Love Zero Waste

Claims, labels, logos and symbols… Check your pantry, in the grocery store, the stuff you buy online. You might go as far as saying that all across the board, products are covered with symbols claiming eco-friendliness, solar power usage, recyclability, plastic content reduced, bioplastics, circularity, saving soil, saving water, no by-catch, compostable, biodegradable… something with green arrows… But what do they all mean, and despite the intentions, how do they end up contributing to the waste pile, rather than reducing it?

As consumers we’re navigating narrow paths, trying to make mindful purchases. Surrounded by all these claims, labels, logos and symbols it’s easy to get confused or even angry. We’re all just trying to do the right thing. Right!?

Guests are Naomi Scott-Mearns, Consumers International and Seema Shandil, Consumer Council of Fiji.

In this episode, you’ll learn how consumer confusion adds to the waste pile, where the responsibility to clear out this mess lies, what some of the great resources are for companies that genuinely want to help their customers, what we can learn from the development of nutrition labelling, and how the island nation Fiji deals with waste collection and the consequences of trash in the ocean.

Spoiler-alert! This time, we will leave you in despair...

Sources

The definition of ecolabels (Wikipedia), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecolabel

Ecolabel Index, http://www.ecolabelindex.com

Consumer Council Fiji, http://www.consumersfiji.org

Consumers International, https://www.consumersinternational.org

Report “Can I recycle this” (Consumers International), https://www.oneplanetnetwork.org/resource/can-i-recycle-global-mapping-and-assessment-standards-labels-and-claims-plastic-packaging

Launch webinar of “Can I Recycle This?” (Consumers International), https://www.youtube.com/user/SCPClearinghouse/videos

Guidelines for Providing Product Sustainability Information (UN Environment and ITC), https://www.oneplanetnetwork.org/resource/guidelines-providing-product-sustainability-information

The One Planet Network, https://www.oneplanetnetwork.org

Eco-labelling (UNEP), https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/resource-efficiency/what-we-do/responsible-industry/eco-labelling

Support our work through Patreon and Paypal

You can make a one-time donation through Paypal or even a monthly donation, starting at 5 USD, through Patreon. Your contribution will help us create more episodes of Love Zero Waste, with even richer content. However small or big your contribution is, your support means the world to us!

https://www.patreon.com/lovezerowaste

https://www.paypal.me/lovezerowaste

Credits

Hosts and creators: Malin Leth and Evelina Lundqvist

Jingle by Michael Steinkellner of Merlinn Sound, http://merlinnsound.com

Initiators of the Love Zero Waste community: Evelina Lundqvist and Alexandra Poetz

Love Zero Waste is a collaboration between Circulous, http://circulous.biz and The Good Tribe, http://thegoodtribe.com.

The microplastic pollution in our oceans is a growing problem since the participles are invisible to the naked eye, and even more so, because it’s everywhere, and there’s no way of knowing how their occurrence may threaten life on earth in the long run.

Our guest Sjors van der Meer, designer and co-founder of the Floating Coconet started out with an ambition of using biomimicry design elements to rid rivers of plastics before it arrives in the ocean, and has now pivoted towards gathering microplastic fibres at one of the pollution sources - our washing machines.

Learn how the Floating Coconet, inspired by how manta rays and basking sharks filter food from the water, work to change how garments are washed and collect microplastics fibres at the source. Floating Coconet is a previous Biomimicry Global Design Challenge finalist, and launchpad start-up, based in the Netherlands.

Sources

Trash free seas: plastics in the ocean, Ocean Conservancy, https://oceanconservancy.org/trash-free-seas/plastics-in-the-ocean/

Floating Coconet (Biomimicry Institute) https://innovation.biomimicry.org/team/floating-coconet/

Floating Coconet (Kickstarter) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/367174604/floating-coconet-cleaning-plastic-rivers

Floating Coconet (Instagram) https://www.instagram.com/floatingcoconet/

Support our work through Patreon

You can make a one-time or even a monthly donation, starting at 5 USD. Your contribution will help us create more episodes of Love Zero Waste, with even richer content. Your support means the world to us!

https://www.patreon.com/lovezerowaste

Let us know what you think!

We’d love to get your feedback on the podcast. Did you learn something new in this episode? Would you recommend others to listen to Love Zero Waste? What topics do you want us to tackle in the podcast? Let us know!

Credits

Hosts and creators: Malin Leth and Evelina Lundqvist

Jingle by Michael Steinkellner of Merlinn Sound, http://merlinnsound.com

Initiators of the Love Zero Waste community: Evelina Lundqvist and Alexandra Poetz

Love Zero Waste is a collaboration between Circulous, http://circulous.biz and The Good Tribe, http://thegoodtribe.com.

