The Zero Way is a concept born by the combination of two different cultures, mindsets and lifestyles. The Zero Way is the love child between the Western concept of “Zero Waste” and the Eastern concept of “Kaizen” (meaning “continuous improvement” that was extensively applied in “The Toyota Way”), mixed with some behavioral psychology and business know-how. The result, a charming offspring called “The Zero Way”.
Basically it's taking the current idea of zero waste, that is currently in the process of definition and construction, and adding the know-how gained from the kaizen concept, enforced by knowledge from the fields of behavioral psychology and social marketing.
The goal of The Zero Way is to enable people to lead a more sustainable, balanced, ethical and satisfying lifestyle and working style, in accordance to our current global social, economical and environmental needs, and push the shift towards a circular economy.
It is a concept developed by Bianca Yamaguchi, a business consultant in sustainability, who has lived on 3 continents throughout her life (European born, North American raised and working in Japan) and has picked up all the fascinating ideas she could find around these two subjects [zero waste and kaizen], beautifully blending them together to create an elegantly simple and universal equation of how one could live and work in a sustainable and ethical way.
The Zero Way is seen as a multi-layered holistic system designed to approach all areas of life. The 5 layers approached are:
・ Mentality - beliefs and ways to recognize and analyze problems, and find solutions.
・ Feelings - recognizing values, needs and desires.
・ Goal-setting - setting goals based on above values needs and desires.
・ Actions - choices and habit creation.
・ Tools - products and services.
In order to create a sustainable and ethical society and a circular economy, we cannot target just one segment. So The Zero Way wants to offer both producers and retailers (companies), and consumers (buyers, general public) the tools necessary to push the economy to shift from a linear system of "Source - Produce - Sell - Consume - Dispose", to a circular economy, where once sourced, the raw materials will continuously be used inside a circular (cyclical) system, without sourcing new materials or creating any disposable (by)products.
There are a series of simple guidelines to be followed:
👌Think in Cycles. 👍Aim Big. 👆Choose Empathically.
🖕Act Boldly.
💍Feel Good.
🤙Connect.
What is Zero Waste?
What is Kaizen?
What is the Circular Economy?
What is Behavioral Psychology?
What is Social Marketing?