Bea Johnson is the pioneering French activist, author, and educator widely regarded as the mother of the Zero Waste Movement. It was she who applied the ‘zero waste’ phrase to a sustainable, low-waste lifestyle and wrote the highly influential book, Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying Your Life by Reducing Your Waste, which has been translated into nearly 30 languages since it was first published in 2013. She has now been living waste-free for 15 years and works as tirelessly and consciously as ever, performing speaking tours and inspiring more and more people to cut down on their household waste.
Johnson was born and raised in Provence, France, but moved to Canada in her late teens and is currently based in California. She began working to reduce her family’s waste after a downsizing house move in 2006. Three years later, she began her Zero Waste Home blog after hearing the phrase, which was originally used in manufacturing. Her radical approach was at first derided as hippy nonsense, but she kept at it, and like most visionaries whose ideas are initially scorned, she soon found her influence spreading as an increasing number of people — particularly eco-anxious young folk — began to incorporate her ideas into their day-to-day lives.
Johnson’s Zero Waste Home book has long been something of a set text for anyone interested in living a more sustainable life. She is also the woman behind the Bulk locator app, which helps users find plastic-free and refill stores, and 5RS, the 5 basic steps towards creating less waste: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot.