The logic behind zero waste is to reinvent the way people think about waste, from viewing waste as rubbish to seeing it as something of value: be that a reuse item, compost or something that can be recycled. Bath and North East Somerset Council is pioneering this strategy in the UK and helping change get underway.

As part of this movement, waste campaigns officer Sarah Rayban came up with the idea of running a zero waste week, challenging 75 people in Bath, including herself, to put their bins out of sight for seven days.

So, what did a woman who works in waste reduction have to cut out of her normal life, and did she get caught out? The only irreconcilable offender for Rayban, was yogurt, and aside from a monthly magazine that appeared on her doorstep in non-recyclable or biodegradable wrapping, she only encountered one avoidable ‘slip’ – she didn’t take her Tupperware box to the kebab house, where she and her boyfriend received a double whack of polystyrene packaging before they’d even blinked.

Zero waste seems relatively easy to achieve for a waste campaigns officer, but what of an ordinary couple, or a family with two nappy wearing children? The Brosnans have gained national acclaim for taking the challenge literally. Speaking to Mum Deborah, it seems that they’re a particularly waste conscious family anyway, only throwing away an average of one bin liner of rubbish per week, about half of which would always be nappies. So, how did they deal with the nappy problem? “The little girl wore cloth nappies during the day, but we did still use disposable ones at night… the brand that we were using you could put in the compost bin,” Deborah revealed.

With a trip to the supermarket out of the question, the Brosnan’s consumer habits were hit hard: “We had to totally change our shopping for that week,” noted Deborah. “I had to take some trips to specialist shops – I went to the health food shop twice actually, which I wouldn’t normally do. We just used the local shops… so I got fruit and veg in paper bags, which was no problem from the local shop, and at the deli I took my own containers and they filled them with things like hummus and cream cheese.” But local, wrapper-proof shopping had its drawbacks for the family. Not being massive meat eaters, they struggled to get their protein from fresh sources: “We didn’t have any fresh fish; even veggie stuff like veggie sausages and tofu we couldn’t get. So we probably had more stuff from tins than we usually did, because we can recycle tins. So we had tinned fish, and we had a lot of eggs.”

But will zero waste week have a long term effect on the Brosnans? From what Deborah says, it already has: “It has made me think; it has made me think round things in slightly different ways. I’m looking into buying things like shampoo in bulk now.”

The success of the week has meant that it will now be run as an ongoing annual event. Rayban also believes the campaign can be developed further: “This year was a trial to see if it was possible, and to see what could be achieved. I think we’ve had really excellent results. We had a comment back from one person who said that they want to take part in it next time because they definitely want to have nothing in their bin next year. So I think it really has captured people’s imaginations, and I think we would like to develop it further and get more people involved.” Imagine what could be done with a little more help from the manufacturers.