buy produce, glass
jars to buy anything
that sweats, such as
meat, fish, deli cheese,
grated cheese that I
buy at the counter.
I have a pillow
case to buy bread.
And I buy a brand of milk that
sells in a glass container
that you can return
to the store.
And then we can get
our egg box refilled
at the farmer's market.
So here I am shopping the
bulk foods, the bulk bins.
And then once I am home,
then I transfer the dry goods
into glass container.
So this is what a zero-waste
pantry looks like.
As you can see, there
is no packaging there.
It was great to bag that.
I personally find that
it's so much prettier
than a pantry filled
with packaging
because you can
actually see the food.
What my pantry transpires
is not someone's idea
of marketing, of what color
should be in someone's pantry.
It's rather the food
themselves shine through.
We also purchase
liquids in bulk.
I make my own red wine vinegar.
But the only problem with that
is that you need red wine,
and at our house,
there isn't much left.
This is our refrigerator.
So we actually have
refrigerator drawers.
We don't have a refrigerator
armoire like the usual kind.
And we found it's actually
a great, smart design
to eliminate food waste.
I can proudly say
there is no food that's
being wasted at our house.
Because we store all our
food in glass containers,
we can see through it.
Because we have refrigerator
drawers, we can see on top.
Nothing gets lost in
the back of a shelf.
And we make use of what we have.
So before I go to the grocery
store, I'll make a list.
I'll make sure to only buy
the things that I need.
I'm not buying carrots if
I already have carrots.
I'll make sure that I finish
them before I buy more.
We also buy beer in a growler
from the local Brewery Company.
My local health foods store also
has a orange squeezing machine.
So I just bring an old glass
milk bottle to refill it.
And then the bottom picture
over there is my freezer.
So once I bring 10 baguettes
home from the grocery store,
then I cut them in half.
If I don't need half
of them because they're
so good and warm.
And then I put
them in the freezer
in another pillow case--
no plastic needed.
And then we freeze some of
our food in glass containers.
You just have to make sure
that it's room temperature
before you put it in.
But the large glass
jars that you see,
one actually contains meat
bones, another one fish bones,
which we'll then
use to make stock.
And then once we've made
stock, then we can compost it.
Then we have one
for bread slices
that have become
whitened by the freezing.
It's basically the
freezer burn on bread.
Once the jar is
filled with bread,
then we use it to make croutons,
or we make bread pudding.
We also use it for bread crumbs.
And we also freeze our candles
because candles last longer
if you freeze them.
We also purchase our wining box.
So we have a big stock
of lemonade bottles.
What's great about them is
that then when we get our wine
refilled, we don't need to
have to recourse to corking.
And you can do that in the city
at Tank18, or in Half Moon Bay,
there is also La Nebbia that
will refill your bottles.
They do that through
bottling events.
So for us, reusing not only
means swapping anything
disposable for a
reusable alternative,
it also means buying
second hand when
we do need to buy something.
So like I mentioned earlier,
we buy all our clothes
in second hand from
the thrift store.
But for certain items that
we cannot find in the thrift
store, then we fall back
either on the free market--
that's where these
patio chairs came from.
Or we fall back on Craigslist.
That's where the
table came from.
Or eBay.
And speaking of eBay, it's been
great to find the really hard
to find items.
So at the beginning of the
school year when the math
teacher requested the
scientific calculator,
I fell back on eBay.
When I go on eBay, I make
sure to pick the option
on the left-hand side
that says second hand
or used or pre-owned sometimes.
Somehow, I think the wording
changes, or maybe it's me.
And then once [INAUDIBLE]
see all the items
that are second hand.
And then once I've
purchased something,
then I request that
the seller only
sends it to me in
cardboard or paper
because plastic wrap
would not fit in my jar.
So the fourth rule
is to recycle.
So once you've refused, reduced,
and reused as much as you can,
then you have very
little to recycle.
This is our chihuahua
next to the bin
that we fill once a week.
So today, thanks to our
zero-waste lifestyle,
we actually recycle way
less than we did before.
For us the zero-waste lifestyle
is not about recycling more.
It's about recycling less,
thanks to prevention.
So as you saw earlier,
we have a chihuahua
so our bin is about this big.
We tried to do zero
recycling at one point,
and we found that it
was way too constraining
because we had to say no
to the bottles of wine
that friends were bringing over.
And that's where I thought
I had gone way too far.
