A zero waste influencer is someone that has the power to influence the activities and purchasing decisions of others. A zero waste influencer has authority over the zero waste movement – perhaps because they have successfully made the switch or they are actively engaged in the process.
Most zero waste influencers have spent years blogging or vlogging about their experiences drastically reducing their waste at home. The quintessential annual mason jar of trash is the badge that officially ranks a person as a zero waster. And there are many people living a lifestyle that can achive only a mason jar of garbage per year (and for most, that means no recycling either).
But every action counts and zero waste doesn’t have to be an all or nothing thing. If you are curious about zero waste but don’t know much about it yet, I highly recommend taking a look at some of these zero waste influencers. They all seem to teach that all small actions are important. On their blogs and YouTube videos you can learn how to very easily make some changes to reduce your personal waste.
The top zero waste influencers of 2020 include:
- Lauren Singer – Trash is for Tossers
- Bea Johnson – Zero Waste Home
- Shelby – Shelbizdee
- Madeleine Darya Alizadeh – Dariadaria
- Rob Greenfield – Dude Making a Difference
Forty-five percent of the world’s population actively use social media. That is three and a half BILLION people! So when a person who is active on social media has an interest in zero waste, they will look for someone worth following. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, blogs and Pinterest – zero waste is everywhere.
Surprisingly zero waste represents very well on social media. Photos of glass jars filled with food, or a cloth bag overflowing with naked vegetables. Most zero wasters are also minimalists and their photos are visually appealing giving a feeling of simplicity or a weight being lifted.
There are different levels for social media influencers in general.
Macro-influencers have between forty thousand and one million followers on any given social platform. These are usually successful online experts. There are several zero waste influencers in this range like Lauren Singer from Trash is for Tossers or Bea Johnson from Zero Waste Home.
Micro-influencers generally have between one thousand and forty thousand followers on a single platform. Reusable Nation is a good example here, they are close to the forty thousand followers on Instagram.
I haven’t heard of any mega-influencers – this level would be a celebrity who is famous for another reason that heavily promotes zero waste as a lifestyle. They would have over one million followers on a single social platform.
Who Are Today’s Zero Waste Influencers?
This list will always be changing but the people that have at some point made the list are still worth looking into.
| Zero Waste Influencers | Social Media Followers |
| Kathryn Kellogg – Going Zero Waste | 153K Instagram 22K YouTube |
| Bea Johnson – Zero Waste Home | 265K Instagram 45K YouTube |
| Lauren Singer – Trash is for Tossers | 383K Instagram 265K YouTube |
| Rachel Felous – Simply Zero | 13K Instagram |
| Shelby – Shelbizdeee | 220K YouTube |
| Reusable Nation | 37.3K Instagram |
| Anne Marie Bonneau – Zero Waste Chef | 170K Instagram 1480 YouTube 31K Facebook |
| Madeleine Darya Alizadeh – Dariadaria | 283K Instagram 42K YouTube |
| Levi Hildebrand | 16K Instagram 109K YouTube |
| Rob Greenfield – Dude Making a Difference | 145K Instagram 202K YouTube |
Lauren Singer – Trash is for Tossers
You might recognize Lauren Singer from her TEDxTeen talk back in 2015 titled “Why I live a zero waste life“. This particular video has over three million views.
She has since created a great resource blog for zero waste readers called Trash is for Tossers (TIFT). Lauren has been featured in Vogue, the New York Times and other big name media outlets.
Like other zero waste bloggers, on Trash is for Tossers you will find all kinds of tips and hacks for making your own beauty products, grocery shopping without waste and products that are sustainably made. She is well known for her display of 8 years of personal garbage that fits into a mason jar. Nothing more.
She decided to start on her zero waste journey in 2013. She is the founder of a cleaning product company The Simply Co, as well as the Package Free shop. The Package Free Shop was the world’s first zero waste shop. It is a physical store in New York but they also ship products around the world.
