According to the Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA), Zero Waste is the conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse and, recovery of all products, packaging, and materials, without burning them and without discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.
One of the primary goals of organizing the Zero Waste International Alliance in 2002 was to establish standards to guide the development of Zero Waste in the world.
“Zero Waste is a goal that is ethical, economical, efficient and visionary, to guide people in changing their lifestyles and practices to emulate sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are designed to become resources for others to use.
Zero Waste means designing and managing products and processes to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them. Fortunately, the zero waste movement came to be around the 1980s. I also know that many of my readers are concerned about the topic and are willing to start a movement for zero waste and a sustainable lifestyle.
In this article, I have compiled 45 zero-waste quotes for my readers. Although we have already achieved a lot of success, but still have yet to overcome the war for Mother Earth. I hope these quotes encourage you to join the zero-waste movement.
Zero Waste Quotes
- “The most environmentally friendly product is the one you didn’t buy.” - Joshua Becker
- “The Earth is a fine place and worth fighting for.” - Ernest Hemingway
- “Waste is a design flaw.” - Kate Kreba
- “Unless someone like you cares a lot, nothing will get better. It’s not.” - Dr Seuss
- “Cherish the natural world, because you’re a part of it and you depend on it.” - David Attenborough
- “Modern society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its lifestyle.” - John Paul II
- “Throwing away food is like stealing from the table of those who are poor and hungry.” - Pope Francis
- “You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” - Jane Goodall
- “Food waste isn’t considered a problem because, for the most part, it isn’t considered at all. It’s easy to ignore because it’s both common and customary. I have yet to meet someone who is pro-food waste, but many aren’t convinced that it’s important.” - Jonathan Bloom
- “I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use.” - Mother Teresa
- “Single-use plastic is a ticking time bomb for the environment. Avoid it wherever and whenever possible.” - Jennifer Nini
- “Cutting food waste is a delicious way of saving money, helping to feed the world and protect the planet.” - Tristram Stuart
- “Every individual Matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.” - Jane Goodall
- “The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.” - Gaylord Nelson
- “If a man doesn’t learn to treat the oceans and the rain forest with respect, man will become extinct.” - Peer Benchley
- “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.” - Edward Everett Hale
- “We don’t have to do enough in grand, heroic actions to participate in change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.” - Howard Zinn
- “We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it.” - Barack Obama
- “If we want to move towards a low-polluting, sustainable society, we need to get consumers to think about their purchases.” - David Suzuki
- “Plastic will be the main ingredient of all our grandchildren’s recipes.” - Anthony T. Hincks
- “Plastic is a more destructive weapon than a nuclear bomb or an atomic bomb, its impact shall remain for centuries on the future generation.” - Sir P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar
- “We have forgotten how to be good guests, how to walk lightly on the earth as its other creatures do.” - Barbara Ward
- “It cannot be right to manufacture billions of objects that are used for a matter of minutes, and then are with us for centuries.” - Roz Savage
- “Only we humans make waste that nature can’t digest.” - Charles Moore
- “The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” - Robert Swan
- “Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries.” - Jimmy Carter
- “There is no such thing as ‘away’. When we throw anything away, it must go somewhere.” - Annie Leonard
- “We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.” - Anne Marie Bonneau
- “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead
- “It is one world. And it’s in our care. For the first time in the history of humanity, for the first time in 500 million years, one species has the future in the palm of its hands.” - David Attenborough
- “We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.” - Anne Marie Bonneau
- “If we unbalance nature, humankind will suffer. Furthermore, as people alive today, we must consider future generations: a clean environment is a human right like any other.” - Dalai Lama
- “One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between man and nature shall not be broken.” - Leo Tolstoy
- “The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” - Robert Swan
- “The Earth is a fine place and worth fighting for.” - Margaret Mead
- “Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinity beauty.” - John Ruskin
- “The truth is: the natural world is changing. And we are dependent on that world. It provides our food, water and air. It is the most precious thing we have and we need to defend it.” - David Attenborough
- “The environment is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share.” - Lady Bird Johnson
- “Only we humans make waste that nature can’t digest.” - Charles Moore
- “My stockbroker asked me something important today: paper or plastic?” - Jay Leno
- “The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.” - Paulo Coelho
- “We buy a bottle of water in the city, where clean comes out in its taps. You know, back in 1965, if someone said to the average person, ‘You know in thirty years you are going to buy water in plastic bottles and pay more for that water than for gasoline?’ Everybody would look at you like you’re completely out of your mind.” - Paul Watson
- “You wouldn’t think you could kill an ocean, would you? But we’ll do it one day. That’s how negligent we are.” - Ian Rankin
- “Feel what it’s like to truly starve, and I guarantee that you’ll forever think twice before wasting food.” - Criss Jami
- “To me, it’s sort of funny that wasting food is not taboo. It’s one of the environmental ills that you can just get away with.” - Jonathan Bloom
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