And I had to make paper from the
school papers that were coming
in from the kids' schools.
It works out a little.
In the summer, the paper dries.
But in the winter-- not
only is it time consuming,
but also in the winter,
paper doesn't dry so well.
So we also have assigned bins
for how to recycle items.
I don't know if you
can see what this is,
but this is a bin in which
we put all tennis shoes
or sneakers that
have a hole in them.
Especially my kids have two
pairs of shoes-- flip-flops
and a pair of sneakers.
But when they get a
hole in their sneaker,
we throw it in the bin.
Once the bin is
full, then we take it
to a shoe store that
participates in the Nike
reuse a shoe program.
And Nike then turns them
into basketball courts.
There is also a company called--
I think it's Eco or Ico.
I need to ask them how to
pronounce their company.
But its I colon CO.
And they have drop-off locations
that are really easy to find.
They're in lots of
different malls.
What we found with
this lifestyle is
that we should avoid
plastics at all cost
because not only are they toxic
to our health when we use them,
they're also toxic in
their manufacturing.
So instead of plastic, we prefer
to use-- when we buy an item,
we pick metal because it's
recyclable over and over again.
And glass, same thing.
Cardboard and paper is
recyclable up to eight times.
And then sometimes,
we fall back on wood,
such as the wooden toothbrushes
that I showed earlier
because then we're
able to compost it.
So composting for us is the
last straw before the landfill.
So we compost the rest.
So for us composting
has been easy
simply because-- this
used to be our trash can.
And it's underneath the counter.
It's out of sight but not
out of mind because when
we have something we
simply [INAUDIBLE]
choices, recycling or compost.
If our friends
have a bubble gum,
we tell them to just swallow it.
No we don't.
That's why I have
a couple in there.
But we compost not just
fruits and veggies peelings.
As a matter of fact, when we
went through a decluttering
process in the kitchen, I came
to look at my vegetable peeler.
And I realized that
I don't really--
I do use my vegetable peeler,
but my mom doesn't have one.
My mom doesn't
use one, so then I
thought I probably
don't need one.
And I have found that by
donating my vegetable peeler,
it's had actually a great impact
on how much compost I produce.
I compost way less
than I did before.
Because when you have
a vegetable peeler,
the vegetable peeler encourages
you to peel more than you need.
When you don't
have a peeler, you
think twice about
peeling anything
because it's more manual labor.
And what's great is
that then today we're
composting way less
than we did before,
but we're also ingesting
all the vitamins
that are enclosed in the
fruit and vegetable peels.
We also compost-- well, you can
see a butter wrapper in there.
But we also compost the dog
nails, the floor sweepings,
hair.
I kept my husband's and my kids'
hair so that will go in there.
I don't compost my hair.
I let it grow down to here.
And then once it's long
enough, I get it cut.
So I went, I think
four months ago.
And then I send the hair
to an organization that
makes wigs for cancer patients.
So I actually recycle my hair.
It's the fourth rule, right?
Comes before compost.
Not too long ago, had I heard
about a zero-waste family,
I would have
thought, oh my gosh.
These people must
live in the woods.
I'm sure they are major
granola, crunchy people.
Or she's a stay-at-home
mom that doesn't
have anything else to do
but worry about her waste.
And I'm sure she spends
her days homemaking.
Well, that's not me.
I actually am a
full-time professional.
And we found that the zero-waste
lifestyle is actually not
just good for the
environment, but it's also
been great for our health.
Because thanks to
the alternatives
that we have adopted, we've
been able to eliminate
all the toxic products
from our lives.
Like I mentioned earlier, all
the things I use for as far
as cosmetics are things that
are made from ingredients
that I can eat.
All of my cleaning
products are--
I mean it's basically vinegar,
water, maybe a little bit
of baking soda, castile soap.
I can totally trust
these products.
And so thanks to them, I've
eliminated toxics from my life.
We found also that this
lifestyle saves a lot of money.
When I embarked on this
journey, my husband
was a little worried.
He said, you know, I'm
starting this startup
in the midst of the recession.
We cannot afford to be going
to the health food store
and the farmer's market.
And so I encouraged them to
compare our bank statements
between our zero-waste
lifestyle and
our pre-zero-waste lifestyle.
And he found that we were saving
40% on our overall spending.
This is due to the fact
that, one, we consume way,
way less than we did before.
Today, we're no longer adding
things to our inventory.
