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  • 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--

MALE SPEAKER: Thanks everybody for coming to this Google

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