As COVID-19 and other viruses taunt communities across the globe, entrepreneurs rise to create solutions to protect people but also the planet. A shocking forty per cent of the world’s population does not have access to basic handwashing possibilities, something that adds to the spread of diseases. We’ve spoken to two entrepreneurs who are combining zero waste and frugal innovation, also known as inclusive innovation or grassroots innovation, creating accessible and affordable hygiene solutions.

Guests in this episode of Love Zero Waste are Adams Bamigbose, CEO and creative director of Above Ground Level Artistry and Shawn Seipler, CEO of Clean the World Foundation. Learn how Adams’s and Shawn’s initiatives are creating life-saving impact at the intersection of frugal innovation, zero waste and hygiene.

Sources

Above Ground Level Artistry on Twitter, https://twitter.com/AGL_artistry_ and Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/agl_artistry_.

The washbasin now comes with a sensor! https://twitter.com/AGL_artistry_/status/1264757104461709313?s=20

https://twitter.com/AGL_artistry_/status/1262530306134900737?s=20

“Nigerian artisan drums up business with upcycled washing stations” (Reuters), https://www.reuters.com/video/watch/idOVC7E2HRN

“Global Business”, (China Global Television Network, CGTN), https://twitter.com/AGL_artistry_/status/1263473829046882312?s=20

Clean the World Foundation’s website, https://cleantheworld.org

Clean the World Foundation on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/CleantheWorld

“Approximately three out of five people have basic handwashing facilities” (UNICEF), https://data.unicef.org/topic/water-and-sanitation/hygiene/

“Everything you need to know about washing your hands to protect against coronavirus (COVID-19)” (UNICEF), https://www.unicef.org/coronavirus/everything-you-need-know-about-washing-your-hands-protect-against-coronavirus-covid-19

“Globally, 4 out of 5 people do not wash hands after using the bathroom” (Wateraid), https://www.wateraid.org/us/media/global-handwashing-day-hygiene-in-schools-healthy-children

Definition Frugal Innovation (Wikipedia), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frugal_innovation

Support our work through Patreon

You can make a one-time or even a monthly donation, starting at 5 USD. Your contribution will help us create more episodes of Love Zero Waste, with even richer content. Your support means the world to us!

https://www.patreon.com/lovezerowaste

Credits

Hosts and creators: Malin Leth and Evelina Lundqvist

Jingle by Michael Steinkellner of Merlinn Sound, http://merlinnsound.com

Initiators of the Love Zero Waste community: Evelina Lundqvist and Alexandra Poetz

Love Zero Waste is a collaboration between Circulous, http://circulous.biz and The Good Tribe, http://thegoodtribe.com

What does velcro and the Namib desert beetle have in common? They’re both champions in the field of biomimicry. And what does biomimicry have to do with zero waste? Everything! On the show we’re often talking about designing out waste - but with biomimicry, we’re taking things even further. In nature, waste doesn’t exist, only closed loops, and that’s what designers, engineers and others are trying to mimic and put to good use.

Listen to our guest Rebecca Carlson of the Biomimicry Institute, give a crash course on innovation and design inspired by nature, taxonomy, and how we could rethink CO2. Perhaps the latter it’s no longer our enemy - but a valuable resource!?

Sources

The Biomimicry Institute, https://biomimicry.org/

The Biomimicry Global Design Challenge, https://challenge.biomimicry.org/en/challenge/global-design-challenge-2020

The Biomimicry Toolbox: toolbox.biomimicry.org/

The Taxonomy: https://asknature.org/resource/biomimicry-taxonomy/

AskNature: asknature.org

30 Days of Reconnection: https://biomimicry.org/30days/

The Namib Desert Bettle (Stenocara gracilipes), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenocara_gracilipes

Zero Waste challenge (teaser) on Deedster, https://open.deedster.com/journey/anktNTg3MTE0NDYxMzcwNzc3Ng

Plastic Free July, https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/

Support our work through Patreon

You can make a one-time or even a monthly donation, starting at 5 USD. Your contribution will help us create more episodes of Love Zero Waste, with even richer content. Your support means the world to us!

https://www.patreon.com/lovezerowaste

Credits

Hosts and creators: Malin Leth and Evelina Lundqvist

Jingle by Michael Steinkellner of Merlinn Sound, http://merlinnsound.com

Initiators of the Love Zero Waste community: Evelina Lundqvist and Alexandra Poetz

Love Zero Waste is a collaboration between Circulous, http://circulous.biz and The Good Tribe, http://thegoodtribe.com.

Is incineration, burning waste, a good idea? Answer: No. In this episode of Love Zero Waste we’ll explore how incineration is hindering the closing of the loops and the transition towards a circular economy, and what the more sustainable alternatives are (spoiler alert: designing out waste!). Learn how the now world-famous town in Italy, Capannori chose another path than incineration and developed a locally adapted waste management plan, a solution that has panned out so well, that it has inspired more than 400 European municipalities to do the same. Also hosts Evelina Lundqvist and Malin Leth have a lot to say on the topic of incineration, “Burning waste - is never actually zero waste”.