We're only replacing what
needs to be replaced.
A sneaker has a hole in it or
a t-shirt that is too small.
And when we buy
the replacement, we
buy it second-hand which
by definition is cheaper.
Then we buy our food in bulk.
One needs to know that when
you buy food in packaging,
15% of the price covers
the cost of the packaging.
So when you buy in bulk, you
make an automatic 15% saving.
And finally, we've
replaced anything
that's disposable in our house
for a reusable alternative.
So that means that we're no
longer investing our money
in things that you throw away.
We're no longer investing
our money in the landfill.
We're no longer basically
throwing our money
out the window.
We've invested our
money in things
that we can use over
time, reuse over time.
And this has translated in
huge cumulative savings.
Actually, those
savings have even
allowed us to install
solar on our home
which then saves us even more.
The zero-waste lifestyle is
a gift that keeps on giving.
But to me, the best
advantage of this lifestyle
is the fact that it's turned
our life from a life that
was based on things
to a life that
is now based on experiences.
Thanks to this
lifestyle, we've been
able to have time to do
some super cool stuff
like jackhammering
my patio, going
[INAUDIBLE] picking for
coastal cleanup which
is coming up guys.
It's next week-- or actually
at the end of the week.
No seriously.
We've been able to
do things as a family
that we never thought possible.
Just in the last
year alone, we've
been able to go canoeing in
the Everglades, that was right
before my son found himself
face to face with a Python.
We rode our bikes from
San Francisco to LA.
We've gone ice climbing.
This is one of my
favorite pictures.
But actually my favorite
picture might be this one.
Did you know how hard it is to
get a smile on your teenager's
face.
To me, this represents
the zero-waste lifestyle.
This is it.
The zero-waste lifestyle
is about living more.
It's about enjoying life.
It's a lifestyle based on
experiences instead of things.
Gives me goosebumps
every time I say that.
Now I'm not here to tell you
guys how to live your life.
I'm only here to
share how I live mine.
But if you were interested
in living this lifestyle,
my first tip would be to
follow the five R's in order.
So refuse what you do not
need, reduce what you do need.
Reuse by swapping
anything that's disposable
for a reusable alternative and
buying second hand when you do
need to buy something, recycling
only what you cannot refuse,
reduce, or reuse.
And finally, composting
that is rotting the rest.
Of course, my second tip
would be to read my book.
I am really proud of my work.
I share everything I
know about this lifestyle
in the book about what to do
during the holidays, what kind
of gifts to give, what
to do when you travel.
But I would also recommend
that you download my app, Bulk.
I've created this
app to help people
find bulk locations near them.
Whenever I talk about my
lifestyle throughout the world,
people tell me, oh, I
can't do zero-waste.
We don't have bulk.
Yes you do.
You just don't know.
You just have to find it.
And that's why I
created the Bulk app.
The app is populated by
the zero-waste community.
So if you guys do know
of bulk locations that
are not in the app, please
share them with the community.
If you take one thing away
from this talk today--
so maybe this
should be the top--
but it's that buying is voting.
If you're not happy with
the product that you buy,
if you feel that you
don't have a choice
and you're forced into
buying something, speak up.
Say something.
Send the packaging back
to the manufacturer.
Propose alternatives.
Because if you don't say
anything, nothing will change.
It's super important that
you let your voice be heard.
Back in 2010, I had
right in my jar,
right in the front,
an insurance card.
Every six months, my
insurance company,
which is the largest in the US,
would send me a laminated card.
I got tired of it.
I said, you know-- I
sent it back to them
with a little note.
I always send a
little note saying,
it'd be great if you guys
switched your card from being
laminated to a cardboard card.
I mean you can have a
thicker cardboard of card,
and at least the card
would then be recyclable.
And they did.
They changed it.
And they changed it for all
subscribers throughout the US.
I am super happy about that.
I've actually asked people when
I give talks around the US,
do you guys have that insurance?
They're like, yep.
Do you have a cardboard card?
Yep.
That's right.
Of course, if you're
interested in this lifestyle,
I urge you to join the
zero-waste community.
I got to say that, the
little au pair that I
was at the age of 18
that came to the US
would have never ever
envisioned launching
a movement to the
thousands of people
involved in this lifestyle.
Every week I receive an
email from an entrepreneur
in like Australia, in
Switzerland, in Belgium,
in Quebec telling me, thank
you so much for sharing
your lifestyle.
