Zero Waste Bloggers Meet-Up in Oslo

Me and my amazing boyfriend have been on a short holiday to Norway before university kicks in again. Of course, I’ve raked my brains previous to our trip about how to be as environmentally friendly as possible doing it. (Post about that is about to follow soon!) And of course, I’ve also tried to find someone from our lovely Zero Waste Bloggers Network to give me tips about Oslo and Bergen, the two major cities in Norway. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any Norwegian bloggers in the network.

But I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t give it a thorough Google search, and unsurprisingly, I did actually find two Norwegian Zero Waste Bloggers and invited them to the network: Grønare Kvardag (Greener Everyday) based in Bergen, and Grønne Hensikter (Green Intentions) based in Oslo.

And I wouldn’t be myself if a few comments, one email and two text messages later, I didn’t arrange to meet up with lovely Kristine from Grønne Hensikter!

We met at a cute little bakery/café called Godt Brød in the beautiful Grünerløkka area of Oslo. It’s a bit like Subway – if Subway was organic, healthy, local, and zero waste! You can choose a nice, rustic bread roll which is filled with your choice of meats, cheeses or vegan toppings, which is such a simple yet tasty concept!

We sat down with a coffee and hot chocolate and spend the morning chatting away our zero waste ideas. Kristine is a lovely person, and I found we share a lot of ideas. We both agreed that zero waste is a step into the right direction, but it shouldn’t distract people from equally heavy problems, such as the huge carbon emissions caused through transportation or the meat/dairy industry. We also shared stories about our own waste experiences, talked about Oslo and Norway in general, and she gave me great tips on home composting. She even made gave me some of her home made cold-processed soap; I’m very intrigued to try doing it myself one day!

It’s great to see how a cause like waste reduction can connect people from such diverse backgrounds (Kristine is an engineer, I’m a film student) to help and support each other, and even share food and conversation in person. Zero Waste has really grown into a movement that gains supporters every minute and is not only restricted to certain countries, but literally present around the globe!

For Oslo-related Zero Waste travel tips, you can check out Kristine’s Oslo page (easily translated with Google) for tips on how to shop package-free, or check out the recommendations from Paris to Go