Here are two of my favourites low waste living books:
Bea Johnson’s “Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying Your Life by Reducing Your Waste”
Erin Rhoads’ “Waste Not: Make a Big Difference by Throwing Away Less“
There is a plethora of information on the internet on how to reduce plastic and other waste. Here are some good places to start:
Zero Waste Victoria
Plastic Free July
Erin Rhoads’ blog
Have a search for your local bulk store! These are great stores where you can refill your jars with dried goods such as rice, flour etc. and they often have bulk cleaning products (e.g., dish washing liquid) and personal care products (e.g., liquid shampoo) that you can refill your reusable jars/bottles with. For those in my local area, we are lucky enough to have two fantastic bulk stores:
EDIGROCER – Edithvale Community Greengrocer
PARKIGROCER – Parkdale Community Green Grocer
To prevent buying new items and adding to manufacturing demand, try shopping for second hand items at your local Op-Shop, vintage stores, and online platforms such as Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace (also search for local ‘buy nothing new’ or ‘buy-swap-sell’ or ‘free stuff’ groups), and ziilch.
For those in my local area (City of Kingston, Melbourne, Australia), here are a few local groups and stores:
Waterways, Aspendale Gardens, Edithvale – Buy Swap Sell (Facebook group)
Dingley and Surrounds NO FUSS!! buy, swap and sell. (Facebook group)
Mordialloc Vintage Market (47 Governor Rd Mordialloc)
Market 3196 (279 Wells Rd Chelsea Heights)
Change to Zero 