You've inspired me
to change my ways,
but you've also inspired me
to open a zero-waste store
or start a new
zero-waste business.
And this is where
you get my info,
and we don't need to
exchange business cards.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
MALE SPEAKER: We have some time.
Does anyone have any
questions for Bea?
AUDIENCE: I noticed
that you've managed
to get rid of your junk mail.
So I've tried to get
rid of my junk mail.
I pick up every single thing.
I look on the back.
I'm like, where is
the unsubscribe.
If there is no unsubscribe,
I pick a random email address
from the company
and try to write
them an angry letter saying,
stop sending me the dead trees.
But this only gets me so far.
And I don't understand.
I've joined all of these
do-not-mail-me lists
and still--
BEA JOHNSON: You're
talking about paper mail.
Right?
AUDIENCE: Yes.
Paper mail.
BEA JOHNSON: So I give
all the steps in the book
on how to do that.
I can probably say I don't
get junk mail anyway.
I should say, the
last piece I got,
surprisingly, came
from Zero Waste Marin.
That's ironic.
Isn't it?
It drove me crazy.
Like, you guys obviously
haven't read my book.
But there are steps
that you can take.
I got to say from what I've
seen all around the world.
The US is probably the
place where it's the hardest
to remove your name
from the mailing list
and to eradicate junk
mail because it's so
ingrained in capitalism period.
So there are things you can do.
You can even pay a
service to do it for you.
There is also, I've been
told, about PaperKarma.
It's an app that,
I guess, you just
take a picture of
the address label,
and they'll take your name off.
But I have found that doing
it by myself was fine.
It was not that
difficult. You first
sign-- you go to
preoptoutscreen.com
or preoptoutscreen.org.
And then there's the other one.
It's dmachoice.org
or dmachoice.com.
I can't remember.
I always get those mixed up.
But that's the two places
you first need to go.
Take your name off of list.
You basically opt out of
those kinds of mailings.
And then I think the
hardest is really
to-- you can also go
to catalogchoice.org
to get your name off
of all the catalogs.
But the hardest one is
simply to-- all the letters
that are sent straight to you.
Let's say you've donated
money to a charity.
And they are using that to
send you letters every month
or whatever, then you have to
contact the company directly.
And if you're not happy,
then even use social media.
I mean social media has
been great about that.
I mean for me it's been
great to get my name off
of certain lists.
Or just to make them aware
that they are bugging us.
AUDIENCE: How do
you keep the wine?
Doesn't that get aerated?
BEA JOHNSON: But the thing
is, the one that I buy
is actually getting
bottled for the first time.
It's not like-- you're thinking
about a bottle of wine that
was bottled and you've
drank a little bit of it,
and then you're like, oh,
you have all that air.
But when I bring my
bottle, it's actually
getting bottled for the
first time just as a bottle
that you would buy
from the grocery store.
There is a little bit of-- I
mean the machine is calibrated
for the 750 ml.
So my bottles are exactly that.
So when it goes
through the machine,
it fills just what it
needs to be filled.
So you can just keep
it as long as you
would a normal bottle of wine.
AUDIENCE: OK, so that
container is air tight then.
BEA JOHNSON: Yeah.
So the top, it's a
flip-top cap that
is kind of like the flip-top
caps they use on beer growlers
so it doesn't let air escape.
AUDIENCE: First
of all, thank you.
And so I was looking
at your grocery slide.
And you were talking
about getting
meat and fish in particular
and working with the jars.
Do you encounter any resistance
with the packaging on that,
like people at the meat counter?
BEA JOHNSON: Yeah,
so the first time
I went to my health food store
with my jar, it takes balls.
I got to say, it takes balls
to go for the first time.
And you almost cannot tell--
whatever they're going to say,
if they say, no,
sorry, can't do it,
don't take no for an answer.
Because, for example,
there was a health food
store that I had gone to for--
it was not my main health food
store, but I would go to
them like once a month
or so because they had a bulk
conditioner that my health food
store didn't have.
But when I was there, I would
bring my jar of meat or fish
and have it filled.
It was fine for
like three years.
And then one day, I
go to the counter.
And the lady behind
the counter, I saw her.
I'm like, oh, shoot.
It's a new one.
She said, no, sorry.
Can't do it.
It's against the health
and safety regulations.
I'm like, are you kidding me?
You guys have been filling
my jar for three years.
