Lauren Singer from New York has gone TWO YEARS without producing trash

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Former NYU student Lauren Singer majored in environmental science but insisted she wanted to 'live' sustainability, not just learn about it
The blogger has just founded her first environmentally-friendly company, The Simply Co

Published: 15:25 EST, 26 November 2014 | Updated: 16:19 EST, 26 November 2014

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An eco-friendly entrepreneur and former NYU student has gone two years without producing any trash after making a 'conscious decision to live sustainably' during her final year of college.

Lauren Singer, who majored in environmental science, began working towards living a 'Zero Waste' lifestyle while still studying at NYU and has been completely 'trash-free' for the past two years.

The New Yorker even makes her own toothpaste, deodorant and laundry detergent in an attempt to avoid creating any unnecessary waste - and recently founded her own eco-friendly company, The Simply Co, through which she plans to sell her homemade products.

'We are the future of this planet': Lauren Singer made the decision to go trash-free while she was a senior at New York University

'There were two moments that brought me to a trash-free, waste-free lifestyle,' she writes on her blog, Trash is for tossers.

'The first was my senior year of college when my professor Jeffrey Hollender, of Seventh Generation fame, emphasized the importance living your values and made me think about my own personal environmental impact.

'The second was when a fellow environmental studies major would bring lunch to class every week in a single use plastic bag, a disposable water bottle, and a plastic takeout container.

'I would sit there and think, we are supposed to be the future of this planet and here we are with out trash, messing it up.'

But while she was determined to embrace a waste-free lifestyle, the eco-blogger admits that the past two years haven't been without their difficulties.

'I’d say that the hardest thing by far about going Zero Waste is having to live in a world where few other people care about Zero Waste,' she explained to Tree Hugger.

'Reality dictates that those of us concerned with the amount of trash we generate are still forced to operate within a world where wasteful packaging and excess amounts of trash are commonplace, and shockingly few people even bother thinking about how many bags they carry out to the curb.

'Be prepared for people to think you’re weird. It’s not exactly cool to read, talk, and think about garbage to the extent that you’ll have to, if you’re serious about going Zero Waste.'

Eco-entrepreneur: The sustainability blogger recently founded her own waste-free cleaning supplies company, The Simply Co

The NYU graduate makes clear that living a trash-free existence is not always easy, and she urges any budding Zero Waste followers to think carefully about the necessary planning that goes into her day-to-day life.

'I stopped buying packaged products and began bringing my own bags and jars to fill with bulk products at the supermarket,' she explained to Mind Body Green.

'I stopped buying new clothing, and shopped only secondhand. I continued making all of my own personal care and cleaning products. I downsized significantly by selling, donating, or giving away superfluous things in my life, such as all but one of my six identical spatulas, 10 pairs of jeans that I hadn't worn since high school, and a trillion decorative items that had no significance to me at all.

'Most importantly, I started planning potentially wasteful situations; I began saying "NO" to things like straws in my cocktails at a bars, to plastic or paper bags at stores, and to receipts.'

In order to encourage others to adopt the same trash-free philosophy, Lauren began documenting the ups and downs of her lifestyle on her blog and became quickly inundated with queries from readers eager to follow in her eco-friendly footsteps, but worrying that they didn't have the time or skillset to product their own cleaning products like she does.

Making big bucks: Lauren's Kickstarter campaign has already raised more than $35,000

Enter The Simply Co, Lauren's new waste-free cleaning supply company which she is funding through Kickstarter.

'I was an environmental science major in college, and I not only wanted to learn about sustainability, I wanted to actually live it,' Lauren says in her Kickstarter video.

'I thought a lot about the questions "Why the f**k are there so many chemicals in everything?", "When did this become OK?" and "Are they even necessary?"

'Over the past two years, I've been trying to answer these questions, and in the process making my own, well, everything, from toothpaste to deodorant to laundry detergent.'

Thus far, Lauren's Kickstarter campaign has received more than $35,000 in pledges from supporters - smashing her initial $10,000 target.

Her first product, a three-ingredient laundry detergent, is set to go on sale some time in the new year.