My "Step by Step to a Zero Waste Life"-speech

Im Englischunterricht hatten wir die Aufgabe eine Rede über ein Wunschthema zu schreiben.
Deshalb ist dieser Text in der Form einer Rede, also zum Hören, geschrieben.
Viel Spaß beim Lesen! :)

“Step by Step to a Zero Waste Life”-speech

Hello everyone. I am glad to see you.

Today we are thinking about our bad habits in relation to waste and how we can reduce our trash.

The average American produces approximately 4.4 pound of trash every day.

The lifestyle which doesn’t produce any trash is the zero waste lifestyle. People who live a zero waste life send nothing to the landfill and drop no trash on the ground. They try to live without any trash. Why do they do that?

They noticed we have to reduce the overwhelming amount of trash. They want to protect the earth from being destroyed by our trash. They want to protect themselves.

You have to understand what your trash is. Without knowing it you cannot reduce your waste. I will list it for you: food packaging, product packaging and organic food waste.

If you minimize them, you can reduce your trash by perhaps 90%. As if you let the air out of a ballon.

The organic food waste is the easiest one of the three types of waste. The composter composts it.

You get in contact with much plastic every day.

Every year one trillion plastic bags are produced. In grocery shops almost everyone is using one plastic bag per sort of fruit. They say, it’s because of hygiene and other excuses. I am sure you noticed the overwhelming use of plastic on your own.

Plastic bags take over 20 years to degrade. Under 4% become recycled.

If all people bring their own reuseable canvas bags a huge problem will be getting better.

There are food packaging made of plastic, paper and glas. I beg you to buy fruits, vegetables and nuts without any packaging. If generally only a little glue label sticks on it, as we know it mostly from bananas. The best way is if you buy fruits and vegetables from the farmers' market.

The average American family produces 3,240 pieces of trash annually just at lunch.

Bring your own jars and bags to the grocery stores. Don’t buy too many products with packaging.

At school or work you can take reusable, plastic-free food storage containers. It helps to save money by reusing these products instead of purchase it, consume it and throw it away.
In relation to the product packaging you can also make products on your own, like mascara, powder, tooth paste, shampoo and lotion. The advantage is that you know which ingredients are in your products, because you have made them by yourself, and it's natural. For example, tooth paste made with baking soda. It’s kind of weird, I know, but it turns out that baking soda can make the teeth clean. And nuts are the ingredients for the working mascara.

So, instead of running to the shops, learn how to make it by yourself.

There are many zero waste alternatives. For example, instead of the plastic toothbrush take a compostable and sustainable toothbrush made of bamboo. Instead of cotton balls take reusable cotton rounds. Instead of shower gel in packaging take unwrapped soap. Instead of bleached toilet paper take recycled natural unbleached toilet paper. Instead of plastic cutting boards take wooden cutting boards. Instead of plasic utensils take stainless steel silverware. Instead of plastic cooking utensils take bamboo utensils. Instead of plastic tupperware take jars. Instead of plastic water bottles take reusable water bottles, et cetera.

One more step is to choose a paper-less billing for your accounts. If every American household used eBills and online bill pay, it could reduce solid waste in U.S. landfills by more than 800,000 tons a year. This could also save an estimated 18.5 milion trees a year.

There are also unnecessary things like junk mail. More than 100 million trees are destroyed to produced junk mail each year. Do you need this? The creation and shipping of junk mail produces more greenhouse gas emission than 9 million cars. Do you need it for sure? The average adult receives 41 pounds of junk mail every year and around 44% goes unopened to the landfill. Are you drowning in junk mail? Do you really need this?

You have to stop receiving junk mail. It is an easy way to reduce waste. For example, stick a poster with the lettering “No advertisment” on your mailbox.

If you want you can call several businesses and tell them to take you off their mailing list. Please, be as friendly as you are to your teachers.

We unknowingly produce trash with our unneeded clothing.

The average American throws away 70 pound of clothing and other textiles annually.

Instead of going to a clothes store and buying new clothing, we need a waste cycle by second hand. You will buy it without making new trash. It's cheaper than buying new clothing.

It is important to downsize. Buy only the really necessary things. If you do that, you don’t say “I won’t like the color” and throw it away and buy the stuff with another color. You will take care of the things you have.

Finally, the steps are called refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and rot.

The benefit of this lifestyle is first of all, that you can save money by not buying packaging, by buying second hand and by downsizing.

The second benefit is that you will eat better, because you eat more fresh food and nothing unhealthy like french fries. You are going to go to butchers and to bakeries. If you eat better, you will feel better.

The third benefit is that you can clean up your room better. If you don’t buy too much unnecessary things, no stuff will be in your way.

And the fourth benefit is that you will win a high regard toward your own stuff. Your belongings increase in value. They are not changeable.

Why is the zero waste lifestyle worthwhile besides the benefits?

We, as consumers, believe in the mercy of the companies. But the companies usually are not interested in us. They usually don’t care about us. Even “natural” products contain ingredients that are really harmful.

But we have the right for products which save our homes, our bodies and the environment.

I was shocked as I learned that food stored in plastic packaging absorbs the toxins from the plastic and compromises the quality of the food.

As you know, every piece of plastic ever produced still exists on this planet. Also we are responsible for the garbage that we leave behind on earth for the current and the next generation.

It matters, both for the planet and for yourself.

It is important to know, that the earth could survive without human beings, but human beings could not survive without the earth.