THE CHALLENGE

The story behind The Challenge

The idea for The Challenge arose in 2016, while I was working on a project related to waste management. Part of our work involved analyzing the emissions associated with different waste treatment technologies, such as landfills, incinerators, and biodigesters.

That's when a colleague first told me about the Zero Waste movement and made me question the problem from another perspective: beyond looking for better ways to treat our waste, what would happen if we started by preventing it from being generated?

That's how I discovered the work of Bea Johnson and Lauren Singer. An idea that at first seemed practically impossible ended up sparking my curiosity. I decided to try it with my family, and for about six weeks, we tried to reduce the amount of waste we generated at home as much as possible.

I found the experience interesting enough to document.

What happened next

The Challenge was originally created to participate in an environmental festival. Although it wasn't selected, I decided to publish it to share the experience and what we had learned during those weeks.

In July 2017, while there was a lot of talk in Mexico City about the new waste separation measures, I published the documentary on the Zero Waste Project Facebook page.

To my surprise, the video began to be shared rapidly and reached far beyond what I had imagined. Over time, it circulated on various social media platforms, was picked up by several news outlets, and allowed many more people to learn about the project.

Based on that experience, Proyecto Cero Basura became a space to continue sharing information, experiences and alternatives to generate less waste.