A zero-waste life is a lifestyle that hardly creates any rubbish.
"Zero waste" was first suggested by a French woman called Bea Johnson. Her idea is: live a life and try not to create any rubbish; use different kinds of ways to save the environment, such as stopping the use of one-off objects; giving unwanted things to others ordonatingthese things to organizations like the Red Cross.
A zero-waste life follows the 6R rule—Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle and Rot. Chen Yuan, 27, is deeply interested in this idea. She and her boyfriend Joe have lived in Beijing for many years. Over August-October when Chen followed the rule of zero waste 6R, she and her boyfriend both produced only two cans of rubbish. Now the couple have opened a small shop in Beijing, where they use wood products to take the place of plastic ones and cloth bags printed with environmental logos. The store also has second-hand books and CDs to make the best of the used things.
"The zero-waste lifestyle is not for ascetics(苦行僧). It is just around us." Chen expects some of her friends to join her on the road to zero waste.
