THE BLUE DAISI BOOK CLUB #1: A ZERO WASTE LIFE IN THIRTY DAYS
By Kira Telgen, Blue Daisi’s Project Assistant
At the start of 2025, Blue Daisi’s Project Assistant Kira Telgen started a book club! With her first book pick, A Zero Waste Life in Thirty Days by Anita Vandyke, Kira reminds us that incorporating zero waste habits into our daily life in whatever ways we can is not only a pathway to living a more sustainable life but also one for connecting with others in our community at a time where it’s more important than ever. Even for those of us who have been part of the zero waste movement for years, there’s wisdom to be found in revisiting the basics and continuing to discover ways to pull at threads with our everyday actions. This blog post was previously published in the Blue Daisi newsletter.
INTRODUCING THE BOOK CLUB
While team planning for this year, Moji, Liliana, and I talked at length about how personal growth and development can help Blue Daisi, our communities, and our sustainability efforts flourish. Over the years, reading has brought me a tremendous amount of joy and growth, allowing me to challenge ideologies, learn about worlds quite different from mine, and connect with others. When we started brainstorming about how we could grow as a team, I knew we had to start a Blue Daisi Book Club!
For our first read, I invite you to pick up a copy of A Zero Waste Life in Thirty Days by Anita Vandyke. For Seattle Public Library holders, you can check out an e-book version. Here’s a link for those who would like to purchase a hard copy. And if you know or live close to another Blue Daisi community member, I highly encourage you to share your copy (it's a great opportunity to lower waste and connect with like-minded community members!).
You’re welcome to read the book in one sitting or take it day by day, as it’s formatted. In each section, Vandyke discusses a new zero waste principle and provides readers with tangible steps toward living more sustainably. You’ll conduct a bin audit, learn how to make a zero-waste kit, discover how to shop with sustainability in mind, and more.
HERE ARE SOME QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER BEFORE READING
Why do you want to live a zero-waste life? (This is Vandyke’s opening question!)
What are you already doing in your day-to-day life to reach your sustainability goals? Are there certain areas you hope to spend more energy on in the coming year?
What are some small ways you reduce waste? Any fun tips or tricks? I’d love to compile a list of ways our subscribers are working towards a more sustainable future.
THINK AND DO
Vandyke begins by asking us to reflect on why we might want to lead a zero-waste life. There are many reasons to live sustainably: protecting our environment, of course, but also saving money or a desire to live simply. If you have a few minutes, write down your zero-waste purpose. As we’ll see throughout our reading of this book, our “why” informs our “how.”
The first step towards change involves taking stock of our current habits and lifestyles. Vandyke has us do this through a bin audit, a step that Blue Daisi takes with many of our clients. This activity forces us to take a long, hard look in the mirror: how much waste are we creating? Is it necessary? It also gives us a clear path towards a more sustainable future. By identifying which areas of our daily activities are creating the most waste, we can adjust accordingly. If you find 4 applesauce packages in the bin, maybe the next time you go to the store, you buy a large jar and meal prep smaller portions in reusable containers.
Another action item is developing a zero-waste kit. Vandyke includes a reusable straw, bag, coffee cup, and drinking bottle in hers, but you can tailor this to your needs. For example, when conducting my audit, I realized my highest occurring sources of waste were paper and plastic bags. I also know that I tend to be forgetful, so while a large kit might be ideal for some, I needed to streamline my kit: my solution was to add a reusable bag to my keychain. Now, no matter what, no matter how busy I am or what scenario arises, I always have a reusable bag on hand. You can add produce bags to your kit, utensils, a plate—the important part is that you have reusable alternatives for the items you use the most within arm’s reach.
WHICH BRINGS ME TO MY GREATEST TAKEAWAY FROM THE FIRST HALF OF THIS BOOK: A ZERO WASTE LIFE DOESN’T MEAN A SMALLER LIFE. LEADING A ZERO WASTE LIFE MEANS LEADING AN INTENTIONAL ONE.
We can also reduce waste by shopping strategically: purchasing locally grown food, buying in-season produce, shopping at bulk stores for dry goods, and purchasing secondhand clothes and home goods. Facebook Buy Nothing groups and Craigslist Free are my favorite ways to practice this, with the added perk being that you come across unique pieces with lots of character. A couple of years ago, I came across this stunning walnut record-player console on Craigslist Free, the sort of furniture piece that would be completely out of my budget if purchased new.
The reusable bag on my keychain reduces waste, but it’s also covered in a vibrant strawberry print that expresses my personality.
Here are some more questions to mull over:
Which waste-reduction tools that Vandyke proposed do you already do, and which would you like to incorporate?
If a waste reduction tool Vandyke offers doesn’t seem to work for you, how can you adjust it to fit into your life?