Lauren has been key in the popularization of the zero waste movement. She is on the Forbes list of 30 Under 30 – Social Entrepreneurs 2020.
Thank you Lauren.
Kathryn Kellogg – Going Zero Waste
Quite often if you are searching for anything about zero waste, you will find Kathryn Kellogg’s site Going Zero Waste. I love this blog.
Kathryn came to zero waste from a medical scare that caused her to investigate the ingredients in the products she was using on her skin and hair and that she was consuming. From that she started on a path to making some of her own products and reducing her contact with plastic.And then she shared this information on her blog Going Zero Waste.
Now on her site you can read about how to get started on your zero waste journey. She has curated a wonderful list of products that she has tried and apprvoes of. From shopping aids (trolley basket, cloth produce bags) to scrub brushes, dog products and so on.
You can find Kathryn YouTube, she has published a book “101 Ways To Go Zero Waste“, she was even on city council fulfilling her Leslie Knopp fantasies!
You can take a 31-day zero waste challenge with her that will get you thinking of areas in your life where you can make choices to reduce waste.
Kathryn is definitely a leader in the zero waste movement.
Thank you Kathryn.
Anne Marie Bonneau – Zero Waste Chef
The Zero Waste Chef (Anne Marie Bonneau) has focused on the area of her house that generated the most waste – the kitchen. She has been plastic free since 2011 and she started a blog to help others.
Her blog has unique appetizers and snacks like dried apple rings and crackers. There are beverages like ginger beer, pumpkin seed milk. She has recipes for cheeses (dairy), desserts, main dishes and sides. She has quite a section for fermented fruits and vegetables.
The Zero Waste Chef also has quite a large section with information about making sourdough bread. This has been extremely helpful during the COVID-19 pandemic with the rise in sourdough newbies like myself attempting to make bread.
On top of these, she has several basic cleaning product recipes.
All with a focus on how to purchase your ingredients without plastic or waste.
Anne Marie started hosting sewing bees for people to learn how to make upcycled cloth bags to be used for produce. They made so many cloth bags from previously used materials that they were able to donate thousands of these reusable bags to a farmers’ market.
This started a fad and now there are groups around the world who have started similar projects. This Reusa-Bags Project has groups in Malaysia, Israel, Sweden, Aruba and other countries all over the world.
Thank you Anne Marie.
Madeleine Darya Alizadeh – Dariadaria
Over in Europe, Madeleine Darya Alizadeh created the blog Dariadaria.com. For seven years she wrote to raise awareness on the topics of sustainability, the fast fashion industry, conscious living and politics.
She was inspired by Lauren Singer’s TED talk and has since been working towards a zero waste lifestyle. You will find her
She stopped writing the DariaDaria blog in 2017 and moved onto podcasting.Her podcast “a mindful mess” can be found on Spotify.
Madeleine is now focused on her clothing line dariadeh where her goal is to “make affordable, timeless, high quality and sustainable fashion for every person”.
Thank you Madeleine.
Rachel Felous – Simply Zero
Rachel Felous started an online shop for everything zero waste.
They ship all over the world with a focus on minimal shipping materials. You will find toiletries, zero waste kitchen kits, beauty products and everything you need for shopping zero waste.
The products purchased at Simply Zero can be shipped all over the world. Their shipping never includes plastic packaging.
If you are in Cincinnati, you may find her at pop up shops and farmers markets.
Thank you Rachel.
Levi Hildebrand – Levi “Save the World” Hildebrand
It is nice to see a male macro-influencer on the list. Levi Heldebrand has a slogan “You don’t need to be a hero to save the planet!”. Levi is a YouTuber who vlogs about once a week about zero waste products, sustainable brands and better living.
His videos are fun to watch, he is full of energy and his passion for his topics are infectious!
Thank you Levi.
