Leadership

Leading a Zero Waste Life

Meet Crystal Baker from Clifton Park, NY She is a recent graduate from UAlbany and majored in Emergency Homeland Security with a concentration in Emergency Preparedness and a minor in Psychology.

Baker has a strong passion for the environment and wanted to start living a wastefree life. This led her to do some research on how to become zero-waste friendly.

She shared some of her tips to help eliminate waste in your life: 1) Ask yourself if a product is going to contribute more or less waste before making a purchase. This process will make you more aware of its impact. 2) Use reusable containers and avoid using plastic bags. Reducing, reusing, and recycling will assist in becoming waste-free. (with an emphasis on the first two R’s) 3) To reduce your impact on food purchases, shop for local food since it travels less miles. Also, look for food with recyclable packaging or no packaging at all.

Besides making these simple lifestyle changes, Baker advises that we educate ourselves on the environment, climate, and its impact on humanity to get a better understanding about becoming waste-free. If you would like to learn more tips or learn how to get involved in waste reduction efforts in this area, check out the Recycle Right NY website or the Zero Waste Capital District group.

Crystal with the UN Global Goals Soccer Ball!