By living zero-waste, I'm referring to a lifestyle that doesn't send any material to a landfill. I am also attempting to eliminate electricity, water, and transportation-related waste, although they are more vague and much harder to measure.
I do not consider recycled or composted items waste. Recycling, when effectively accomplished, is infinitely preferable to simply throwing something "away." However, recycling is not the answer. The process of breaking down and re-shaping materials into new objects requires vast amounts of energy and resources. There are even some places where recyclables just end up in a landfill anyway, so it's better to refuse the things we don't need in order to reduce the stuff we bring into our lives.
Examples of waste:
The sticker on a banana peel.
Food scraps (not composted).
Leaving laptop charger plugged in.
Driving somewhere to which I could bike.
Conditioner bottles.
Fancy 'club frills'... c'mon, they're just toothpicks, and I can hold my own sandwich together, thanks.
Spent dryer sheets.
The crappy pens / key chains given out as promotions at conferences (which break after two uses anyway).
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