Zero Waste Family Makes No Household Garbage for 3 Years!

Katelin started living a zero waste lifestyle with her family and also started the PAREdown Home blog with a friend to document their efforts to create less household garbage.

After 3 years living this super low waste lifestyle, Katelin shared some of the changes she's made in her every day life to reduce her consumption of single use and disposable products.

She shops at a produce market that sells unpackages fruit and vegetables, she buys things like pasta and nuts, spices and oils at stores like the Karma Co-op in Toronto, and she makes things like toothpaste herself.

We hope you enjoy this video about the challenges and rewards of living a lifestyle that is in line with your values. Katelin has definitely inspired us to continue striving towards buying less plastic packaging, although we do find it challenging being on the road all the time.

Here's how to stay in touch with Katelin and PAREdown Home:

The bulk store where Katelin is shopping during the video is the Karma Co-op in Toronto:

Thanks for watching!

Mat & Danielle

PS thank you to all of our Patrons who support us so generously and a very special thank you to our backbone supporters: The Burgess Family.

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VIDEO CREDITS
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Music & Song Credits:
All music in this video was composed, performed, and recorded by Mat of Exploring Alternatives.

Editing Credits:
Mat and Danielle of Exploring Alternatives

Filming Credits:
Mat of Exploring Alternatives

[abigailnottingham]

"You have to start somewhere" - I love her attitude! It's such a liberating way of approaching it :)

[BronzeBellaBria]

a family of 4 went waste free and folks are still criticizing them?! that's wild. what a cool mom.

she's got 2 young kids. they likely need a car unless we spontaneously decide to ditch freeways and horse and buggy comes back in style.

[_innerpeacekeeper]

Don't pay attention to the criticism, what you're doing is great. You do what works for you!

[creationslandscapedesigns]

I can say from being zero waste for over 2 years and vegan for over 4 years that I've definitely been able to save a lot. the financial savings alone is a benefit to doing it.

[Mrwd]

The source of the problem are companies making all of the unnecessary packaging to appeal to the materialistic society we live in.

[rawlawgirl]

I totally appreciate the simplistic, yet joyous attitude this woman has about reduced waste. Some videos, and you know who I am talking about, look so elitist as if only the wealthy who drive hybrids and live in white walled beautiful homes can do zero waste. I have been Vegan 40 years and doing the bulk of my shopping at farmers markets for 32 years and yep, taking my own bags a lot of the time nearly that many years. It is not glamorous, but it does bring me great joy AND good health since thwre is so much garbage I do not buy/eat. It is my hope that everyone realizes that you start where you are and there is no one size fits all. Maybe your waste fits in a bucket rather than a mason jar initially. No sweat. Being conscious of our waste is a step in the right direction!

[DawnBreaker]

I love this! We have also been reducing our waste for the last 2 years. I honestly wish I could go back in time and raise my 3 kids without all the plastic waste we produced before knowing any better. As it is, my 3 are teenaged and I find that although they understand WHY we as a society need to reduce waste, (and they do a really good job for the most part) they get nostalgic for the prepackaged "food" we used to buy. If I had raised them zero waste from the beginning, they wouldn't miss things that really weren't all that healthy to begin with.

[windyventure]

That is so inspiring! I live in my car which I cleaned out yesterday and I was a palled at the amount of plastic I had, I was really ashamed! I realize I need to be way more aware of that sort of thing. I also love that she basically forced her husband into it LOL

[TaylorRaine]

This is so beautiful❤️❤️❤️we could all do better if we were just more conscious of the waste we make!

[passionfruit]

thanks for this beautiful and inspiring video! I really appreciate the way how she explains the idea of zero-waste and the great progress they have made from the beginning on, very impressive!

[theunscriptedsuccessstory]

This is very inspirational. I have been thinking about all the waste my family produces for some time now but outside of composting, I don't really know where to start. What I've been doing in the meantime is bringing in fewer things into my home, so that ultimately there is less trash. We also shop at the farmer's market so there's less packaging. That has helped a lot.

[Miscommunications]

Your doing a great job raising those kids, Keep up the good work
Love the video! Very inspiring

[suukikang]

Definitely will consider this now or in the future as I get older

[MichelleAiden]

Wonderful video and fantastic story! Yes, you must "start somewhere;" do so unapologetically and keep taking action from there!

[monetkumazawa]

This is an amazing video. I currently live at home in between my spring and fall quarter from university, but I've become a lot more conscious about the amount of waste I produce both on-and-off campus. This video is inspiring and provides realistic advice, thank you for creating content like this! I strive to live minimally and with zero waste, and it makes me realize that these small changes allow for a drastic change!

[frodocatlover]

Wonderful people. We need more people like this in the world!

[rachelpulley]

I started my journey of Living Zero Waste this year and I truly have fallen in love with it. My husband and I have a lot to learn and there is always room for improvement but I don't think I could every go back. Love this video! Thank you both!

[stutzbearcat]

HECK YEAH. what an awesome family. Shes totally inspired me even more to continue on this zero waste journey.

[cindyr]

Such an inspiration! I find challenges minimizing waste on my own, with children cannot even imagine. 👏

[clicgear]

Indians use to do this their whole lives, no big deal. P.S. Keep up the good work.