Zero waste hero

Kristy Lorson, her husband, and young daughter fill one wheelie bin with rubbish every two years. They love their (virtually) zero waste lifestyle.

Kristy Lorson finds fruit stickers annoying. “Why do we need them? Ugh!” she says from the Auckland home she shares with husband Davian and daughter Savana (6). “They’re one of the main aspects of waste we still cannot avoid.” Other than fruit stickers, paracetamol blister packs, and the occasional plastic receipt, the family has managed to live an almost zero waste lifestyle for five years. “We used to fill a rubbish bag maybe once a fortnight. Now we throw away very little. We’re still not perfect, of course.” About 10 years ago, she started using reusable shopping bags. But her light-bulb-moment was a year later while watching Manufactured Landscapes, a documentary explaining changes to the natural world caused by large-scale human activities. “I was shocked. I suddenly understood that I was connected to the problem because of my consumption. I thought, ‘I never want to buy anything again – I don’t want to be part of this.’” When the couple had Savana, rather than accumulating a whole lot of baby stuff, Kristy further embraced sustainable living. She started with incremental changes. “We did cloth nappies, but I was still using disposable wipes, I’m not sure why. Then I read Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson and saw how I fitted into the picture. I could see that even though environmental problems feel overwhelming, as an individual, I could do a lot in my life to make an impact. That’s when I got serious about zero waste.”