Some of Vandyke’s proposed tools were an instant hit for me, the project pan, for example. I call mine a project basket, but the same idea applies: all my partially used skin and beauty products are in one place, on clear display, not tucked away in cabinets where I can forget about them. Other ideas, such as making my own shampoo and soap, likely won’t be added to my routine; instead, I hope to buy local, organic beauty and cleaning products with minimal packaging.
Reflect and Review
In the second half of the book, VanDyke starts us off with an assignment to take a break from reading, from thinking, from analyzing, and to simply get outside and remind ourselves why leading a zero-waste lifestyle is so important. And she didn’t have to tell me twice! Hiking, backpacking, and climbing are my biggest hobbies, and I always find I feel most connected to my planet, my loved ones, and my work when I’m basking in the sun like a lizard or sleeping on a lumpy, bumpy forest floor. Something VanDyke reminded me of, though, is that we don’t have to drive an hour outside of the city to get outdoors. Walking to work, eating lunch outside, and adding plants to your living space are all small ways we can reconnect with nature during a busy workweek or life in a cramped apartment.
In April, I hiked a section of the Oregon Coast Trail with my friends Becca and Will!
A lot of VanDyke’s recommendations in this section are related to spending and lifestyle habits. She discusses the benefits of buying and consuming real, whole foods; the importance of eating less meat; and embracing minimalism. These lifestyle changes have widespread impacts on our environmental footprint and day-to-day life, and they felt familiar to me when she mentioned them.
A new concept for me, though, was this idea of mental decluttering. Tasks like clearing out items you don’t need on your bookshelf are a bit more intuitive and routine: it’s easy to see the objects and items you don’t need but that are taking up space in your home. But what about the mental and emotional baggage you're lugging around in your mind? What sort of thoughts, anxieties, and expectations are taking up space on your “internal” bookshelf? She recommends a social media clear-out, removing advertisements from your browser, and prioritizing meditation and sleep.
Now, VanDyke published this book in 2018, and she’s Australian. But when I read this section as an American in 2025, this idea of mental decluttering hit home: with all of the political and social turmoil within our country and the world, and with how pervasive media is, it’s easy to get caught in doomscrolling cycles. And often, I wonder if reading the news and staying plugged in is harming me as well as informing me. It’s a tricky line to walk: we need to stay engaged, we need to stay active, and we need to not get desensitized, but also, on an individual level, I know I need to find ways to stay informed without getting bogged down. After reading this section, I decided that I need to be more intentional about how I consume media. For me, this looks like having set chunks of time where I catch up on the news and “pregame” and “postgame” this consumption time with actions that make me feel more connected to my community or myself. In the mornings, I drink tea and walk before catching up on the day’s headlines. In the afternoon, I generally try to check things after I’ve done outreach work for Blue Daisi.
I was very excited when VanDyke mentioned the importance of mending. Over the past year, darning has become one of my biggest hobbies, and I’ve found it incredibly fulfilling. I’m someone who gets very attached to certain pieces of clothing, and even after a sweater is riddled with holes, I’ll continue to wear it proudly. By improving upon my mending skills, though, I’ve managed to extend the life of my clothes as well as add a bit of fun flair and style.
One of my favorite t-shirts is getting a little hole-y and threadbare, so to extend its life, I’ve picked up darning! It’s my go-to activity on long transit rides or rainy afternoons.
VANDYKE SPEAKS ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF VALUING EXPERIENCES OVER STUFF AND RECOMMENDS THAT WE TAKE SOME TIME TO THINK ABOUT WHAT WE WANT TO BE REMEMBERED FOR AND THE KIND OF LIFE WE WANT TO LIVE.
An activity she assigns is to write your eulogy, to sit down and consider what makes us happiest and what our greatest contributions are. I found this difficult. Perceiving myself through others' eyes or thinking of my life in terms of accomplishments or contributions made everything feel like some sort of big checklist. I care about self-improvement and reflection, but this task just wasn’t working for me, so I altered it. Instead of writing a eulogy for myself, I sat down and thought of all of the traits I admire in the people I love. Turning this assignment into a gratitude-centered one made it much more effective for me.
And with that, our first read of the blue daisi book club is complete!
I hope you found the book as insightful as I did and that you were able to collect some activities, tips, and tricks to make the zero-waste lifestyle more your own. As VanDyke says in her conclusion, environmentalism is about being an everyday activist. She suggests writing letters, attending marches and rallies, volunteering, and educating yourself.
And as a parting reminder, a zero-waste life isn’t a zero-sum game, and living more sustainably doesn’t have to mean a drastically altered lifestyle. Take what you need and leave what you don’t.
To celebrate completing this book together, I’d love to hear how you’ve chosen to get involved in the zero waste movement, reach out to me at kira@bluedaisi.com any time.
If you enjoyed this blog post, you’ll surely enjoy the bi-weekly Blue Daisi Newsletter.