STOCKHOLM — When it comes to handling trash in a climate-friendly way, most people try to reduce, reuse, and recycle. But for the members of Zero Waste Stockholm, the three R’s are only the beginning.
“We talk about rethinking, refusing, reusing, reducing, and then we get to recycling, and to composting,” said Marisol Taub, a member of the volunteer-led nonprofit, at their headquarters in a community center south of downtown Stockholm. “There has been a lot of focus on recycling, but we see that pretty far down” in terms of priorities.
“Right, we start earlier in the chain,” added Linda Stålborg, another member. “If something’s broken, do you really need a new one? Or can you borrow from someone, or rent it, or repair it and start there?”
The group’s approach to minimizing waste, which calls for actions such as eliminating plastic packaging from grocery items and swapping out paper towels for dishrags around the house, goes far beyond the strategy for most municipalities, both in Sweden and the United States. However, a position that might once have been considered radical is gradually gaining traction as cities and states race to meet their climate goals for 2030 and beyond.
“With the three R’s . . . we’ve always focused on the wrong one,” said Boston’s climate chief, Brian Swett. “We jumped right to recycling, largely because that’s where the plastics industry pointed us . . . and the reality is that whole [recycling] industry should only exist at the end of a circular economy that is reduced and reused as much as possible.”
Zero Waste Stockholm started small in 2018 and has grown steadily, with meet-ups around the city and tip sheets online for anyone to use. The unassuming group, mostly young to middle aged, look like any other Stockholmers: none wore hats made out of old plastic bags or matching thrifted jackets. But in their homes and workplaces, longtime members hold themselves to a high bar, even as they encourage new recruits to take baby steps to shift their lifestyle.
Victoria Vassen, who joined in 2019, harvests roughly 1.5 kilograms of chestnuts from the forests around Stockholm each year to make her own “washing powder” as an alternative to laundry detergent. Stålborg, meanwhile, raised her kids on secondhand shopping.
“I have two teenagers at home now,” she said, “and they always buy secondhand stuff and never go to a store.”
The group is aware its approach might seem extreme to many, but members said their hope is not to make the strategies seem out of reach, but rather to help ordinary people see that they can make a difference, too. Vassen stressed that for a low-waste lifestyle to be truly sustainable, “you also need to stay in your comfort zone,” making changes that feel manageable rather than attempting a dramatic overhaul.
“This is what most people are afraid of. They push so hard and they want to go all in, but you shouldn’t burn yourself out,” Vassen said. Even the group’s most extreme members aren’t perfect, she added: “I tried to refuse toilet paper and use a handkerchief, but it was too much of a challenge!”
While group members acknowledge that humans will never entirely stop making trash, their goal is to empower people to reconsider how much stuff they really need, and push the limits on reducing and reusing what they already have.
“I know it’s made me so much more conscious about what we’re bringing into our home,” Taub said. “And it’s also been so fun to try and find things secondhand, and to challenge ourselves.”
Ivy Scott can be reached at ivy.scott@globe.com. Follow her @itsivyscott.