A zero-waste lifestyle is easier than you think

Our house does not have any trash. Yes, there is almost none of it. Every time I go out to buy something, I would take my own bags. Only in very dire circumstances do I buy packaged stuff at the supermarket. Even for things like pepper, peanut and rice, I carry my own containers so that I can put them away on the shelf soon as I get home.

It is actually really convenient. You bring your meat back, get it out and marinate it in the same containers you put them in. Why waste a few more plastic bags just to throw away? And who would want to leave those wet, smelly plastic bags in the trash for an entire summer day? I would not.

When it comes to leftovers and food wastes, I do not throw them away. I turn them into fertilizers for my vegetable garden. Every scrap there is, from leaves to eggshells, I put in a container, sprinkle in some fungi and let them do their work. It could get a bit smelly, but I do not really mind since it is in open space.

After a few months, when the decomposition is completed, I shovel the manure out and mix it with soil along with small amounts of animal dung. It is my own secret recipe for a vegetable garden that not only feeds my entire family, but some of my neighbors' as well. Homegrown veggies really do taste better than store-bought ones.

It saddens me to see so much trash, so many plastic bags and styrofoam out there on the streets and in the oceans. If only everyone can be environmentally conscious.

I recently learned that the government has issued a resolution to fine actions that affect the environment, and I fully support it. I hope it changes our people’s behaviors and mindsets. Categorizing waste and recycling it is not that much of a problem as long as you are willing to do it.