Year without waste: "I got more frustrated than I thought I would"

Tuesday 19 December 2017

Earlier this year, Sheena Brockie, the woman behind the 'Good Jersey Life' blog, set herself the challenge to live a year without waste. With only two weeks left before the start of a new one, she says the challenge was much harder than she expected.

Sheena's challenge might be coming to an end but she is not giving up the fight, and will continue to find ways to reduce her impact on the environment, and encourage fellow Islanders to do the same, in 2018.

The eco-warrior will be focusing on reducing the amount of plastic used not only in her home, but in the island. Throughout her journey to zero waste, Sheena says that plastic was the main problem.

She told Express: "Finding zero waste options for fruit, vegetable, fish and meat was easy. The hardest was to find alternatives for things like pasta, which you can make, but it's not realistic when you work, you just don't have time for it. There is no zero waste option for it. I don't mind tins, glass or cardboard because they can be recycled but plastic can't be recycled in Jersey and there is so many films and packages around food.

"Making plastic uses so much resources and then it can't be recycled and only breaks down in pieces. I want to make sure we reduce the amount of plastic we use in the packaging stage, this way people won't have to worry about recycling it."

Sheena went from putting out a whole bin every week, to having just one small bin bag. She also started a revolution in local pubs, including the Liberation Group, by convincing them to use plastic-free straws, and convincing Brita to bring recycling boxes for its water filters in Jersey and Guernsey.

Yet, she still says she could have done better. "It has taken a year and I feel like I haven't gotten much further. There is potential for so much more. It was much harder than I expected and I got more frustrated than I thought I would. I had to compromise in some areas because there was no alternative, Sometimes I still buy stuff wrapped in plastic and then I get frustrated because I can't recycle it. I collected all my non-recyclable plastic containers and brought them to the UK when I visited. But you can't live like that day to day."

Throughout this year however, Sheena noticed something that made her feel hopeful for the future. "The tide is changing. People are more aware of the impact they have on the environment and want to do something about it. There is a real thirst for knowledge and for change." She was also happy to see that States departments such as Environment and Infrastructure were supportive of her journey and invited her to visit various facilities. "They want to see changes and are working towards it," she says.

Pictured: Sheena's Christmas wishes include a zero-waste shop in Jersey, like the one in Totnes, Devon.

In her fight to reach zero waste, Sheena has a lot planned for next year. One of her big projects is the setting up of a cooperative which will enable islanders to buy groceries in bulk. She explains: "Pasta, rice and other products come in big plastic bags, but those can then be reused. You can't reuse a small pasta bag, it just goes in the bin."

Sheena, who also saw the number of her social media followers double over the year - she now has over 3,700 of them - will be dispensing hints and tips to them in the New Year. "I want to capture the momentum of the New Year's resolution and give people some tips I gained during my experience. I will summarise what I have learned on how to  reduce our waste and our carbon footprint. Around Easter I will encourage people to give up something that comes in plastic and then it will be Plastic Free July. 

"I want people to realise that changing one or two things can make a huge difference. If all 100,000 of us change one or two things it will have a huge impact."