Embodying less is more, Lauren Singer is on a mission to reduce waste and to help others do so too. For those of you not familiar with Singer, Lauren is the brains behind the blog Trash is for Tossers and more recently The Simply Co. (more about these a little later).
We recently had the privilege to visit with Singer about efforts, and this article is the culmination of our conversation. As you might imagine, Lauren was where else but a coffee shop during our conversation. How New York.
A disposable date
Growing up in New York, Singer always had a deep appreciation for nature and our environment. While taking classes at New York University (noticing a thread here?), something profound happened. Thinking back, Lauren realized she’d watched an (environmental studies) classmate religiously bring her lunch with her to class. Innocent enough right? When class was over, the classmate would throw away all her plastic single-use disposable waste.
Fast forward to that evening. Standing in front of the fridge in her Brooklyn apartment, Lauren realized virtually everything inside it was packaged in plastic. Singer decided right then and there to go zero waste. She started researching no-waste alternatives to commonly packaged goods.
Lauren shared with us that, from very early on in her journey, she was inspired by Bea Johnson’s Zero Waste Home. We too had the privilege of catching up with Johnson recently and you can read our interview with her here. The journey has not been all plastic roses.
“Aside from actual implementation, the hardest part of the journey for me was probably the introspective process,” said Singer. “The journey has been a really great learning experience that involved a great deal of trial and error and research. That is why I wanted to start the blog was to help others,” she added.
Trash is for Tossers
A chronical of her zero waste journey, Trash is for Tossers is now a year and a half strong. The blog is a community where Singer shares with others;
And, after a year and a half of blogging, Lauren noticed a common theme among her readers – the desire to purchase toxic free and sustainable cleaning products. Singer’s The Simply Co. is just that.
The Simply Co.
Lauren’s latest endeavor involves the creation of commonly used household products for purchase. Handmade, made of three ingredients, biodegradable and organic, The Simply Co.’s Laundry Powder was financed via Kickstarter campaign raising over $40,000. Singer hopes to continue making her Laundry Powder but also roll out a line of lotion in the near future. What does the future hold?
‘I hope to have a full line of The Simply Co. products as well as a good platform for others to come and learn about zero waste living,” said Singer.
Her website and blog taglines are ‘Live Simply’ and ‘Say No To Trash’ respectively. Yeah, that.
Images courtesy of Lauren Singer