Vicky and David – Reusable Nation
These two Australians are aiming to create a community of people working twards the same goal, reducing their waste. They challenge people to try their 8 week waste free challenge that has a new challenge to work on over a week as oppsed to something new each day.
ReusableNation.com is full of product recommendations, they’ve created a map for bulk shops in all of Australia and have lots of information about community resources available for zero waste swaps.
Thank you Vicky and David.
Rob Greenfield – Dude Making a Difference
Rob Greenfield set out on an amazing adventure in 2013 where he cycled across the United States while living sustainably. He had his own solar panels or human generated power and avoided fossil fuels completely. He focused on sustainable water management, ate locally unpackaged foods while living zero waste. He also consumed 280 pounds of food from grocery store dumpsters.
After he paid off his debt and cancelled his credit card, he did another cycling trip across the United States. And that was just the beginning of his transformation from a partying consumptive student to an extreme minimalist activist.
You can learn so much about food waste, divestments from fossil fuels, zero waste living on his TV Show, his book Dude Making a Difference, his YouTube channel and his blog. He even made a commitment to not bringing any people into this world when he chose to have a vasectomy. His website is really incredible, you should definitely check this guy out.
Thank you Rob.
Shelbi – Shelbizleee
Shelbi is a successful YoutTuber dedicated to sharing her sustainable life tips to make the zero waste lifestyle seem more attainable. She has thousands of videos about zero waste swaps and products. She posts about twice a week and her videos are well edited and easy to watch. Her videos are packed full of thought provoking ideas and are very enjoyable.
You can find discounts to some of the products she promotes on her Sustainably Shelbi website. She has many recommendations here but there are even more on her YouTube channel Shelbizleee.
Shelbi is also the host of a podcast called “The Rise of The Ecopreneur Podcast” This podcast was created by a platform working towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals. She speaks to environmental change makers and offers actionable advice for the listeners.
And if that isn’t enough to keep her busy, she is also a part of the Low Impact Movement platform to promote challenges and launch social media campaigns on waste topics.
Thank you Shelby.
Bea Johnson – Zero Waste Home
When I do a search for “zero waste” this site does not even land on the first page search results which is shocking. Bea Johnson is the woman that started it all and then inspired many of the new zero waste influencers today. Zero Waste Home is an amazing resource with practical ideas about specific products in a home and how you can swap for a zero waste version of it.
Bea Johnson is also the author of “Zero Waste Home” a very popular book about Bea’s journey (along with her partner, two kids and dog) to reduce their combined annual trash so much that it all fits into a small mason jar. In her book, she is trying to show that a zero waste lifestyle doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive.
The blog on Zero Waste Home has not been updated for a while but the content remains relevant. The concept remains the same: REFUSE, reduce, reuse, recycle and rot – in that order.
Another of Bea Johnson’s legacies is her bulk finder app. She orchestrated an app that can be used to find the closest bulk stores all around the world. So now there is no excuse even when travelling to accept food in packaging!
What started out as a blog, turned into a book, an app and then a movement. Bea is now busy working as a consultant. With her more than ten years of living a zero waste lifestyle, she is a Zero Waste lifestyle expert. She speaks at universities, conferences and corporate events around the world. She has been featured on popular national television shows like The Today Show.
What I particularly like about Bea Johnson’s work is her tips for zero waste pets. Her family has a dog that is also zero waste. They purchase his food in bulk so they can use their own containers. He will also eat a few of their food scraps. And when they find poop in their backyard, they use a metal trowel to flush it down the toilet. Keep in mind that it might not be OK for you to flush dog poop in your toilets. Just do a search for your area to find out if it if OK first. I know that it is the preferred method where I live in Vancouver.
But don’t ever flush cat poop.
Thank you Bea.
Me – Trees Do Listen
How could I create a list without including regular people like me! I am on a very slow zero waste train, one little change after another. Although I hardly compare to any of these macro influencers, at the time of this writing I am a nano influencer. What that means people come to me for advice and often share with me their wins. I am an authority on the subject in my community.
