‘The only thing I buy new is underwear’
Claire Sumners, 43, lives in Seaford, East Sussex, with her husband, Chris, 42, and their children, Jack, six, and Matilda, four.
Sitting on the beach with my newborn daughter in my arms and my son Jack, then two, playing at my feet, all I could see were plastic bottle tops and old fishing lines strewn across the sand.
It was summer 2016 and we had moved to Cornwall three weeks after Matilda’s birth. But the litter had shocked me, and reading up about plastic waste later that day, I was horrified to learn it would outlive us.
Wondering what I could do to make a difference, I thought about my late mum, Jacqueline, and realised she was zero-waste before the phrase was coined. I grew up in Paris and my mum, who I called Maman, cooked everything from scratch, never bought anything unnecessary, and avoided chemicals if a natural option would do. I decided to start a website, calling myself Zero Waste Maman as a nod to my maman’s legacy, to provide tips and ideas about how to live more sustainably. I also began volunteering with Surfers Against Sewage and running beach clean-up events.
After we moved to
Sussex, I founded Plastic Free Seaford, supporting small businesses and the community in ditching single-use plastic and giving talks in clubs and schools about sustainability.
We have a weekly vegbox delivery and I buy the rest of our food at a zerowaste shop. It doesn’t cost more because we buy so much less. Our clothes, toys, furniture and crockery are all second-hand – the only thing I buy new is underwear!
Jack and Matilda are little eco-warriors now too. When they see an adult with a throwaway coffee cup, they say, ‘Maman, they need to know about plastic-free!’ I’m so proud they feel as passionately as I do. I am spurred on every day by them and for them. ✣ zerowastemaman.co.uk