Last Thursday, November 14, Malin Leth of Circulous and I did a live broadcast at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Disruptive Innovation Festival.

In the live, Malin and I spoke of the importance of creating large-scale zero waste system change. We used the allegory of turning off the tap, rather than mopping the floor if the bathtub is overflowing with water. There’s a direct connection with the global waste situation.

Humanity continuously generates more and more waste. But instead of turning off the tap, we tend to focus on minimisation and trying to fix the symptoms. What we really should be focusing on is turning off the tap, up and down the value chain.

The 12 R of zero waste, which we spoke about in the live, is a processed-based method, which allows individuals, as well as organisations, to approach zero waste.

To give a concrete example of how to use the 12 R, we inserted the R refuse into the focus question, “How might refuse* end system overload — today and tomorrow?”. The broadcast host, Laura Franco Henao of the Ellen McArthur Foundation challenged us to use the fashion industry as a lens when exploring the focus question.

Go ahead and listen to our discussion! Watch the live here.

Thank you!

Thanks to The Story of Stuff and Maggie Lee (episode 6 of Love Zero Waste) for educating us about the tap! Yesterday, after the live, we also learnt that it's a Dutch proverb. Brilliant! Also thanks to Umami Produktion for lending us a microphone.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on the 12 R of zero waste and how to turn off the tap!

Evelina Lundqvist

*Remember, Respect, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Return, Refill, Rot, Restore, Repurpose, Repair, Recycle...

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