Sobriety can be a guiding concept which helps us meet this challenge. Consuming more soberly not only has a more positive connotation than self-denial, but can help us approach this challenge with a certain amount of pleasure and self-satisfaction.
Indeed, frugality implies freeing ourselves - and our lives - of unnecessary pressures. A person who lives frugally is focused on life itself - and less on possessions, wealth or prestige. We can start by asking ourselves: what do we really need in order to be happy. If we look consciously at what we possess - in the broadest sense of the word - we can rejoice and consider ourselves happy. In Luxembourg, there are hardly any real shortages. What one may call one’s own ‘property’ does not constantly have to be extended, improved, enlarged and become more expensive. On the contrary: a little humility, simplicity and self-restraint is positive.
Simple changes in our habits can help us become a little more humble, while gaining a lot. This can be summed up in the ‘5 Rs rule’ (refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle … and rot - or compost waste). Thanks to this rule, we can gradually rethink our consumption, consume more responsibly, give up some ballast but also produce less waste.
What’s all this about? When it comes to waste and the squandering of resources, we often talk about "zero waste". The zero-waste movement has embarked on a venture which may seem radical, if not impossible, to many people: a total ban on waste.
The French-American blogger, Béa Johnson, has been living waste-free since 2008 and is considered to be the pioneer of this movement. In her zero-waste lifestyle, she - with her family - follows the ‘5 Rs’ and thus - so to speak - goes ‘2 Rs’ further than most consumers, who already follow the ‘3 Rs’ but may not want, necessarily, to be quite as radical as Béa is:
- refuse
- reduce
- reuse
- recycle
- rot (or ‘composting’)
We have learned to reduce packaging, and to reuse and recycle things. It’s also possible to take action at the start and at the end of the consumption cycle for many products. First, do not consume them (but refuse them) and then - if this is unavoidable – recycle or compost them when they are no longer useful.
If we apply these principles - in this order (i.e. 'refuse' first and ‘composting' last) - to our use of resources in general, we get closer, not only to less polluting consumption, but also to a healthier life.
Many single-use items do not have a good cost-benefit ratio. Take tea-light candles, for example: these are sold in cups made out of aluminium which requires an enormous amount of energy to produce. But they can be replaced by glass cups. The same problem of imbalance between the utility and consumption of resources arises for many freely available things which we can easily refuse: from advertising brochures, to pre-cut fruits in plastic packaging.
Do I really need a fifth white T-shirt? Isn't everything I already have enough? The second ‘R’ is about something few of us enjoy doing: "reducing" our consumption. To reduce does not mean giving something up completely, but rather to become aware of what you have, and to know whether you really cannot live without it.
The fast-fashion industry, in particular, thrives on the fact that we don't like giving things up. It launches collection after collection on the market at unbeatable prices, in order to encourage us to make more purchases. Also, many of the clothes we buy are not worn for long, if at all.
And recycling? Compared with avoidance, isn't it just an easy excuse for disposing of unnecessarily accumulated plastic at a SuperDrecksKëscht (or ‘recycling centre’)? This is why recycling only comes fourth in the "waste hierarchy", after reducing and reusing.
Finally, ‘rotting’ (or ‘composting’) is the fifth ‘R’ and may appear a bit complicated, especially if you don't have a garden. But you can also make compost on your balcony, and even in the kitchen, or use your municipality’s compost bins. If you use it as a fertiliser for your plants, you can dispense with buying fertiliser and save both money and packaging.
Living from one day to the next without any waste is almost impossible. There is always waste here and there, and nothing can be done about it. This is why the ‘zero waste’ movement may seem daunting to many people. But as with many things concerning sustainability, avoiding waste is not about doing everything, perfectly, right away. It's about making changes in your everyday life which can be sustained over the long term.
If we reflect beyond the topic of waste, or extend it to energy consumption in transport, a ‘6th R’ might be added, namely "replace": i.e. increasingly “replace” your car with your bike.
The ‘5 Rs rule’ is a good guide which should make it easier to reduce waste gradually, step by step. It is well worth asking yourself, on a daily basis, which ‘R’ from Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot we can actually apply. Thus, "zero waste" quickly becomes a matter of habit and doesn’t remain an unachievable utopia. Starting today!
In addition, the ‘5 Rs’ can also result in great achievements: health, pleasure, a spirit of collaboration, happiness and moderation - rather than a feeling of renunciation.