Kristy Lorson needs no introduction for any New Zealander passionate about zero waste. In 2016, after she, her husband (Davian), and her daughter (Savvy) had already been living waste-free for 18 months, she set up the Zero Waste in NZ! Facebook group. Little did she know, it was going to take off; fast forward three years and the group now has over 25,000 members from across the entire country. The sheer number of searchable conversation threads has created an unparalleled database of NZ-specific zero waste information, while the group has brought together an impressive force for waste minimisation advocacy.
As if this wasn’t enough, in 2018, Kristy went further and established EarthSavvy, her own zero waste business, selling zero waste survival items to the people of NZ, and offering a range of in-person zero waste workshops for those living in the Auckland region.
As you can imagine, we were pretty excited to sit down with Kristy (around the fireplace, which you can hear crackling in the background!), to talk about what zero waste means to her, why she is passionate about seeing people from all walks of life get on board and give zero waste a go, and the potential of the Zero Waste in NZ! Facebook group to motivate and facilitate individual change, while also harnessing the power of the collective to call for waste minimisation transformation at the social, business and political levels.