Guests in this episode are Claire Arkin of Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and Rossano Ercolini, president of Zero Waste Europe and co-initiator of the no-burn success story in Capannori, Italy.

Sources

WIEGO: A technical guide on waste to energy alternatives

https://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/file/IJgosse_waste-incineration_informal_livelihoods_WIEGO_TB11.pdf

GAIA, the story of Capannori, https://www.no-burn.org/the-story-of-capannori-a-zero-waste-champion/

Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, GAIA, https://www.no-burn.org/

Burning issue: are waste-to-energy plants a good idea? (The Guardian) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/28/burning-issue-are-waste-to-energy-plants-a-good-idea

Trends in Solid Waste Management (World Bank) https://datatopics.worldbank.org/what-a-waste/trends_in_solid_waste_management.html

Incineration (Wikipedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incineration

Is burning plastic waste a good idea? (National Geographic) https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/03/should-we-burn-plastic-waste/

Support our work through Patreon

You can make a one-time or even a monthly donation, starting at 5 USD. Your contribution will help us create more episodes of Love Zero Waste, with even richer content. Your support means the world to us! https://www.patreon.com/lovezerowaste

Credits

Hosts and creators: Malin Leth and Evelina Lundqvist

Jingle by Michael Steinkellner of Merlinn Sound, http://merlinnsound.com

Initiators of the Love Zero Waste community: Evelina Lundqvist and Alexandra Poetz

Love Zero Waste is a collaboration between Circulous, http://circulous.biz and The Good Tribe, http://thegoodtribe.com.

From farm to fork, nearly one-third of produce and cooked food is being thrown away. And the culprits are to be found everywhere: among manufacturers and producers, throughout logistics, in stores and restaurants, and among consumers, such as you and I. This fairly recent development amounts to a staggering waste of use of land, water, energy and calories.

Love Zero Waste is dedicating an episode of the podcast to ending food waste from the consumers' perspective. Guests on the show are some of the most interesting initiatives out there, aiming to drastically reduce food waste and help save the planet.

We're meeting with Estefania Coral Andrade, Vågen - Zero Waste Butik, and Helén Williams, associate professor at Karlstad University, focusing her research on food packaging and the reduction of food waste.

Sources

Eat Art Festival, https://www.eatart.se/

Vågen, https://www.vagenbutik.se/

Helén Williams, https://www.kau.se/forskare/helen-williams

Avoiding food becoming waste in households – The role of packaging in consumers’ practices across different food categories, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652620318229

Credits

Idea, production and editing: The Good Tribe, www.thegoodtribe.com and Circulous, www.circulous.biz

Hosts: Evelina Lundqvist and Malin Leth

Jingle: Merlinn Sound, www.merlinnsound.com

Initiators the Love Zero Waste community: Evelina Lundqvist and Alexandra Poetz

Games and gamification is big business. Games, gamification and sustainable development, not so much. Not yet, anyway. But considering the sheer amount of us that play games on our smartphones, and the gaming market in total, this field could face a lot of development in the coming years.

In this episode, we’re exploring how games and gamification can help us take action for a better future. And you’ll find some zero waste in there as well! Our guest in this episode is Monika Martinsson, co-founder of Deedster.

Sources:

Deedster website, https://www.deedster.com/

Zero Waste challenge (teaser) on Deedster, https://open.deedster.com/journey/anktNTg3MTE0NDYxMzcwNzc3Ng

Definition: Gamification of Learning, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification_of_learning#:~:text=The%20gamification%20of%20learning%20is,inspiring%20them%20to%20continue%20learning.

How green gamification can change the world, https://earthmaven.io/planetwatch/humanity-in-the-anthropocene/how-green-gamification-can-change-the-world-TFUODS0CyEyXgGPh7Lg2Bg

https://www.givingforce.com/5-businesses-using-green-gamification-to-save-the-world/

https://www.sustainability-times.com/sustainable-business/playing-for-change-games-can-help-us-save-the-planet/

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vbja4m/minecraft-global-warming-mod-adds-climate-change-carbon-tax

The 12R of zero waste, https://soundcloud.com/lovezerowaste/special-episode-turning-off-the-tap

Credits

Idea, production and editing: The Good Tribe, www.thegoodtribe.com and Circulous, www.circulous.biz

Hosts: Evelina Lundqvist and Malin Leth

Jingle: Merlinn Sound, www.merlinnsound.com

Initiators the Love Zero Waste community: Evelina Lundqvist and Alexandra Poetz

From farm to fork, nearly one-third of produce and cooked food is being thrown away. And the culprits are to be found everywhere: among manufacturers and producers, throughout logistics, in stores and restaurants, and among consumers, such as you and I. This fairly recent development amounts to a staggering waste of use of land, water, energy and calories.