No, sorry.
Can't do it.
I'm like, can you please
go ask your manager?
Said OK.
She goes asks her manager.
She comes back and
says, OK, I can do it.
She fill it.
I come back a month later.
The same lady--
I'm like, oh, boy.
There she is again.
I give her my jar.
She's like, no, sorry.
It's against the health
and safety regulations.
I'm like, are you kidding me?
You said the same
thing last month.
You checked with your manager
and was like, no, sorry.
I can't do it.
It's against the regulations.
I'm like, can you
please ask your manager.
She's like, OK.
Asked her manager,
came back, OK.
I can do it.
I mean imagine-- it
was my first time.
I would have said, oh, no
my store doesn't do that.
Forget it.
I'm not doing that.
They don't do it.
Yes they do.
They just don't know they can.
So you just have to find someone
that one, will do it, and two,
knows how.
Because there is
also-- sometimes
I've gone into stores
where they don't really
know how to tear the jar.
So let's say, they'll put
a little piece of plastic
on the scale to weigh
the meat, and then
they put the meat into the jar.
If it's their first time,
that's fine with me.
I'm not going to bother them.
They've generated
a piece of plastic.
I'm not taking it home.
It's their problem.
If they didn't know
that on their waste,
they would realize that they
should learn how to do that.
So I don't let that
take me down and make
me feel bad or anything.
But then over
time, once you know
which ones know how
to work the tear
on the scale and the
ones that don't, then
you look for the one that does.
And you ask them to
teach the others.
And so at my store now,
it's really no issue.
I can go any time.
They know how to do the job.
They know us, and
everyone is happy.
AUDIENCE: Great talk.
Thank you.
BEA JOHNSON: Thank you.
AUDIENCE: I have a
question on vacation.
I really like the
vacation slide you showed.
I just got back from a
lovely holiday with my folks
to Florida.
And I noticed Florida's a lot
cleaner in terms of litter.
But also every time
you stay at a hotel,
they have the same
breakfast meals
in this country everywhere.
And there's just plastic
containers, you know--
BEA JOHNSON: Yeah.
AUDIENCE: --the plastic forks,
the plastic, everything.
BEA JOHNSON: They have a lot of
Styrofoam in Florida, I found.
I mean it's kind of a shock
when you've lived in California,
and it's been banned, and you
just don't see it anymore.
And then you go to another
State, you're like, gosh.
I mean don't they
realize how bad it is,
and how bad it is for the
environment and our health.
So in that case, to
me dining is voting,
just like buying is voting.
If you're using
those containers,
then you're saying it's OK
for them to put them out.
For one thing, if
you don't use them,
you're saying that's not OK.
If you contact the
company, it's even better,
and you can propose
alternatives.
So when we go with our family,
we prefer to go to a cafe.
Or there are some chains
where we simply just show up
with our cloth bag.
The cloth bags that I
show for grocery shopping,
we always have one with us.
I don't have one with me today
because I knew I was coming.
I had lunch at
Google, and I was set.
She said, don't worry.
It's all reusables.
And amen to that.
It's awesome.
But when I travel, I always
have a cloth bag in my bag.
I don't take a whole
[INAUDIBLE] dishes and sets.
I know some zero-wasters
that do that.
They won't go anywhere without
their plate and their utensils.
And I'm like, you know,
there is a God out there
that always takes care of me.
And I don't take things
for just in case.
There is always, always
a solution, really.
If you really truly
believe in this lifestyle,
the solutions come to you.
So yeah, I do take my
cloth bag, but I don't
take all the dishes and stuff.
So the cloth bag
is good for buying
a croissant or whatever dry good
that they want to put in there.
If I am at the
airport-- so a little
anecdote about the airport.
When I'm at the airport,
I found that the easiest
zero-waste snack is a fruit.
And at the airport, they'll
sell you apple or banana.
Those are the only two choices.
But then you are stuck with
either the peel or the core.
Right?
Some people say, oh,
you can eat the core.
There is-- well, whatever.
I've done that sometimes.
I'm not doing that every time
especially because the core has
cyanide in it.
But anyways, when I'm left with
that, then all I have to do
is find a live
plant to dig it in.
The problem is in an
airport they don't
have that many live plants.
It's actually really
difficult to find a live plant
in the airport.
But I know where they are.
In each of the airports, I
know where my live plants are.
In San Francisco,
I have my favorite.
