Taking out trash.

Zerowaste expert wants to eliminate garbage.

Kathryn Kellogg may be one of the most subversive people in the Bay Area. Not in the sense of being a troublemaker — far from it — but she’s out to overturn entire systems and ways of thinking. Instead of focusing on recycling to save the planet, she wants people to rethink how they make, use and dispose of everything and shift to an economy that writes trash out of existence.

And she’s planning to do it in the nicest possible way. As a zerowaste expert who “aims to send nothing to the landfill,” Kellogg is not out to scold anyone for owning a car. She’s a genuine happy warrior for Earth, approaching waste reduction with creativity. Through her Going Zero Waste website, Instagram account (@going.zero.waste) and book “101 Ways to Go Zero Waste,” she hopes to convert people to a wastefree, or at least lowerwaste, lifestyle.

Kellogg, 28, along with Bea Johnson, author of “Zero Waste Home,” and zerowaste chef AnneMarie Bonneau, are just a few of the zerowaste advocates keeping the Bay Area at the forefront of the zerowaste movement in the United States.

The idea isn’t new. The Ecology Center, one of the earliest actionbased environmental organizations in the country, opened in Berkeley in 1969. In 1976, Berkeley’s solid waste management plan prioritized salvaging for reuse and Urban Ore, founded in Berkeley by scavengers, soon began to promote the idea of “total recycling.”

On average, each American generates 4.4 pounds of waste per day, of which 1.5 pounds are recycled or composted, according to a 2013 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report. Today, rising alarm about climate change and a growing awareness of how personal consumption is fueling the crisis have increased people’s interest in reducing or eliminating waste. At the same time, the enormity of the climate crisis can feel overwhelming, so Kellogg takes a “start where you are approach.”

For folks in the Bay Area, some of Kellogg’s tips — carry a reusable bag, don’t use a straw — are already old hat. At the same time, people aren’t ready for the prospect of producing so little trash that it fits into a mason jar, as Kel

“Living a more ecofriendly life is not a crash diet. It is not a sprint. It is a lifelong lifestyle change.”

Kathryn Kellogg, zerowaste advocate

logg once did. Her approach is now more like a series of steps; taken one at a time, they will change individual practices and make a bigger impact without inundating people with strict rules.

A native of Arkansas, Kellogg was 20 when she found several lumps in her breast. While the lumps were ultimately benign, she was determined to reduce her exposure to cancercausing toxins, particularly in her food, clothing and beauty supplies. So she made every effort to eliminate plastic and other artificial products from her life.

When she moved to California in 2014, Kellogg committed to reducing and even eliminating the amount of trash she and her husband generated. They lived in a tiny home and managed to produce so little trash that two years’ worth of their waste fit into a mason jar.

Kellogg now lives in a twobedroom home in Berkeley, with her husband and dog. Her practices are deceptively simple: buy local, cook, garden and compost food waste; mend clothes or repurpose them; travel by bicycle or public transit whenever possible. Kellogg also rigorously researches solutions for common wasteful practices. Her blog and book include recipes, easy substitutes for common disposable items, and ideas on how to shop and travel in a less wasteful way.

She encourages people who