As a part of this year’s digital edition of the EatArt festival, Love Zero Waste is dedicating an episode of the podcast to dive into solutions helping to end waste throughout food production. Guests on the show are some of the most interesting initiatives out there, aiming to drastically reduce food waste and help save the planet.

Listen to Ebbe Korsgaard, of Beyond Coffee, Estefania Coral Andrade of Vågen zero waste shop, and Anders Burman of Östersund municipality share their insights on food production, logistics, circular loops, and much more!

Sources

Farm to Fork strategy, the European Commission,

https://ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/f2f_action-plan_2020_strategy-info_en.pdf

Eat Art Festival, https://www.eatart.se/

Vågen, https://www.vagenbutik.se/

Östersund Municipality, https://www.ostersund.se/

Beyond Coffee, http://www.beyondcoffee.eu/

Beyond the Bean: Turning Coffee Grounds Into Protein Powder, https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/impact-journalism-day-2018/MAGAZINE-beyond-the-bean-turning-coffee-grounds-into-protein-powder-1.6159229

Mycelium, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycelium#:~:text=Mycelium%20is%20the%20vegetative%20part,soil%20and%20many%20other%20substrates.

Food Loss and Food Waste, FAO, http://www.fao.org/food-loss-and-food-waste/en/

Credits

Idea, production and editing: The Good Tribe, www.thegoodtribe.com and Circulous, www.circulous.biz

Hosts: Evelina Lundqvist and Malin Leth

Jingle: Merlinn Sound, www.merlinnsound.com

Initiators the Love Zero Waste community: Evelina Lundqvist and Alexandra Poetz

What is electronic waste? Why does 80% end up in landfills or go unaccounted for? And what can we do to prevent electronics - broken down smartphones, computers and tractors - turning into unsalvageable trash across the planet. Actually there’s a lot we can do!

Yeeyy!! We’re back with a third season of Love Zero Waste! Guests in this episode are e-waste experts Ify Otuya, June E-waste Academy and Chloé Mikolajczak, Right to Repair. Listen to Ify and Chloé share their insights on the e-waste problem, its consequences for civil society and nature, and how business, politics and you and I can be part of creating new solutions.

Sources

June E-waste Academy, https://www.facebook.com/OfficialJEWA

UN report: Time to seize opportunity, tackle challenge of e-waste, https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/un-report-time-seize-opportunity-tackle-challenge-e-waste

Right to Repair, https://repair.eu

The Repair Association, https://repair.org

John Deere Just Swindled Farmers out of Their Right to Repair (WIRED), https://www.wired.com/story/john-deere-farmers-right-to-repair

“A right to repair: why Nebraska farmers are taking on John Deere and Apple” (The Guardian),

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/mar/06/nebraska-farmers-right-to-repair-john-deere-apple

Support our work through Patreon

You can make a one-time or even a monthly donation, starting at 5 USD. Your contribution will help us create more episodes of Love Zero Waste, with even richer content. Your support means the world to us!

https://www.patreon.com/lovezerowaste

Credits

Hosts and creators: Malin Leth and Evelina Lundqvist

Mixing by Umami, http://umamiproduktion.se

Jingle by Michael Steinkellner of Merlinn Sound, http://merlinnsound.com

Initiators of the Love Zero Waste community: Evelina Lundqvist and Alexandra Poetz

Love Zero Waste is a collaboration between Circulous, http://circulous.biz and The Good Tribe, http://thegoodtribe.com.

Nudged by Earth Day Week and the COVID-19 crisis, which is revealing the cracks in our take-make-waste society like nothing we’ve ever seen before, we’re going to dive into how we, you and I, can help build a sustainable future together.

Guest is Amanda Janoo, knowledge and policy lead over at the Wellbeing Economy Alliance. Amanda is an economic policy expert working with governments and organisations around the globe. In this live session, you’ll learn more about what we all can contribute to creating a sustainable future, how to avoid replicating the same system (failure), with the same inequalities and unjust distribution of resources and power and the important role citizens can take in influencing policy.

Hosts: Malin Leth, Circulous and Evelina Lundqvist, The Good Tribe

Jingle: Merlinn Sound

Sources

The Wellbeing Economy Alliance, WEALL, https://wellbeingeconomy.org

The Wellbeing Economy Alliance, WEALL, post-corona framework, https://wellbeingeconomy.org/building-back-better-depends-on-addressing-the-divides-in-our-economy

Earth Day, https://www.earthday.org/

World Economic Forum on Build Back Better, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/how-to-build-back-better-after-covid-19/