Thank you Michele and my community and the folks at Nourish, The Soap Dispensary, Nada and the Bulk Barn!
The Challenges of Being a Zero Waste Influencer
First of all I want to express by gratitude to all of the zero waste blogs and photos and videos I have seen. It is truly inspirational to see so many people with a shared idea about how people can shop and live.
It is incredibly difficult to make a significant change like going zero waste. There are the logics that need to be figured out, the discomfort of creating new habits and there is the overcoming of other people’s doubts.
Each of the people in the list of above did not have an easy time making these changes but they all say that living a zero waste lifestyle gets easier and just becomes normal.
But one of the challenges a zero waste influencer faces is criticism if they ever do something not inline with zero waste. When you have hundreds of thousands of followers, you are going to have some chump that says unkind things. Just like any celebrity.
But nobody is perfect. Even a zero waste influencer might get an occasional packaged treat. And they should not be criticised for that.
Shelby from shelbizdeee was criticized for consuming tomatoes that came in a plastic container. This was especially upsetting to her because she had that particular container of tomatoes because it was from the store’s discard area and it would have been thrown away. She was saving the food from the landfill. But even if she wasn’t, she shouldn’t ever have to worry about these types of things.
Minimalism and Minimalist Influencers
Minimalism and zero waste are quite similar. Most people that live a zero waste lifestyles are also minimalists.
A minimalist lifestyle is one of living life based on experiences rather than possessions. It is about living with less – less stress, less expenses, less stuff to clean and take care of.
In both, minimalist and zero waste lifestyles, thought is put into each item consumed and brought into your home. The minimalist will only buy and keep things that bring them value. A person who lives a zero waste lifestyle pretty much does the same and they think about the packaging and future of the products they consume.
For example, Rob Greenfield from Dude Making a Difference is a macro influencer for zero waste. And he is the most extreme minimalist I’ve ever read about. He not only has just 111 possessions, he also minimized his life’s wealth by donating most of it. He only kept about $15,000 and he tries to earn only that much each year.
He lives a life that lets him be truly present wherever he goes.
There are some possible differences between the two depending on the person. Some minimalists don’t think about how they are discarding their unwanted items but most do.
So I thought it might be useful for me to include on this a list of minimalist influencers that are also worth following.
Courtney Carver – Be More With Less
Courtney Carver is the creator of two important things in the minimalist world. 1. the bemorewithless.com website and 2. Project 333. Her website is meant to help people simplify their lives in order to bring space for discovering what really matters. Decluttering and focusing on the good things creates more health, more savings and more joy.
Project 333 is a “minimalist fashion challenge that proves less really is so much more”. The concept is simple, keep only 33 items in your wardrobe and wear only those for 3 months. Thousands of people have done this challenge and have afterwards adopted the concept of a capsule wardrobe into their lives.
Thank you Courtney.
Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus – The Minimalists
Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus are the minimalists. I started my journey as a minimalist when I first heard their podcast. I loved their story and their way of making it all so easy. They often reference their articles that are eloquently written and their friendly banter with each other is endearing.
The minimalists have been in TV shows, national media articles, they have their own movie on Netflix. They have a 21 day challenge, a book and you can even go to see them on tour.
They teach about keeping only things that bring you value, and these guys have certainly brought value into my home.
Thank you Joshua and Ryan.
Dana and John Shultz – The Minimalist Baker
I love this site for great recipes. They are all healthy, and use 10 ingredients or less. They also have the added benefit of using just 1 bowl so the cleanup is simpler.
The recipes in the minimalist baker site focus on plant based foods but not exclusively. And don’t let the name foold you, it isn’t just about sweet baked goods, there are plenty of mouth watering meals and savoury snacks.
There is also a minimalist baker cookbook for sale on the site as well as a great resource for starting your own food blog.
Thank you Dana and John.
Feature Photo by Jasmin Sessler on Unsplash
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