Upper left to lower right: Sofia Sydorenko, Justine Maillot, Katja Sres, Chloé Mikolajczak, Linda Vasilescu, Celia Pool, Alec Mills, Joan Marc Simon, Susana Fonseca, Larissa Copello, Bettina Steinbrugger and Alice Bah Kuhnke.

This is a special episode of Love Zero Waste! In cooperation with Zero Waste Europe, the number-one expert organisation on all matters zero waste in Europe, we’ve done a four-week trend scan of the continent. Through interviews with experts, we’ve been scanning Europe for the most critical trends within four significant areas: (1) reuse, (2) zero waste shopping, (3) quitting single-use plastics and (4) the impact of plastics on our health.

This episode is the summary, the ultimate highlight compilation, of all the expert interviews.

Listen to Zero Waste Trends in Europe on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify - or wherever else you listen to podcasts!

You’ll learn more about what’s going on in the circular and zero waste space in Europe: How reuse is challenging the status quo, including the strong stand of recycling, and becoming a hot topic in business, and our daily lives. How packaging-free shops, buying naked products, and only as much as you need is becoming a rediscovered‌ ‌and‌ ‌revamped‌ ‌way‌ ‌of‌ ‌shopping.‌ ‌How quitting single-use plastic items is spreading across the continent, even into the underwear of menstruators. How the Lifecycle of Plastics can help us understand the health consequences of “the five big plastic monsters” and the harmful intentional and unintentional spread of microplastics. And much more!

You’ll meet 12 experts and frontrunners, working in some of the most exciting business, government and civil society organisations across Europe, to tackle specific aspects of zero waste.

Guests:

Alice Bah Kuhnke, a politician in the European Parliament
Alec Mills and Celia Pool, co-founders of DAME
Bettina Steinbrugger, CEO and co-founder of Erdbeerwoche
Chloé Mikolajczak, sustainable development campaigner and host of The Burning Case podcast
Joan Marc Simon, director of Zero Waste Europe
Justine Maillot, consumption and production campaigner at Zero Waste Europe, and policy coordinator at the Rethink Plastic Alliance, Zero Waste Europe
Katja Sres, head of public relations at Ecologists without borders Slovenia
Larissa Copello, consumption and production campaigner of Zero Waste Europe
Linda Vasilescu, co-founder of R-CREATE
Sofia Sydorenko, coordinator of Zero Waste Alliance Ukraine
Susana Fonseca, board member of ZERO Portugal

10 key takeaways from the episode
(in no particular order)

Politicians have many tools in the "political toolbox" which can be used to address issues such as waste and promote circularity and zero waste. Communication across sectors and industries is essential to create joint solutions.
Reuse is becoming the next big thing within zero waste. The concept of reuse is changing companies' business models, also in the start-up scene, challenging the strong image of recycling and saving money for the end-consumer.
Packaging free shops, buying naked products and only as much as you need is becoming a rediscovered‌ ‌and‌ ‌revamped‌ ‌way‌ ‌of‌ ‌shopping.‌ The number of packaging-free shops is increasing throughout Europe, and with this growth comes more jobs and improved accessibility and turnover.
The waste generation rate among European citizens is skyrocketing, and there's no slowing down in sight. The impact of European businesses, governments, and of its people's behaviours and consumer choices can be seen across the planet.
There's a lot of activity to inspire menstruators to use less wasteful alternatives, like reusable pads, and menstruation cups and underwear. The whole conversation regarding periods is changing. It includes raised awareness of an unregulated market, solid waste and toxins, period poverty, breaking the menstruation taboo, and the necessary shift in language from sanitary and hygiene to health and knowledge.
The Lifecycle of Plastics is a way to discern the full impact scope and scale of the production and usage of plastic products. Plastic has a strong stand in our society, but we must remember that its negative impact starts with crude oil extraction and continues throughout processing, manufacturing, usage, dumping etc.
We've only recently started to learn how devastating the problem of microplastics is. It's difficult to discern the implications microplastics may have on our and future generations' health.
The intentional spread of microplastics, through, e.g. shower gels, must be stopped immediately. The unintentional spread of microplastics needs to be approached on a structural level as well. E.g. car tyres "shedding" microplastics calls for industry-wide innovation, but also scrutiny regarding our ways of transportation.
Even if we're positively surprised by emissions cuts and new climate goals, we still have a long way to go. It's important to never settle for a policy which isn't good enough if we want to create lasting change.
Policy is important! Understanding The European Green Deal and The Circular Economy Action Plan is essential to understand the potential future development of zero waste and circularity in Europe.

Call to action!

We have three calls to action in this episode:

Learning by self-reflection

Throughout to the episode, we urge you to reflect on the following questions:

What am I learning?
How can I contribute to the transition towards a zero waste society?

Take notes on a piece of paper or on your phone. Send us a DM on Instagram and share your thoughts. We’d love to connect. We’re here for you!

Sign the petition: The Bloody Manifesto!

We’re supporting Zero Waste Europe collect signatures for The Bloody Manifesto! The petition is a call on the European Commission to act by setting the necessary policy framework to support and empower menstruators to access safe, fair and circular menstrual products, all in line with the EU’s circular economy objective.

Policymakers, individuals and organisations, sign The Bloody Manifesto by November 26.

Watch the full-length interviews on Youtube

Do you want to learn even more about the zero waste trends in Europe? Check out the full-length videos on our Youtube channel.

Sources

More masks than jellyfish': coronavirus waste ends up in ocean, The Guardian

Coronavirus: Disposable masks 'causing enormous plastic waste', BBC

WHO calls for more research into microplastics and a crackdown on plastic pollution, WHO

We Know Plastic Is Harming Marine Life. What About Us?, National Geographic

A European Green Deal, EU

Circular Economy Action Plan, EU

Environmenstrual Week, WEN

Hello, Plastic-Free Periods: The World's First Reusable Tampon Applicator, Forbes

Is it bad as it sounds? Unraveling lobbying, The Burning Case podcast

The Green Wave, How to save a planet podcast

Swedish stakeholders request global ISO standards for menstrual products, The Swedish Institute for Standards (SIS)

Tyres and microplastics: time to reinvent the wheel?, Friends of the Earth

Sources Zero Waste Europe

Reusable & toxic-free menstrual products

Products, Good Design & Plastics

Dare to imagine a better future…starting with plastic!

Towards safe food contact materials in a toxic-free circular economy

Reusable Packaging and COVID-19

Packaging Free Shops in Europe – An initial report

How to make Packaging Free Shops go mainstream?

Love Zero Waste hosts Evelina Lundqvist and Malin Leth (from left to right).

About Love Zero Waste

Two thirds of all raw materials put into the global economy every year end up as waste. (Yep, let that sink in for a bit. Unacceptable!)

On the podcast Love Zero Waste, we facilitate the conversation with leading activists, entrepreneurs, designers, policymakers and scientists, working on solutions across the planet, to create large-scale change for a truly circular, zero waste future.

Our hopes with Love Zero Waste is to inspire and educate our listeners (yes, you!) how to lead the efforts to close the loop.

Companies, government, civil society, education - we’re all in this together. Welcome to the zero waste revolution!

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