Affald [Waste] KBH
Recently, Copenhagen Municipality (where I live) distributed these magazines. They are only a few pages long. They contain information about waste sorting and management, and some ideas for Christmas.
I thought it's such a wonderful initiative to share this information. I would have preferred a digital copy of this magazine. Usually local authorities here in Denmark communicate via digital post. But many fellow humans said to me that they don't read everything that the authorities send them, unless it feels important. Perhaps the paper version will encourage people to read about waste.
I observe that waste is generally seen as a burden, as something dirty, undesirable, something to get rid of, to take out. I try to develop a different relationship with waste. For example, a jar that was home to now-eaten jam can become a beautiful and simple drinking glass or a storage container, or a small vase. I clean plastic containers before recycling. I love beautiful potato peels and apple cores that can either be composted or recycled. None of it is disgusting. Caring for the next stage of a product's life is not a chore.
Implementing many zero-waste practices is helpful on this journey of relating with waste differently. In my household, we don't generate much waste, and the waste we do generate doesn't feel overwhelming at all.
Much of the information in the magazine is relevant to my fellow humans living in Copenhagen, but some of it is relevant to all, I feel. For example, there is a page related to holidays. It encourages people to question whether gifts must be new things. There are places, such as byttestationer (swap shops) and second-hand shops. Personally, I love receiving gifts such as fruits, home-baked goods, bread, or even quality time (it doesn't have to be things). It was wonderful to receive stones as gifts from my partner. He found them on a beach in Denmark. Once, some children in my neighbourhood gave me a chestnut that they found in a local park as a gift. What a magical gift it was! My stepchild drew some pictures for me when I was very ill. I appreciate this gift too.
The page on the right (in the picture above) invites us to rethink gift-wrapping. Using reusable ribbons and fabric scraps for gift wrapping are wonderful ideas. This is something I've been doing for many years. As someone practising extreme minimalism, I generally don't have a lot of objects that I use for gift wrapping, but I do save some items (such as cotton ribbons and bags) that I can use to wrap gifts.