"The best kind of waste is the one that is never made": Ethnography of zero waste practices

In my master's thesis I deal with zero waste lifestyle, which aims to reduce the amount of waste in everyday life. I explore various levels which concern zero waste, in particular, I focus on "packaging-free" life, an effort to cut out single-use packaging. In my research, I focus on four packaging-free shops in a large city in the Czech Republic. I use the ethnographic method to investigate the material framework and practices of zero waste lifestyle. I identify fundamental practices of waste prevention, such as proactive reusing of things and selection of specific materials. In addition, I explore some other aspects of "packaging-free" life with the emphasis on what consumption without packaging looks like and for whom is this type of consumption accessible. I also look into the matter of ideas and values on which zero waste lifestyle stands and how the proenvironmental stance projects into participants' consumer choices. I find out that zero waste is a lifestyle of a certain social class that is firmly linked with the concept of green consumerism