‘We threw out just one dustbin of rubbish in a whole year!’

Mum Rachelle Strauss, 44, from the Forest of Dean, makes her war on waste fit with family life.

‘My husband Richard and I were on holiday in Cornwall with our toddler, Verona, when two rivers burst their banks, leaving 100 people having to be airlifted to safety. As cars, furniture and possessions sailed past in the water, I thought: “Everything I’ve read about climate change is happening here, in front of my eyes.”

That day something clicked. I realised if I wanted to protect the planet for my daughter’s future, I needed to act. Overnight, I went from being someone who didn’t even recycle, to being a passionate environmental campaigner. I started a local Freecycle campaign, providing a way for people to pass on their unwanted things to each other, instead of sending them to landfill.

I set up a blog (myzerowaste.com) about what our family was doing to cut waste. Within six months, it was getting 80,000 visitors a month. It spurred me on and when Richard half-joked we could produce only one dustbin of waste during a whole year – that’s 100g a week, the equivalent of four packets of crisps – we decided to see if it was really possible.

It was an incredible, but difficult, year. I had to plan everything, shopping in local butchers and bakers so I could avoid using packaging, and recycling or composting everything, even the hair from my hairbrush. I already cooked a lot from scratch, but we had to think about everything. I realised how much we buy things on autopilot – everything from a sandwich when we’re out and about to a convenience meal after a busy day.

FINDING A BALANCE

We didn’t want to deprive Verona of a normal life, so we worked hard to find swaps we were happy to make. There were things we weren’t prepared to sacrifice – gifts from other people, razors for me, and chocolate bars for Richard. It was the packaging from those that ended up in our bin.

Determined to inspire others,

I ran the very first Zero Waste Week, encouraging other families to join us in our mission. Keeping up that way of life indefinitely wasn’t sustainable for our family, but 10 years on, the blog at zerowasteweek.com gets 11,000 visitors a week and, with the huge rise in social media, #Zerowasteweek reached 20 million people on Twitter during last September’s campaign.

I run the whole thing on top of my day job as a website designer.

I receive lovely emails from people telling me I’ve changed their lives for the better. I’m especially thrilled to see that many young people are living a more sustainable lifestyle. I hope it proves not to be a trend, but a normal way of living – just as it was generations ago, when nothing went to waste.

Verona is 15 now, and has picked up some great lifelong habits, such as shopping in secondhand and vintage shops rather than filling her wardrobe with new clothes.

We’ve changed our lifestyle, but we haven’t changed who we are. We still like treating ourselves, but we try to think a bit more about it, so we can do what we love without it having a huge impact on the planet.’