And I've seen it
grow over the years.
But anyways, you have to
also reach to your creativity
to find alternatives.
And to me it's almost
become like a game.
So I went-- sorry.
When I get started,
I don't stop.
And I have lots of anecdotes.
I went to a green event
a couple of years ago.
And back then I remember I
would bring a glass with me
in case they were
serving in disposables.
And that day, my
girlfriend picked me up.
It was really quick.
I didn't even think about
bringing my own glass.
But it was a green event, so I
thought, I'll be taken care of.
It's green.
I show up, and it was
6:00 PM, wine time.
And they were serving
all the cocktails
in those plastic cone
bio-based compostable cups.
And I'm like, I'm
not using that.
But I looked around
in the room, and I
saw that on tables they had
little vases, like mason jars,
for their flowers.
I'm like there it is.
So I took someone's used cup,
I took a little mason jar.
And went to the bathroom,
I did my little dishes,
and I put the flowers
into the used cup.
And I washed the
mason jar, and then I
went to get my wine that way.
Now someone asked me, well,
why didn't you just reuse
or just washed the
person's used cup.
I'm like, because then I would
have looked like I condone
that practice, that it's OK
to be serving-- especially
at a green event, it's OK to be
serving bio-based plastic cups.
No.
It's not.
So when I went around
with my glass jar,
then it was for me to say,
what you're doing is not OK.
This is better.
This is the alternative.
So don't worry about
the water because if you
have the creative mind, you'll
see solutions everywhere.
AUDIENCE: But it's
a compostable cup.
Why would that not
be OK-- [INAUDIBLE]?
BEA JOHNSON: OK.
AUDIENCE: Or do you not
believe that those cups--
BEA JOHNSON: No.
I do not.
I've actually taken a tour
of-- we can say, I think,
that one of the best composting
facilities in the country is
San Francisco's.
Right?
Their compostable waste goes
to [? Jefferson Prarie ?]
which is near [INAUDIBLE].
And I've gone there.
I was there with a TV crew.
I asked them to get
me through there.
We saw the waste get
on the conveyor belt.
They have pickers
removing those items.
So people that use the green
plastic bags for their dog poop
thinking that it's
magically going to disappear
in a landfill, no, it doesn't.
And it doesn't compost either.
As a matter of fact,
on that conveyor belt,
there are people whose job it is
to pick those compostable items
out of the compostable
stream because it simply
does not compost.
It does not compost.
I mean the company might
tell you it composts.
Oh, you don't believe me.
The company might
tell you it composts.
It might compost, over
six months, maybe a year.
But the composting facility
of San Francisco which
is top notch and is
super hot-- I gotta say,
I put my hand in there.
My hand got like--
you could not keep
your hand in the compost pile.
They cannot compose
those materials.
And I think the problem
also with those materials
is like it confuses people.
People are like, is
this compostable?
It's recyclable.
Well, I don't know.
I mean I don't have compost, so
I'll put it in the recycling.
But you put it in the recycling,
your tainting the recycling
chain.
So you're basically
throwing an item that's not
recyclable in the recycling.
And then it's basically
tainting the chain.
So it's important to stay
away from those products.
It's like as if we're
trying to replace
one problem with another.
Let's just re-embrace
the reusables
that our grandparents
were using.
It's that simple.
So we don't need to
invent something new.
We already have all
the solutions with us.
MALE SPEAKER: And to
your point, yeah, we do.
We have, here at
Google, a lot of
the compostable plastic cups.
And we've gone to the
facility and they all
say the same thing.
You'll see them after they go--
BEA JOHNSON: Thank you.
MALE SPEAKER: --through
the pile, and there's still
a full cup or a full fork.
So they don't really like
that material even though--
BEA JOHNSON: Well, also, I think
in a lot of people's minds,
compostable means
it's going to go away.
People think compostable
also means just evaporating.
Like if it's litter
and it's on the ground,
it's just going to
one day disappear.
It's not the case.
I mean my street is filled
with the compostable ice cream
spoons.
And I've contacted the company.
I'm like, oh, you use them
because they're compostable?
They're not in a compost.
They're on my street.
And they're not disappearing.
MALE SPEAKER: Well,
thank you so much, Bea.
And thank you all for coming.
This was really fun.
BEA JOHNSON: Yeah.
Thank you for having me.
[APPLAUSE]
MALE SPEAKER: And
just so you all--
