Mayumi, thank you for stashing this. I had not heard of her before.

Bea Johnson has a simple guideline, the 5R's:

Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rot (and only in that order).

Seems like a good guideline for reducing waste AND simplifying our lives.

Wow, Thank you Adam! :) I had an honor to visit her home a couple of months ago . It was very inspiring. 

I can imagine Mayumi! I love how she keeps everything in jars:

This photo is from an article with 10 of her tips on leading a zero waste lifestyle:

http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/10/bea-johnsoon-zero-waste-guru/

Apparently she has kids and everything! A family of four. That is amazing.

but recycling counts? 

Jared, yes. From the article:

Recycle

1. Know your city’s recycling policies and locations—but think of recycling as a last resort. Have you refused, reduced or reused first? Question the need and life-cycle of your purchases. Shopping is voting.
2. Buy primarily in bulk or secondhand, but if you must buy new, choose glass, metal or cardboard. Avoid plastic: Much of it gets shipped across the world for recycling and often ends up in the landfill (or worse yet, the ocean).

And Joyce, amazing that she can do this, even with kids. Very inspiring!

wow.  this is very impressive! 

What's most impressive to me is she has a model. She's applies it to everything in her life.